NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
STAT SHEET
DIARY
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
DEAR REDIFF

Vishy Anand draws into lead

Despite a quick, 35-minute draw with Spanish grandmaster Pablo San Segundo, Vishwanathan Anand continued his superb run of form, leading the table in the 7th Torneo Magistral super category chess tournament in Madrid.

Anand, who was lately voted the Chess Oscar for the year 1997 by over 300 international chess writers (an honour he snatched from world champion Garri Kasparov), has 3.5 points in five games, giving him a half point lead over Miguel Illescas, San Segundo (both of Spain), and Peter Svidler (Russia).

Anand played black, taking on the bottom seeded Segundo in an English opening that, the Indian ace said, proved to be too safe a game for him to have a realistic chance of pressing for victory. In fact, Anand was heard complaining at the end of the game about white's passive play, which to his mind took the edge out of the contest.

Anand is now slated to play white, against Illescas, the Barcelona based grandmaster who is Spain's reigning champion, when the 10-player tournament resumes Monday evening after the Sunday break.

The Indian ace seemed anxious to get back to his winning rhythm, in a tournament that prepares him for one of the toughest outings in recent times when, next month, he vies for top honours against an elite field of Garri Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Vladimir Kramnik, the three K's of top flight chess.

The tournament is, in the rating of chess experts, the real world championship, as it cuts through the frills of tiresome -- and tiring -- qualifying rounds and pits the best players in the world against each other.

Interestingly, in recent months, Anand has been judged the top draw in international chess, pushing the arrogant Kasparov, the essentially boring Karpov and the enigmatic Kramnik out of the limelight.

The citation for the chess Oscar specifically says that in the opinion of the jury, it is Anand who, today, packs them in at the turnstiles wherever a top notch chess tournament is being played.

"He is pure gold at the box office -- the most exciting player we have seen in years," said a jury member at the time of the voting.