Anand loses to Kasparov

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March 02, 2003 13:22 IST

Ace Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand suffered a setback in the 20th Linares Super Grandmasters tournament on Saturday, when he lost his seventh round game to Garry Kasparov.

According to information, Anand, who led the tournament after six rounds, went down in 62 moves to Kasparov, who now shares the second place with the Indian.

Peter Leko recovered from his loss to Anand in sixth round with a draw against Vladimir Kramnik.

Kramnik is now in sole lead with four points from seven games, while Anand, Kasparov and Leko have 3.5 points each from seven games.

Teimour Radjabov has 2.5 points while Francisco Vallejo Pons and Ruslan Ponomariov have two points each.

Anand, the NIIT Brand Ambassador, had black pieces in a Caro-Kann defence. Kasparov, who has been smarting under his first round defeat at the hands of Radjabov, attacked well and got through to his win 62 moves.

Leko and Kramnik, who have a common manager, drew in 25 moves of a Sicilian Sveshnikov, in which Kramnik had black pieces.

Ponomariov, who has been having a poor tournament finally managed a win with Vallejo Pons.

In the eighth round, which signals the start of the second leg of the round-robin, Anand meets Ponomariov. Anand will have black pieces. The Indian champion had won their first encounter in the opening round of the tournament. In that clash Anand had white pieces.

The eighth round will also see another strong clash featuring Kasparov and Kramnik with the former having white.

Pairings for eighth round: Ponomariov v Anand; Kasparov v Kramnik; Leko v Radjabov; Vajjeo Pons -- bye.

Results: Kasparov beat Anand; Leko drew with Kramnik; Ponomariov beat Vallejo Pons.

Round 7 standings: 1. Kramnik 4.0; 2. Anand, Kasparov and Leko 3.5 each; 5. Radjabov 2.5; 6. Vallejo Pons and Ponomariov.

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