Muscles
flexed
A running report by Jonathan Tisdall - for the live version see our Chess Message Boards.
Round Two, Day Two
This was more like it! Today some of the heavyweights
showed their chess biceps, and showed why
they are who they are.
My pick for the most impressive performance came
from Bulgarian superman Veselin Topalov, who uncorked
an amazingly long and sophisticated tactical
sequence to win the exchange, and continued to play
with bruising accuracy until Kasparov's second Kharlov
had had more than enough.
Vishy Anand showed why many consider him to be the
world number two - or higher in these days of "title"
confusion - by battering Bologan with a fine
kingside attack.
About the only person who was not impressed with
this game was Anand himself, who said afterwards
that it was a standard kind of win. I think
you will disagree.
Morozevich didn't have to win, but so "anyway",
by following up sheer aggression with clinical technique.
This unsettling combination of gears is very
reminiscent of Shirov at his best.
Leko joined his fellow superstars with a berth in
round three, but only after surviving a nerve-wracking
brawl with that hero from round one, Sergei Volkov.
Anything could have happened in this one, and it
is sad to see another of the brave underdogs bowing
out.
Comeback kids
Vaganian produced the most impressive back from
the dead act by beating Bareev very professionally.
First he produced a hot novelty in the Semi-Slav
(18.Qf3), then rode the pressure through to a winning
ending.
Tregubov played a nice all-out hack to erase Kasimdzhanov's
lead, and Adianto wheeled out the Center Counter
to strike back at Peng. Iordachescu managed to pull
back against Movsesian thanks to a long and singleminded
shelling of black's kingside.
Worth noting Akopian's miracle save in round
one seemed to have used up his reserve of good fortune
all in one go. He launched a bizarre sacrifical
attack that ended in disaster, and so "justice"
was served as the 1999 finalist went out after a
minimum of games this year.
Brazilian GM Leitao is probably very fond of guys
named Joel now - first he eliminated Lautier in
round one, this time it was Benjamin's turn to check
out. Slow but steady technique notched up
the point for Brazil just before the 100-move mark.
Going into overtime
There are plenty of big names who will have to have
to do their stuff at higher speed - the biggest
names: Adams, Short, Svidler, Ivanchuk Bareev, and
defending champion Khalifman.
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