Chess: Kamsky capitalises on Anand's disintegration

AND THEN there was one. After the latest round of eliminators in the Fide World Championship, only Gata Kamsky survives in both the Fide event and the rival PCA championship. In the Fide semi-finals, he will be joined by Valery Salov (who defeated Jan Timman 41 2 -31 2 ), Boris Gelfand (who beat Vladimir Kramnik by the same score) and Anatoly Karpov, the reigning champion who now enters the contest.

Kamsky's victory against Anand was one of the most remarkable fight backs in history. Two up with three to play, the Indian grandmaster disintegrated. The match ended tied at 4-4, and moved into a rapid play-off.

Anand - who plays twice as fast as anyone else at the slowest of times - should have been in his element, but the tension proved too much for him in front of an extremely partisan home crowd in Sanghi Nagar. He held the advantage in the first game, but fell into a trap in the endgame and lost after 75 moves. The second game was much worse:

White: Kamsky

Black: Anand

1 d4 Nf6 10 Bb5+ Bd7 2 Nf3 c5 11 a4 Qc7 3 c3 g6 12 0-0 Bg7 4 Bg5 Qb6 13 e5 Nh5 5 Qb3 Ne4 14 exd6 exd6 6 Bf4 Nc6 15 Rfe1+ Kf8 7 d5 Nd8 16 Bxd7 Qxd7 8 Nbd2 Nf6 17 Qb5 1-0 9 e4 d6

In the final position, moving the queen out of the way allows mate on e8, while 17 . . . Qxb5 18. Bxd6+ Kg8 19. axb5 is hopeless.

Meanwhile, back in Norwich, the British Championship has reached its half-way point. After six rounds, William Watson, one of the three grandmasters competing, holds the lead with 5 points, followed by Harley, Motwani, Summerscale, Ward and Arkell on 41 2 . John Emms, the highest-rated contestant, is among the group on 4 points, while defending champion Michael Hennigan is languishing on 21 2 .

The following game from the first round shows the Scottish grandmaster Paul Motwani in his usual calm and impressive style. From a quiet opening, he built up an attack with 9. g4 and 10. Ng3, and when that knight had done its duty, it was replaced by the other one.

The advance continued with 17. f4, and just as White seemed ready to launch a K- side attack, he decided instead to win the game on the Q-side and in the centre. 21. dxe5] launched a neat tactical sequence which ended with 24. Rxd1, threatening both Rd8+ and Kxf1. The net result was a won endgame.

White: Motwani

Black: Piper

1 e4 e5 17 f4 Qa7 2 Nc3 Nf6 18 axb4 axb4 3 g3 Be7 19 Bf1 Nc7 4 Bg2 0-0 20 Nf5 Qb7 5 Nge2 c6 21 dxe5 Bxf1 6 d4 d6 22 Nxd6 Rxa1 7 h3 b5 23 Nxb7 Rxd1 8 a3 Nbd7 24 Rxd1 Bd3 9 g4 Nb6 25 Nc5 Rxc1 10 Ng3 a5 26 Rxc1 Bb5 11 Nce2 Qc7 27 Rd1 Kf8 12 0-0 Ba6 28 Rd4 Nc4 13 Nf5 b4 29 b3 Na3 14 Re1 Rfd8 30 f5 Nxc2 15 Nxe7 Qxe7 31 Rd8+ Ne8 16 Ng3 Ne8 32 f6 1-0