Games: Chess

A short but powerful tournament has just begun in Madrid that includes three players from the world's top dozen. The favourite is Viswanathan Anand, whose strongest competition may be expected to come from Peter Svidler of Russia, and England's Michael Adams.

Anand has begun in powerful style with a win against Adams in the opening round. Playing 4...Ba6 and 5...Bb7, Adams sacrificed a move in order to make c3 a less secure square for the white knight. His strategy continued with 6...Bb4+ and 11...Bxc3, leaving White with the bishop pair, but hoping to show that the black-squared bishop was not as useful a piece as a black knight.

When White played 14.Bc1, it looked as though Black had proved his point, but White still had more space and a natural space-gaining plan of b5, Ba3 and an eventual c5.

Adams's 14...b5?! was a bold bid to seize the initiative by taking a grip on the central white squares at the cost of a pawn. If all goes well for Black, he will eventually regain the pawn on b5, with the prospect of reaching an endgame with a good knight on d5 or c4 dominating an ineffective white bishop.

But all did not go well for Adams. The ugly 16.Ba3 proved an effective way of keeping both white b-pawns defended, leaving Anand free to get on with an advance in the centre. Black's attempts to build up an attack on the K-side were never allowed to become threatening. White increased his advantage with 36.Nf6+! and 38...Ne3? only hastened the end.

White: Viswanathan Anand

Black: Michael Adams

1 d4 Nf6 21 e3 Rb8

2 Nf3 e6 22 f3 f4

3 c4 b6 23 gxf4 Rxf4

4 g3 Ba6 24 e4 Nf6

5 b3 Bb7 25 Kh1 Rf8

6 Bg2 Bb4+ 26 Rg1 Nh5

7 Bd2 a5 27 Rc6 Rh4

8 0-0 0-0 28 Bc1 Nf4

9 Qc2 d6 29 Qc2 Rf7

10 Bg5 a4 30 Nf1 d5

11 Nc3 Bxc3 31 e5 Nc4

12 Qxc3 Nbd7 32 Ne3 Nh3

13 b4 h6 33 Rg3 Ng5

14 Bc1 b5 34 Ng4 Rxf3

15 cxb5 Nb6 35 Bxg5 Rxg3

16 Ba3 Rc8 36 Nf6+ gxf6

17 Nd2 Bxg2 37 Bxh4 Rg4

18 Kxg2 Nfd5 38 Bxf6 Ne3

19 Qd3 f5 39 Rxc7 resigns

20 Rac1 Qd7