Indoor: Chess

Viswanathan Anand has become the first to book his place in the quarter-finals of the world championship with a 2-0 win over Zoltan Almasi. His win in the second game came through a nice finesse in a fashionable opening:

White: Viswanathan Anand

Black: Zoltan Almasi

King's Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 18 Ba3 h5

2 Nf3 g6 19 Nxc7 Qxc7

3 c4 Bg7 20 cxd6 Rxd6

4 Nc3 0-0 21 Nxd6 Qxd6

5 e4 d6 22 b5 Qf6

6 Be2 e5 23 d6 Nf5

7 0-0 Nc6 24 exf5 Bxf5

8 d5 Ne7 25 Qd5+ Kh8

9 b4 Nh5 26 Rad1 Rd8

10 Re1 Nf4 27 Bd3 Bxd3

11 Bf1 h6 28 Qxd3 h4

12 c5 g5 29 d7 hxg3

13 Nd2 f5 30 hxg3 f3

14 g3 Nfg6 31 Bc1 Nf8

15 a4 f4 32 Qe4 Qe6

16 Nc4 g4 33 Ba3 resigns

17 Nb5 Rf6

White's plan of b4, c5, Nd2 and Nc4 was standard, but Black missed the point of his idea of delaying the capture on d6. By the time 19.Nxc7 hit him, it was too late for Black to do anything about it. The combination ended with 23.d6, when, quite apart from the threat to the hapless knight on e7, there was also a possibility of the pawn advancing to d7. At the end, 33...Rxd7 loses to 34.Bxf8, while 33...Nxd7 is met by 34.Rd6, when Black's g-pawn falls with worse to follow.

Nigel Short was another player who had a good time on the second day of the fourth round. After losing the first game of his match against Alexander Belyavsky, he kept his hopes alive by equalising the scores with this fine win:

White: Nigel Short

Black: Alexander Belyavsky

Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 15 dxc6 bxc6

2 Nf3 Nc6 16 Bg5 Qc7

3 Bb5 a6 17 Qf3 Qb7

4 Ba4 Nf6 18 Ng3 d5

5 0-0 Be7 19 Ng4 dxe4

6 Re1 b5 20 Qf5 Nd5

7 Bb3 d6 21 Nxe4 Re6

8 c3 0-0 22 Rad1 h5

9 h3 Re8 23 Ne3 Nf4

10 d4 Bb7 24 Bxf4 Bxe4

11 Nbd2 Bf8 25 Rxd7 Bxf5

12 d5 Nb8 26 Rxb7 exf4

13 Nf1 Nbd7 27 Rxf7 resigns

14 N3h2 c6

After 26...exf4 (see diagram) Black had seen that 27.Bxe6 Bxe6 with leave him with good chances, but Short's 27.Rxf7!! brought an abrupt end to his resistance. 27...fxe3 28.Rxf5 or 27...Kxf7 28.Nxf5 win easily for White.