chess

The Wijk aan Zee tournament is building up to an exciting finish. After eight rounds (with five left to play), Vassily Ivanchuk leads with 51/2 points, hotly pursued by Anand and Tiviakov on 5. Anand has finally emerged from his post-Kasparov depression with good wins in rounds six and seven. He demolished Boris Gelfand in particularly incisive style.

Gelfand's 15...g5 was designed to avoid 15...0-0 16.Bxh6 Bxh6 17.Nf6+ and 18.Qxe5, but it invited 17.Bxg5! Anand found a brilliant finish. After 22...Bxe6 23.Qxg6+ Black is lost.

White: Anand Black: Gelfand 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 d6 3 f4 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Bc4 Nc6 6 d3 e6 7 0-0 Nge7 8 Qe1 h6 9 Bb3 a6 10 e5 Nf5 11 Kh1 Nfd4 12 Ne4 Nxf3 13 Rxf3 dxe5 14 fxe5 Nxe5 15 Rf1 g5 16 Qg3 0-0 17 Bxg5 hxg5 18 Nxg5 Ng6 19 Rae1 Qe7 20 Rf5 Bf6 21 Nxe6 fxe6 22 Rxe6 Kg7 23 Rxe7+ Bxe7 24 Rxf8 Bxf8 25 h5 resigns.