UzLand.Uz
October 12

Defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India scored his first win in three games in the World Chess Cup 2002 preliminaries on Saturday, defeating Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan.

Anand, 32, moved into a third-place tie with Kasimdzhanov in Group C with 1.5 points, aiming to finish in the top two qualifying positions to enter the next stage of the tournament.

Anand, playing white, used the Sveshnikov variation to recover from a surprise second-round loss Friday to compatriot Krishnan Sasikiran and a draw against Xu Jun of China a day earlier.

He dominated in the first 23 moves, but Kasimdzhanov put up a good defense only to falter at the end, missing a tactical variation that would have led to a draw. Kasimdzhanov conceded defeat after 30 moves.

"Yes, it was more of a gamble when I played that 23rd move....but just thought that it might be difficult for him to calculate all those complicated variations. In the end it just worked fine for me," Anand said.

Slovenia's Alexander Belyavski continued to lead Group C with 2.5 points after three games following a draw with Alexander Morozevich of Russia, while Giovanni Vescovi of Brazil led Group A with 2.5 points after defeating Saidali Iuldashev of Uzbekistan.

Results Round 3:

Group A: Bartilomiej Macieja (Poland, 2.0) beat Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 1); Vladimir Malakhov (Russia, 2.0) beat Ye Jiangchuan (China, 1.0); Giovanni Vescovi (Brazil, 2.5) beat Iuldachev Saidali (Uzbekistan, 0.5).

Group C: Hichem Hamdouchi (Morocco, 1.0) drew with Krishnan Sasikiran (India, 2.5); Xu Jun (China, 0.5) lost to Al Modiahki Mohammed (Qatar, 2.0); Viswanathan Anand (India, 1.5) beat Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan, 1.5).

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