Anand's hopes sinks with draw vs Alekseev; Kramnik eyes Title

Dortmund, July 1 (UNI) World no.1 Viswanathan Anand played out a painful draw against Evgeny Alekseev in the penultimate round, to give Vladimir Kramnik a realistic chance to lift the Dortmund Super Grandmasters chess title going into the final round.

Anand had himself to blame for not registering his first win against Alekseev as he dominated for most part of the game but lost the plot towards the final stages to sign the truce after 43 moves.

The draw more or less ruined Anand's hopes of having a final dash at the title as Kramnik, who pocketed the crucial one point with his win against Arkadij Naiditsch, just needs a draw to emerge victorious.

Playing with white, Anand opened the game with his usual e4 and Alekseev replied with e5 and than pushed the game on the Petrov Defense lines. Soon the chess wizard got into his groove, playing a brilliant move with Queens Knight attack [Qf4] to weaken the black domination.

Cahing in on mistakes by Alekseev, Anand started capturing important squares raisnig hopes of his first win in the competition and a shot at the title.

Alekseev, who won the Dortmund Title in 2005 and has also not lost any of the five games till now, succeeded in wriggling out of the difficult situation by signing peace after 43 moves.

A disappointed Anand told UNI after his drawn game,''Well it was a very complicated game..I am afraid I cant tell what happened until I analyze the game in some details. Black has got some hidden resources and at the board I just could not resolve it and couldn't find my way out.'' ''Maybe there was a win but it was well hidden,'' Anand said when asked about his advantageous position.

In contrast, world chess champion Kramnik played a brilliant game to strenthen his position at the top of the charts with 4.5 points, one full point clear of Anand and Alekseev (3.5 points).

Now, Kramnik needs just a draw to avoid any tie break, incase Anand (vs Carlsen) and Alekseev (vs Kramnik) win their final games.

In the other matches, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov shared points with Magnus Carlsen while Boris Gelfand and Peter Leko also agreed for a draw.

Standing after 6th Round : Vladimir Kramnik 4.5 points Viswanathan Anand 3.5 points Evgeny Alekseev 3.5 points Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3 points Peter Leko 3 points Boris Gelfand 2.5 points Magnus Carlsen 2.5 points Arkadij Naiditsch 1.5 points Final Round Pairing : Magnus Carlsen vs Viswanathan Anand Peter Leko vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Arkadij Naiditsch vs Boris Gelfand Evgeny Alekseev vs Vladimir Kramnik UNI XC SAM VC1102