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Anand one game away from title

Managing to hold off a tough challenge from Mathew Sadler, Vishwanathan Anand continued to lead Peter Leko by a half point going into the final round of the Fontys-Tilburg international chess tournament.

Anand has seven points to Leko's 6.5. Sadler, Jeron Piket and Vladimir Kramnik have 5.5 points each.

In the last round both Leko and Anand have black. Anand plays Peter Svidler, whilst Leko plays Loek van Wely.

In a Sicilian Najdorf where Anand had white, Sadler, one of the two English players in the field, gave the Indian some scary moments and at one stage seemed close to causing a major upset. The Indian GM played a novelty on move 11. Sadler had to find an over-the-board solution to Anand's home prepration. Sadler was able to move his king to a saFer place and to bring his rook into play with brilliant play and followed up with pawn sacrifice.

But time pressure could not be worked on further and \Anand managed to solve the problems with a combination after which the draw was agreed after 33 moves.

The 19-year old Peter Leko stunned Michael Adams and closed the gap with Anand to just half a point with one round to go. Playing brilliantly with white in a Roy Lopez, Leko had Adams on the mat. He played a great novelty on the 22nd move and Adams had a tough position, losing a pawn without compensation. He made it worse by sacrificing a piece in vain and the game was over in 40 moves.

Lautier, who started this event so disasterously is finding his way back up slowly after his second win in this event. In the Gruenfeld Indian his victim was Svidler with black, didn't survive the opening all too well.

Picket played against his old teacher Viktor Korchnoi. The Dutchman got a good position but he offered a draw on move 27 which was accepted by Korchnoi. Piket had some time problems with six minutes for his last 13 moves. The game was Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrash Defence.

Vadim Zviaginsev, one of the unbeaten players crashed against fellow Russian Vladimir Kramnik. Zviaginsev, for the first time awed by a rival, played passively.

Kramnik got a better position after the opening and showed his class by turning the advantage into a full point from a game that followed the lines of the Queen's Gambit with Kramnik having white.

Topalov after six and half hours managed only a draw against Loek van Wely. The Bulgarian who had lost his last three games was going all out for a win. He was also better off positionally, but could not convert into a win.

Pairings for the final round, white first: Svidler vs Anand, Adams vs Lautier, Van Wiley vs Leko, Korchnoi vs Topalov, Zviaginsev vs Piket.