Anand has it easy in opening game

Former world champion Vishwanathan Anand had little difficulty in beating Taleb Moussa of the United Arab Emirates in the first round of the inaugural FIDE Grand Prix chess tournament.

Anand won the game quite comprehensively with a 1.5-0.5 margin after drawing the second game with the black pieces.

The opening was an irregular queen pawn game and the Indian had no troubles in equalising quickly after routine exchanges. By the 15th move itself, the outcome of the match was clear when Anand traded the queen. Moussa fought for another six moves before agreeing to the draw.

In the first game, Anand was in his elements, as he slowly outmanoeuvred Moussa with the white pieces. Saving his important opening preparation for the tougher battles ahead, Anand opened with the Rossolimo attack to counter the Sicilian defense of Moussa in the early phase of the game.

Moussa wriggled out of his opening troubles with a slightly worse position and was beginning to set up a resourceful defence in the middle game when Anand won his opponent's queen for three pieces and a couple of passed pawns on the queenside. Moussa won one pawn soon after but gave up a piece for the other pawn to resign in 38 moves.

The tournament is being played on a knockout format under the rapid chess rules. Each player is awarded 25 minutes at the start of the game and thereon 30 seconds are added to the clock as every move is played. There are in all 32 participants.

PTI