Anand held by Vallejo

Former World champion Vishwanathan Anand failed to find his magic touch for the second consecutive day as he drew with Grandmaster Francisco Pons Vallejo of Spain in the second round of the Linares Super Grandmasters tournament on Sunday.

With the draw, Anand became joint leader on one point along with Vallejo, Michael Adams of England, Alexei Shirov of Spain and World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine but he has played one more game than Adams, who defeated Ponomariov in his first outing in the tournament after a bye in the first round.

On the opening day of the tournament, Anand was held by Alexei Shirov.

Playing with white, Anand opened with the King pawn and faced the in vogue Berlin defence in the Ruy Lopez opening. It was clear that Anand did not get a desirable advantage in the opening and had to strive hard in the queen-less middle game, typical of the opening.

Opting to take control of the king side Anand guided both his knights in the rival territory but Vallejo found his share of counter play in the central files with firm control on the queen side.

The game, devoid of any excitement, was agreed for a draw after 29 moves with both players find it impossible to force a result.

Ponomariov, who had beaten Vassily Ivanchuk in the first round, failed for the first time since his World championship triumph last month and lost to Adams, who adopted his favourite Ruy Lopez opening with black pieces.

Adams got a slight advantage out of the Chigorin defence favoured by Ponomariov and started squeezing out the defensive resources in copybook fashion.

Ponomariov's queenside play was rather dangerous and he had to part with a pawn in the later stages of the middle game. The endgame with rook and bishops had some technical difficulties but Adams made it look easy with his masterly display. In the end Ponomariov lost a piece and got checkmated on the 76th move.

After a disastrous first round loss to compatriot Ponomariov, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was content with a quick draw with Alexei Shirov with white pieces.

The opening featured routine manoeuvres of the Slav defence where black equalisied easily. Seeing no way to improve his position Ivanchuk proposed the draw in just 13 moves that was accepted by Shirov.

The big game of the tournament is slated in the next round as world's highest rated player Gary Kasparov of Russia, who had a bye today, takes on number two seed Anand with white pieces in their first meeting at Linares.

Kasparov has a half point from his first game and is expected to come out firing on all cylinders.

Games:
Anand - Vallejo
White - Anand
Black - Vallejo
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. Re1 h6 11. h3 Ng6 12. Bd2 Bd7 13. Ne4 Kc8 14. Ng3 c5 15. Nh5 b5 16. Nh2 Kb7 17. f4 Nh4 18. Re2 Bc6 19. c3 g6 20. Nf6 Be7 21. Be1 Nf5 22. Ne4 Ng7 23. Ng4 Rad8 24. Ngf2 h5 25. Bd2 h4 26. Be3 Ne6 27. Nf6 a5 28. N2e4 b4 29. Ng5 Rd3 1/2-1/2

Result "1/2-1/2"

Anand - Shirov
White: Shirov, A.
Black: Anand, V.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Be3 Bb4 9. Na4 Be7 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Nxc8 Qxc8 13. Bd4 O-O 14. Qd3 Qc7 15. b3 a5 16. Rad1 d5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Bf3 Rfd8 19. c4 Nf6 20. Qc3 Bd6 21. g3 c5 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Qxf6 Be7 24. Qh6 Qe5 25. Rde1 Qf6 26. Qh5 Bf8 27. Re4 Rd4 28. Rxd4 Qxd4 29. Re1 Qf6 30. Re4 Bg7 31. Rf4 Qe7 32. Rh4 h6 33. Rg4 f5 34. Rg6 Kh7 35. g4 Rf8 36. gxf5 Rxf5 37. Be4 Rxh5 38. Rxe6+ Kh8 39. Rxe7 Re5 40. Rxe5 Bxe5 41. Kg2 Kg7 42. Bb1 Kf6 43. h4 Bf4 44. Kf3 Ke5 45. Kg4 Bc1 46. f3 Bd2 47. Kh5 Kf6 48. Bc2 Bc1 49. Be4 Bd2 50. Bd5 Bc1 51. a4 Be3 52. Bg8 Bd2 1/2-1/2
Result "1/2-1/2"