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Corsica Rapid Open, Bastia, France
 October 28 to 31,2001

World Champion Viswanathan Anand added another feather to his cap when he defeated Grandmaster Alexander Chernin of Hungary, under technical count, in the final of the Corsica Masters Rapid Chess tournament here today. Warming up for the World Championships later this month in Moscow, Anand took things easy and the victory, though sweet, did not quite come in the natural style as the Indian stalwart has the reputation of destroying his opponents in the rapid version of the game. The final comprising of a two-game mini-match ended in a 1-1 deadlock and Anand playing black in the tiebreak only had to draw to win the title that he forced in 36 moves.

Anand drew with black in the tiebreak for the second time in the tournament - the first had come against another Hungarian GM Peter Leko in the quarterfinals. The Indian GM held on to his own in the final with some excellent defensive maneuvers and imaginative counter-play on the kingside, forced a draw by perpetual checks.

The opening was a deviation from the Trompowski variation and a sudden frenzy of piece-trade left both the players with only heavy pieces. Anand had one weak link in the form of a king-pawn but he nonchalantly exchanged it and subsequently the rooks too. In the ensuing queen and pawn endgame Anand made a pawn sacrifice to force a draw.

Earlier, in the first game with normal time control of 20 minutes and 5 seconds addition after every move, Anand faced the Modern defence with white pieces and obtained a miniscule advantage out of the opening. However, timely exchange of pieces helped Chernin to neutralise white’s initiative and a tactical breakthrough in the final stages of the game steered the game to a draw in 44 moves.

In the second game, Chernin failed to impress with white pieces as Anand dealt his English opening with effective ease on both flanks. The game did not have much for the spectators either as the Hungarian had to contend with a 22-move draw through repetition.

Anand meets Chernin in the final

World Champion Viswanathan Anand stormed into the final of the Corsica Masters Rapid Chess tournament with a resounding 1.5-0.5 victory over Russian born Dutchman Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov in the first semifinal here today. Anand will meet GM Alexander Chernin of Hungary in the final and is a big favourite to win the title. Chernin accounted for rising local star GM Joel Lautier with an identical 1.5-0.5 margin in the other semifinal.

In the first game, Anand made mincemeat of Tiviakov’s Sicilian defence with the white pieces. The game, that took shape in one of the offbeat dragon variations, gave Anand a spatial advantage early in the opening and the Indian ace capitalised on a late middle-game error of his opponent to squeeze out the defensive resources. It was a devastating Knight check on the 28th move that destroyed Tiviakov’s position as he was forced to part with his queen for two pieces a couple of moves later. However, the pieces failed to give Tiviakov the desired compensation and Anand wrapped up the game in 41 moves.

The second game too was tense and this time Tiviakov took his chances with the white pieces. The Caro Kann defence has remained faithful to Anand for a long time now and he came up with a relatively new idea conceding the Bishop pair advantage early in the opening. However, the nature of the position remained closed thereon and Tivakov’s attempt to open up was dealt-with, in masterly fashion. The queens got traded on the 26th move and the endgame then was easy to deal. After fighting it out till the 54th move, Tiviakov resigned.

Earlier in the quarterfinals Anand cruised past his long time rival GM Peter Leko of Hungary after drawing the first three games. After a couple of nail biting draws with each colour in the normal time control, Anand got the advantage of black pieces in the third game and needed only another draw to get through to the next stage. Starting with the Sicilian defence, Anand employed the accelerated dragon variation and did not look in much difficulty as pieces were disposed of in the middle-game.

Semi Finals

Sergei Tiviakov (2599) - Viswanathan Anand (2770) 0-1 1/2
Alexander Chernin (2592) - Joel Lautier (2653) 1-0 1/2

Quarter Finals

Sergei Rublevsky (2634) - Joel Lautier (2653) 1/2 0-1 
Alexander Chernin (2592) - Vladislav Tkachiev (2632) 1-0 1/2
Viswanathan Anand (2770) - Peter Leko (2739) 1/2 1/2 1/2
Igor Glek (2590) - Sergei Tiviakov (2599) 1/2 1/2 0-1

Pre Quarter Finals

Sergei Rublevsky (2634) - Andrei Kharlov (2656) 1-0 0-1 1-0
Sergei Tiviakov (2599) - Mikhail Gurevich (2605) 1/2 1/2 
Predrag Nikolic (2652) - Peter Leko (2739) 0-1 1/2
Loek Van Wely (2714) - Alexander Chernin (2592) 0-1 1-0 0-1
Vladislav Tkachiev (2632) - Alexander Schneider (2506) 1/2 1/2 1-0
Etienne Bacrot (2653) - Viswanathan Anand (2770) 0-1 0-1
Alexander Rustemov (2611) - Igor Glek (2590) 0-1 1/2
Alexei Barsov (2525) - Joel Lautier (2653) 1/2 1/2 0-1

Official Site http://www.opencorsica.com/

PTI