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Leko takes Dortmund title

THE 19-year-old Peter Leko, who hogged headlines when he emerged as the youngest ever Grandmaster at age 14, in 1994, took a major step in the senior world by annexing his finest title win ever at the 27th edition of the Category 19 Dortmund Chess Days at the Main Opera House in Dortmund City.

Leko is currently ranked the World's No. 1 junior player. At the end of the tournament, Leko -- who travels with his mother -- has 2694 ELO points, just a toucher away from joining that elite band of players who have 2700 or more.

Originally from Szeged in Hungary, Leko has of late been playing, and living, in Germany. This win makes him only the third player, this year, to win a Super GM tournament. Garri Kasparov has, in 1999, played in three such tournaments and won all of them. Michael Adams is the only other player, apart from Kasparov and Leko, to have a Super GM title to his credit this year.

On the calendar, two more Super GM tournaments are slated for Tilburg and Belgrade, but there hasn't been much word from those venues thus far, and it is suspected that the recently concluded tournament in Dortmund could be the last of its kind this year, as focus shifts to two world championship bouts later in the year.

Leko is now emerging as one of the major challengers for the top players, Garry Kasparov, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. Incidentally, the lanky lad becomes the first teenager to win a tournament ranked Category 19 or above, and is being tipped as one of the dark horses to watch for at the forthcoming World Championships at Las Vegas -- in fact, he could well turn into a tournament favourite given that Kasparov and Anand have both opted out, and there are some doubts about the participation of both Karpov and Kramnik.

At Vegas, Leko is seeded into the second round, where he will meet the winner of the match between young Ukrainian Rustam Kasimdzhanov, winner of the Asian Championships in Teheran last year, and Bauer.

Meanwhile, the final round at Dortmund saw three quick draws, including one between Leko and Ivan Sokolov. The lone win of the day came from Michael Adams, who scored over the out of form Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

Leko finished with five points, with Kramnik being half a point adrift. Anatoly Karpov, Anand and Michael Adams shared the third spot with four points each. Anand, who had just one win -- over Jan Timman -- in the seven-round tournament, drew his last round against Vladimir Kramnik, one of the most successful players in Dortmund.

Dortmund has never really been a favourite venue for Anand, who finished with just 50 per cent points last year. Though he managed better this year with four out of a possible seven, he never seemed at his best. From his play, it would appear that he is more preoccupied with his upcoming match against Garry Kasparov, later this year, for the PCA world title.

The official announcement of the Kasparov-Anand match, being billed as the Ultimate World Championships, is yet forthcoming. It has not yet been decided whether the ultimate matchup will happen in Prague, London or New York, but a venue is expected to be finalised in the immediate future. The match is expected to have a prize purse of three million dollars -- two million dollars going to the winner while the loser takes one million.

The last world title match between Anand and Kasparov, in 1995 at the World Trade Centre in New York, ended in a win for Kasparov. That match was held under the aegis of the now-defunct Professional Chess Association.

The upcoming Kasparov-Anand match also means that Anand has opted out of the official body, FIDE, and will not figure in the tournament scheduled for Las Vegas in September-October.

The Kramnik-Anand game was quickly drawn in 18 moves from a Nimzo-Indian defence and once that result was obtained, Leko quickly drew his own game to secure the title. Kramnik had a chance of catching up with Leko if he had won his game against Anand and Leko had either drawn or lost his. Leko got his half point from Sokolov in just 21 moves of a Gruenfeld defence.

There was little excitement on the final day, except a scoreboard malfunction that showed Anand a piece down in just 10 moves. It later turned out that the scoreboard had failed to register one move of Anand. The error had Leko -- as also many fans -- in a flap, because Kramnik with a win could have caught up Leko. Once the mistake was discovered, it was all smooth sailing for the eventual title winner.

Final standings

1. Leko, Peter g HUN 2694 (5.0 points)
2. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2751 (4.5 points)
3. Karpov, Anatoly g RUS 2710 (4.0 points)
4. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2781 (4.0 points)
5. Adams, Michael g ENG 2716 (4.0 points)
6. Sokolov, Ivan g BIH 2624 (2.5 points)
7. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2700 (2.0 points)
8. Timman, Jan H g NED 2670 (2.0 points)

Anand's seventh round game, Nimzo Indian defence, versus Kramnik:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8. dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Nf3 Bf5 11. b4 d4 12. g4 Bg6 13. Qc4 d3 14. Bg2 Qf6 15. Ra2 Ne5 16. Qb5+ Nc6 17. Qc4 Ne5 18. Qb5+ Nc6 1/2-1/2