Anand loses concentration, lets Hubner off the hook
Top-seeded Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik (3.5 points) jumped into the lead by outplaying
tailender Artur Yusupov (half) of Germany in the fourth round of the silver jubilee International Chess Tournament being played at Dortmund Opera House in Dortmund on Tuesday.
THE RESULTS OF ROUND 4:
Kramnik Vladimir (3.5) beat Artur Yusupov (0.5)
Viswanathan Anand (3) drew Robert Huebner (1.5)
Karpov Anatoly (2) drew Judith Polgar (3)
Nigel Short (2) drew Boris Gelfand (1.5)
Ivanchuk Vassily (1.5) drew Topalov Veselin (1.5)
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Indian grandmaster and defending champion Viswanathan Anand (3) squandered his advantage and was held to a draw by former candidate for the world championship Dr Robert Hubner (1.5) of Germany.
Kramnik produced one of the best technical performances while despatching Yusupov to his doom. The Russian-turned-German grandmaster tried to go for Kramnik's well-placed piece in the centre and neglected his own dark squares. Twenty-two-year-old Kramnik struck by planting his own pieces in the heart of black position.
Yusupov managed to exchange the invading white pieces but had to allow a dangerous pawn to Kramnik on the 31st move. The young top seed thereafter played a series of wonderful moves and
forced Yusupov to surrender on the 44th move.
Hubner tried to unsettle Anand by repeating Karpov's moves against the Indian played in Las Palmas in December 1996. Karpov was outplayed by Anand in that game. On Tuesday Hubner could not improve upon the game and was soon in difficulties. Anand had a pair of dangerous pawns which tied down the heavy artillery. Hubner gave up a pawn to simplify the position but Anand maintained an upper hand. At this moment Anand must have lost his concentration as Hubner escaped with a draw after a marathon battle of 61 moves.
Judith Polgar (3), the Hungarian sensation, was pleasantly surprised when world champion Anatoly Karpov offered her a draw after playing just 13 moves. Judith and Anand are both trailing Kramnik by half a point. The fifth round will resume after a rest day.
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