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Anand draws opening game August 01, 2003 15:35 IST Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand played a hard-fought 57-move draw with defending champion Peter Leko of Hungary in his opening match at the Dortmund Sparkassen International on Thursday. The NIIT-sponsored former world champion is now in tied third place with half a point after the opening round. The event is a category 18 event with an average rating of Elo 2695. There are ten rounds in the event. In the other games in this six-man super GM tournament, Vladimir Kramnik took an early lead with a good win over youngster Teimour Rajdabov in the first round. In the third game, Moldovan GM Viktor Bologan converted a pawn advantage in the sixth hour of play in a rook and pawn ending to a full point against local hope, GM Arkadi Naidistch. Anand was a pawn up, but there was little chance of him being able to convert that into a meaningful point. As a result, he accepted the peace offer and shared the point. In the next round Anand clashes with Radjabov and could well get a full point considering the low state the youngster is expected to be in after a crushing defeat against Kramnik. Anand will have white pieces. Two of the three games, including the Anand-Leko games, saw Sicilian-Sveshnikov openings, opening up the speculation that like some of the other big tournaments this year, this going to the flavour of this event, too. However, Kramnik, whose form has been a matter of discussion, simply because he has not been seen in action and dropped a few Elo points in the last rating list, demolished first-timer Azerbaijani Teimour Radjabov in just 31 moves of a Sicilian-Sveshnikov. The third match, pitting comparitive lightweights, Arkadi Naiditsch, considered by many as the new hope chess hope of Germany, drew with Moldovan Viktor Bologan, who got a berth by virtue of his win in the Aeroflot tournament earlier this year. The game was a marathon 63-move clash in Caro-Kann. Kramnik outplayed Radjabov's attempt to play a rather dubious line in the Sveshnikov Sicilian, while Bologan held the edge from start and scored a full point against Naiditsch, though it took a long 63 moves to do so. Round 1 Results: Kramnik beat Radjabov; Anand drew with Leko; Naiditsch lost to Bologan. Second round pairings: Anand v Radjabov, Leko v Naiditsch, Bologan v Kramnik Round 1 Standings: 1. Bologan and Kramnik 1.0 each; 3. Anand and Leko 0.5 each; 5. Naiditsch and Radjabov 0. Anand's Game Anand (2774) v Leko (2739)
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