London: Battle between players having enjoyed World Champion status is always eagerly awaited and it was no different when Round 4 of the ongoing London Chess Classic 2012 in progress at the Olympia Centre in London had Viswanathan Anand pitted against Vladimir Kramnik.
The NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand had wrested his first Classical world title from Vladimir Kramnik in 2008 at Bonn, Germany but the fourth round encounter was more a display of solid chess without much fuss and one which ended without a decisive result.
Meanwhile Magnus Carlsen provided plenty of excitement by defeating Gawain Jones and surpassed the magical Elo 2856 in Live Ratings, the highest ever rating logged by Gary Kasparov. Albeit these ratings are not official but nevertheless invoke interest of chess enthusiasts and those keeping tabs on statistics.
Carlsen is now the sole leader in this 9 player Round Robin tournament with 10 points while Kramnik follows next, with 8 points. A victory garners 3 points and one point is awarded for a draw. Wednesday is a rest day for the tournament.
Amongst other games Levon Aronian who has been terribly out of form, scored his first victory over a blundering Gawain Jones while Hikaru Nakamura once again toiled without much luck in trying to convert a slightly advantageous position into victory against Michael Adams.
Anand had outplayed Kramnik with the Queen Pawn Opening in their World title bout in 2008 but tried to surprise Kramnik with the King pawn opening, late Tuesday night. Kramnik however stuck to his favourite Berlin Defence, the one which he had extensively and effectively used to defeat Kasparov in their World Title Match.
However well equipped with theory, there were hardly any surprising moments and both reached a blocked position, preferring to manoeuvre internally.
After 40 moves, the crowded looking board was blocked and neither player had any mobility to chances to make progress and peace was thus signed.
RESULTS OF ROUND 4: Viswanathan Anand (3) drew against Vladimir Kramnik (8); Hikaru Nakamura (5) drew against Michael Adams (7); Magnus Carlsen (10) bt Gawain Jones (2); Luke McShane (1) lost to Levon Aronian (4); Judit Polgar (1)-Bye
Pairings of Round 5; Gawain Jones Vs Viswanathan Anand; Vladimir Kramnik Vs Luke McShane; Michael Adams Vs Magnus Carlsen; Judit Polgar Vs Hikaru Nakamura; Levon ARonian- Bye.
By Indian Sports News Network
