21st March, 2003

FRESH from his big win at Linares, Peter Leko's purple patch continues
as the young Hungarian leads the field at the midway point of the Amber
tournament being played at the Vista Palace Hotel in Monte Carlo.

With a hefty prize fund of $193,250, the Amber tournament is the most
original of chess events, and seen as a throwback to the golden era of
chess with the cream of the world's elite players having to combining
the disciplines of blindfold chess and rapid chess - and all staged
annually in Monte Carlo to honour the birthday of Melody Amber, the
teenage daughter of Dutch philanthropist and chess addict, J.J. Van
Oosterom.

Unbeaten on a combined score of 5.5/8, Leko, looking for his first Amber
title, has the comfort of a half point lead over a formidable chasing
pack that includes four-time winner Vladimir Kramnik, two-time winner
Vishy Anand, defending champion Alexander Morozevich, and Boris Gelfand.
Strangely enough, Leko isn't leading in either category. Kramnik holds top
spot on 3.5/4 in the blindfold section, while Anand, Bareev, and
Morozevich lead in the rapid section with 3/4.

Combined standings: 1 P Leko (Hungary) 5.5/8; 2-5 V Anand (India), V
Kramnik (Russia), B Gelfand (Israel), A Morozevich (Russia) 5; 6-8 V
Ivanchuk (Ukraine), E Bareev (Russia), V Topalov (Bulgaria) 4; 9 L Van
Wely, (Netherlands) 3.5; 10 Z Almasi (Hungary) 3; 11 A Shirov (Spain)
2.5; 12 L Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia) 1.5.

L Ljubojevic - A Morozevich
Amber Blindfold, (4)
Chigorin Defence
1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 3 cxd5 Qxd5 4 e3 e5 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Bd2 Bxc3 7 bxc3 Nf6 8
c4 Qd6 9 d5 Ne7 10 Qb1 0-0 11 e4 Nd7 12 Bb4 Nc5 13 Nf3 b6 14 Qb2 f5 15
Qxe5 Nd3+ 16 Bxd3 Qxb4+ 17 Nd2 Ng6 18 Qd4 c5 19 dxc6 Nf4 20 e5 Qb2 21
Qxf4 Qxa1+ 22 Bb1 Re8 23 0-0 Qxe5 24 Qxe5 Rxe5 25 Nf3 Rc5 26 Re1 Ba6 27
Ne5 g6 28 Bc2 Re8 29 f4 Bxc4 30 Ra1 Rexe5 31 fxe5 Rxc6 32 Ba4 b5 33 Bb3
Kf7 34 Rd1 Ke6 35 Rd8 a5 36 Re8+ Kd5 37 Rb8 Kxe5 38 Kf2 Kd4 39 Rb7 h6 40
Bd1 b4 41 Ra7 Rc5 42 Rd7+ Kc3 43 Rd6 Rd5 0-1

JOHN B HENDERSON