25th March, 2003

AS the 12th Amber tournament draws to its conclusion in Monte Carlo,
steady play from world number three Vishy Anand sees the Indian ace
holding what could be a vital half point lead over the field in the
combined standings.

As Anand heads for what could be his third Amber title, hot on his tail
after a very productive eighth round is defending champion Alexander
Morozevich, who caused a major sensation by beating world champion
Vladimir Kramnik in both their games to take the full points - a result
that rocked four-time winner and top seed Kramnik to his foundations, as
it knocked him out of contention for the top spot and a fifth title.

The double whammy from Morozevich catapulted the young Russian into
joint second in the overall standings with Boris Gelfand on 10/16.
Gelfand leads the blindfold section on 6/8; ahead of Kramnik on 5.5 and
Veselin Topalov on 5. In the rapidplay section, Anand is in the joint
lead with Evgeny Bareev on 6/8, both a half point ahead of Morozevitch.

Combined standings: 1 V Anand (India) 10.5/16; 2-3 A Morozevich
(Russia), B Gelfand (Israel) 10; 4-5 P Leko (Hungary), V Topalov
(Bulgaria) 9.5; 6 V Kramnik (Russia) 8.5; 7 E Bareev (Russia) 8; 8 Z
Almasi (Hungary) 7.5; 9-10 V Ivanchuk (Ukraine), L Van Wely
(Netherlands) 7; 11 A Shirov (Spain) 6.5; 12 L Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia) 2.

Kramnik missed his chance to salvage a half point from his blindfold
encounter with Morozevich: 36 Rxb7! Qxb7 37 Ne7+ Bxe7 38 fxe7 Re8 39
Nf6+ Rxf6 40 Qxf6 Qd5 should draw.

V Kramnik - A Morozevich
Amber Blindfold, (8)
French Tarrasch
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 Be7 8 dxc5
0-0 9 Qd2 Nxc5 10 a3 b6 11 Bb5 Bb7 12 0-0 Rc8 13 Rad1 Qc7 14 Qe1 Rfd8 15
Bxc6 Bxc6 16 Nd4 g6 17 Bf2 Bf8 18 Bh4 Re8 19 Kh1 a6 20 Bf6 Nd7 21 Qh4
Nxf6 22 exf6 Qd8 23 f5 exf5 24 Nxf5 Re6 25 Nd4 Rd6 26 Qf4 b5 27 Rde1 Bb7
28 Re3 Qb6 29 Nce2 a5 30 Ng3 b4 31 axb4 axb4 32 Nh5 Qd8 33 Nf5 d4 34 Re7
Rb6 35 Rfe1 Qd5 36 R1e2 Qxf5 37 Qxf5 gxf5 0-1

JOHN B HENDERSON