Chessville News - Ciudad de Leon 2006 - First Semi-Final - Reported by GM Zenón Franco Ocampos, Press Chief

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Ciudad de Leon 2006, First Semi-Final
Anand reaches the final after a hard fight

Reported by GM Zenón Franco Ocampos, Press Chief

Vishy Anand and Cuban Lázaro Bruzón played one of the most exciting chess matches ever held in Leon. Anand was clearly the favourite, but he had to overcome a lot of difficulties to win the match.

The first 4 games finished in a draw, and in the tie-break Bruzón won the fifth game with a vigorous attack; a draw was enough to win the match but Anand won the sixth game, and after suffering a lot to achieve a draw in the seventh game, he won the last one to win 4 ½ a 3 ½.

Bruzón,L (2652) - Anand,V (2803) [B00]
XIX Magistral Ciudad de León (5), 08.06.2006

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 d5 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Bd6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.Nbd2 cxd4 9.exd4 b6 10.a3 Bb7 11.Ne5 Qc7 12.Qe2 Ne7 13.f4 b5 14.Rf3 Rac8 15.Rc1 b4 16.a4 Ng6 17.Rcf1 Ne4 18.Rh3 f5 19.Bxe4 dxe4 20.Qh5 Bxe5 21.fxe5 Qxc2 22.Qxh7+ Kf7 23.Rg3 Qxd2 24.Rxg6 Rg8 25.Rxe6 Kxe6 26.Qxf5+ Ke7 27.Qf7+ Kd8 28.e6 1-0

Download all eight games here, in a 7 kb zipped pgn file.

In the press conference, a visibly tired Anand said he knew the match would probably take the course it took, because Bruzón, as was shown in the games against Kasimdzhanov and Radjabov from the Olympiad of Turin, in which Bruzón won, he showed his defensive skills and his ability to counterattack; Anand thought he was slightly lucky to win the encounter. Bruzón said that the games were interesting, and that he missed good opportunities, especially in the last two games.

Tomorrow the second semi-final will be played between World Champion Vesselin Topalov and the young Spaniard Francisco Vallejo Pons; the Ambassador of Bulgaria in Spain Mr. Vassily Takev, will make the first move.

The official website is www.advancedchessleon.com.

Note the lack of eye contact during the pre-game handshake...