Kamsky finishes in elegant style after a slowish middlegame. Svidler topples Topalov in a Grunfeld. Anand survives a Marshall attack.
Kamsky – Ponomariov
Ponomariov tries out Kamsky’s favoured anti-Marshall manoeuvre as the queenside knight sails over to …e6. He follows that with an energetic break in the centre. Both sides are strongly centralised, so the exchanges start. Kamsky repulses Ponomariov’s queenside attack, which leaves Ponomariov with a weak a-pawn. This opens the route for the White major pieces onto the seventh rank. Kamsky wields this into a dangerous kingside attack. Ponomariov can’t fend off Kamsky’s strong threats.
Topalov – Svidler
Svidler gets stuck into Topalov’s position in a Classical Exchange Grunfeld. Black’s pieces create threats through White’s porous centre. Svidler’s aggression expands over both wings as well as the centre, and his two bishops scythe through Topalov’s position virtually unchallenged. Topalov is dead lost in the ensuing rook and same-coloured bishops endgame.
Anand – Bacrot
Anand allows a Marshall Gambit in the Ruy Lopez, and he offers the exchange to defuse Bacrot’s initiative. Anand gains the two bishops and a strong pawn-centre for the exchange, as well as the initiative. After a complicated middlegame the game drifts toward an ending where a repetition of position splits the points.