World Champion Viswanathan Anand willtake on Michael Adams of England in the opening round of the second half ofGrenke Chess Classic here.
A missedopportunity, an excellent grind and few expected draws has been the story thusfar for Anand and the Indian ace has every reason to look at the remaininggames with optimism.
It was only theday before the lone rest day that Anand was able to secure a victory at theexpense of Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany. In four draws before that, Anand had missedon a winning opportunity against Daniel Fridman of Germany while the othergames did not give him many chances.
Anand playedthree black games in first five rounds and now he will have three white gamesin the last five which gives him a real chance to catch up and even go past tournamentleader Fabiano Caruana of Italy.
The Italian hasrecovered pretty well after a dismal show at last month's Tata Steel Chesstournament. With 3.5 points in his bag Caruana leads the standings ahead ofAnand who has half point more than Naiditsch and Fridman. Adams is on two pointsfrom five games while Georg Meier of Germany is at the bottom of the standingswith 1.5 points.
The stage is setfor a nail-biting finish if Anand continues in the same vein. The Indian hasbeen in fine form recently and the game against Adams will be crucial to determinethe eventual outcome in the tournament.
It may berecalled that Adams had scored a rare victory against Anand in the London ChessClassic last December and now comes the opportunity for the latter to avengethe defeat.
Caruana is leadingbut has also had his share of luck. He has already survived a couple ofdangerous situations and with three black games remaining, the 'safety-first'approach might already be doing the rounds in the mind of the young Italian.
Naiditsch hasbeen the most uncompromising player in the tournament and has produced as manyas four decisive games. Against Caruana he got an excellent opening but messedit up while against Anand he was no-match.
His victoriesover Meier and Adams were excellent and the German showed his real skills inthose two games. If the tide turns his way, Naiditsch can be a dangerousopponent for the leaders.
Fridman is theonly player who has drawn all his games that signifies solidity in his approachagainst high class opposition. However, the draws don't normally help in tournamentsuccess and it is unlikely that he will be a threat to both Anand and Caruana.
Adams and Meierwill first have to come to a 50 per cent score and only then these two canchart out their plans in the tournament.
Overall, it looksa straight dash to the finish between Caruana and Anand and despite a halfpoint deficit the scale is slightly tilted in favour of the latter to win hisfirst Classical tournament after a long time.
Pairings round 6:Vishwanathan Anand (IND, 3) vs Michael Adams (ENG, 2); Georg Meier (GER, 1.5)vs Fabiano Caruana (ITA, 3.5); Daniel Fridman (GER, 2.5) vs Arkadij Naiditsch (GER,2.5).