MANILA: Indian sensation Viswanathan Anand scored a shock win over Mikhail Gurevich of the Soviet Union July 12 and improved his chances of qualifying as the lone Asian in the candidates round for the world chess championship.
Anand, a 21yearold economics student from Madras, whipped Gurevich, the world’s seventh ranked player, in 38 moves of a French Defense.
Playing White, the Indian forced Gurevich to resign when he threatened to queen pawn as Black ran out of checks.
“A win was the last thing! Expected,” Anand told reporters. “I came happy to have a draw. But now I have a chance with this victory.”
In the end, Soviet grandmaster Boris Gelfand beat fellow Soviet Jaan Ehlvest on a tiebreak July 14 in the 13th and final round to win the Manila world intentional chess championship. = The top11 players in the 64entrant, Swiss style tournament qualify for the 1991 candidates round matches which will close the challenger to fight current champion Gary Kasparov of the Soviet Union in the 1993 world championship
The qualifiers included India’s Viswanathan Anand, who drew his final game with Soviet Vassily Ivanchuk in 12 moves, and Britain’s Nigel Short who beat the white playing Soviet Mikhail Gurevich in 42 moves. Gelfand, 22, and lvanchuk finished in a dead heat for first place with nine points each but Gelfand clinched the Manila Championship on a tiebreak based on results of earlier games.
An Short each finished with 8.5 points.
When asked if he had any expectations about the candidate’s matches, Anand answered: “Absolutely none.”
“I didn’t think I would qualify until the 12th round, “he added, referring to his upset win over Gurevich.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 27, 1990
