The Daily Update: Anand Drubs Karpov; Zhigalko Regains World Junior Lead

The only drama there would be in the Anand-Karpov match was whether Anand would exceed Kasparov’s 3-1 ratio against Karpov, and the answer is that yes, he did. Anand won 2-0 in today’s games, and finished with a 3.5-.5 match victory. Anand was better prepared, faster, and played better after the opening too. Sad to say, I have to agree with Mark Crowther, who acidly wrote that “Karpov really does have to do at least some remedial work on his game if he is to play any more of these exhibitions. At the moment they’re close to being a waste of time.” You can replay those games, with my light comments, here.

As for the World Junior, Sergei Zhigalko’s win over Avetik Grigoryan put him in clear first entering the last round; previous co-leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave could only draw against Ivan Popov. (As for the Americans, Robson lost and Lenderman won.) So Zhigalko has 10 out of 12, but can only guarantee first place with a last round win over Ivan Popov, though he’ll also clinch the title with a draw and a non-V-L win against Dmitry Andreikin. Here are the leading last round pairings:

Zhigalko (10) – Popov (8.5)
Vachier-Lagrave (9.5) – Andreikin (8.5)
Olszewski (8) – Margvelashvili (8.5)
Iturrizaga (8) – Lenderman (8)
Yangyi Yu (8) – Grigoryan (8)

Only the first two are relevant to the battle for first, but there’s the silver and bronze to be decided, too. Full pairings here, and full round 12 results here.

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