Anand to clash with Leko

World champion Vishwanathan Anand will take on Grandmaster Peter Leko of Hungary in the second semifinal of the Advance Chess tournament, which kicks-off in Leon, Spain, on Friday.

The four-player knock-out tournament, the 14th in the Chess festival organised in Spain every year, will feature GM Alexei Shirov of Spain and GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the first semifinal on Friday.

Anand starts his campaign on Saturday. The final will be played on Sunday.

Originally the idea of Russian Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, Advance chess has gained in popularity over the years. The players will be aided by computers during the game in order to cut down on tactical errors that are prevalent at all levels of competition.

Each match will comprise four games and initially the players will be given 20 minutes while 15 seconds will be added to their clocks after every move.

After Kasparov's first stint in Advance chess against Topalov in 1998, Anand made mincemeat of former World champion GM Anatoly Karpov of Russia the following year by a 5-1 margin to emerge as one of the most formidable players in the tournament. This incidentally also led to a change in the format by the organisers and last year four players competed.

The system did not affect Anand, as he stamped his authority yet again by outclassing Shirov in the final after routing GM Judith Polgar of Hungary in the semis.

Anand will be looking forward to a deserving hat-trick this year. All the participants have played a few tournaments in the recent past but only Anand has tasted some outstanding successes.

The victory in the just-concluded Merida Super Grandmasters' tournament has given Anand a substantial edge. Shirov, in fact, got a double beating at the hands of Kasparov in the just-concluded Astana Super GMs tournament and finished in the bottom half.

The schedule:
June 8: 1st Semifinal: Alexei Shirov vs Veselin Topalo
June 9 2nd Semifinal: V Anand vs Peter Leko
June 10: Finals.