China's Zhang Pengxiang Ousts World Champion Karpov in Chess Worlds

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 29, 2001

China's Zhang Pengxiang Ousts World Champion Karpov in Chess Worlds

China's Zhang Pengxiang produced the day's biggest surprise in the first round of the world chess championships when he defeated former chess world champion Anatoly Karpov on Wednesday.

China's Zhang Pengxiang produced the day's biggest surprise in the first round of the world chess championships when he defeated former chess world champion Anatoly Karpov on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, India's Viswanathan Anand, holder of the FIDE world chess champion's title, gained revenge Wednesday for his shock defeat by a rank outsider in the first round of the 2001-2002 championship, beating Frenchman Olivier Touzane in under two hours.

Touzane, ranked last of the 128 contestants meeting in the Kremlin's Palace of Congresses for the knock-out competition, pulled off a major upset by defeating Anand, ranked first, with the black pieces on Tuesday.

Anand, who won the FIDE (World Chess Federation) title in Teheran last year, fought back to equalise by using the relatively obscure Volga gambit to outwit his opponent.

Zhang, ranked 113th, defeated Karpov, who had been world champion in 1975-1985 and then in 1996-1998, in the course of two tie-breaks, mounting tension until his famed opponent ran out of time while considering his next move.

"I wanted to draw the first two games and to play the tie-breaks. My idea was to avoid the exchange of pieces to preserve my chances and to maintain tension in the game," the Chinese player confided after the game.

These tactics succeeded brilliantly against the 48-year-old Karpov, who had already lost to the 21-year-old Zhang four years ago at an exhibition game in China.

In another surprise move, British chess master Nigel Short was defeated by a little-known Argentine player Daniel Campora.

Short, who had challenged the world's top player Garry Kasparov for the world title in 1993, is the only chess master, apart from Kasparov, to have beaten Karpov in a full match.

The world's top two players, Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, are boycotting the championship and playing a separate head-to-head match beginning on Saturday.