BIEL, July 29: Anand's gamble to drift to an unfamiliar position cost him heavily as he lost to local contender Vadim Milov but the Indian Grandsmaster continued to share the top spot with world Fide champion Anatoly Karpov after the seventh round of the Credit Suisse International Grandmaster chess tournament, here yesterday.

Twenty-five-year-old Russian born GM, rated 38 in the world and lagging 138 ELO ratings below Anand, scored an excellent victory forcing the leader to resign in the 61st move. Milov played a calculated 25th move and with a knight sacrifice kept up the pressure on Anand before scoring a biggest win in his career.Despite the loss, Anand was leading with five points.

In another match, Karpov drew his game in quick time with Grandmaster Boris Gelfend of Belarus. Anand plays Gelfend in the eight round tomorrow.

Predictably, Anand in order to shock Milov played Grandmaster Kramnik's set of opening moves, which turned out to be a false expectation, as Milov later said that he was dreaming for Anand to play such an opening.

Anand, with some piece advantage started off with some confidence but drifted to a postion unaccustomed to him, which was evident as his 13th move helped Milov to spread out from a trapped situation and also weaken Anand's King's position.Cashing in Anand's perplexed situation, Milov quickly gained control and played sharply taking control of white squares surrounding Anand's King.

World champion Karpov, who has won over 150 international crowns in his 28-year-chess career, played it safe against Boris Gelfend to share the top spot with Anand and keep his fortunes alive. He drew his game with Gelfend in just 20 moves.

Results (7th round): Anand (5) lost to Milov (3.5); Karpov (5) drew with Gelfend (4); Y Pelletier (1) drew with J Lautier (2.5).

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.