NEW DELHI: World champion Viswanathan Anand

10/11/09

Sporty India Updated

NEW DELHI: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out his third draw with black pieces after facing Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov in the fourth round of the Tal memorial chess tournament in Moscow on Sunday. Anand’s 32-move draw took his tally to 2.5 points on a day when only Vladimir Kramnik won to emerge as the leader at three points.

Anand once again chose the Grunfeld Defence and had no trouble in coming up with a draw. After a day of rest, when the action shifts to Gum Mall for the remaining five rounds, Anand will play with white pieces against Hungary’s Peter Leko. Kramnik, who started the day by sharing the lead with Anand and Armenia’s Levon Aronian, cruised to his second successive win. Kramnik got around Svidler’s Grunfeld Defence and won in 37 moves.

The results: Fourth round: Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 2) drew with Viswanathan Anand (2.5); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3) bt Peter Svidler (Rus, 1); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 2.5); Peter Leko (Hun, 1.5) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 1.5) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 2).