Mexico City, Sep 25 (IANS) India’s Viswanathan Anand took a major step towards becoming the world chess champion with a solid draw against arch-rival Vladimir Kramnik of Russia at the World Chess Championships here.
Anand could have gone for the win Tuesday, but as he is already a full point ahead with only four more rounds to go, he eschewed all risks and agreed for a draw.
Anand is now on 6.5 points with three wins – the most by any player in the competition – and seven draws, one point ahead of Boris Gelfand of Israel, who has 5.5 points but is also looking tired.
Kramnik is the joint third with fast-improving Peter Leko of Hungary and Lev Aronian of Armenia at five points.
Gelfand and Leko drew in 24 moves of a Catalan.
Aronian has begun salvaging the tournament with a good win over the out-of-form Alexander Grischuk of Russia in 42 moves from Queen’s Gambit and Peter Svidler of Russia and Alexander Morozevich of Russia drew in 44 moves from a Caro-Kann.
The tenth round was possibly the most crucial, as defending world champion Kramnik needed to beat Anand to stay in the title hunt. For Anand, world number one, a draw or a win here would make his path to the world title somewhat simpler.
Playing in Anti-Meran gambit, Anand with black stayed solid. After coming out fairly equal in the opening, Kramnik tried to apply pressure with a new move on the 17th. But Anand stayed on his course and had two pawns and a good position in return for an exchange.
While Kramnik kept mounting pressure, Anand had sufficient counter play. By the 33rd move, it was a position of dynamic balance, which neither side could improve seriously.
But Anand managed an excellent position with his pawn moves. For a brief while, Kramnik seemed in a bit of trouble.
The Indian may have pushed forward, but probably in view of his excellent overall position in the tournament he did not want to take any risks while going for a win. So, he agreed to a draw even though he played well and is on his way to becoming the new world champion.
In the 11th round, Anand will have white pieces against Morozevich.
Results of Round 10: Gelfand drew with Leko; Kramnik drew with Anand; Aronian beat Grischuk; Svidler drew with Morozevich
Standings after Round 10: 1. Anand 6.5 points; 2. Gelfand 5.5; 3. Kramnik, Leko and Aronian 5.0; 6. Grischuk and Morozevich 4.5; 8. Svidler 4.0
Pairings for Round 11: Anand v Morozevich; Gelfand v Svidler; Grischuk v Kramnik; Leko v Aronian