Dortmund Super Chess: Anand draws yet again

DORTMUND: Viswanathan Anand drew with Boris Gelfand of Israel in the third round to maintain his joint second position at the Dortmund Super Grandmasters Chess Meet underway here.

Anand is tied second with four others at 1.5 points apiece, half point adrift of the tournament leaders Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Alekseev, both Russian, in the seven round prestigious event.

Draw was the order of the day after the competition resumed followoing a rest day at the Dortmund as none of the four games produced a decisive result and the tournament standings remained unchanged.

World Champion Vladimir Kramnik drew against third seeded GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to stay in the lead. Alekseev drew with Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen while Peter Leko split point with Arkadij Naiditsch, who is lying joint third with Gelfand.

Anand, playing black pieces against Gelfand, once again relied on the Semi Slav defense as in his first round game against Kramnik, and had little difficulty in obtaining equality from the opening after some clever tactical play.

The players exchanged three minor pieces and reached a position with a symmetrical pawn structure. Anand held an advantage in space but did not fancy his winning chances due to reduced material on the Board. The players agreed to split the point on the 21st move.

Mamedyarov adopted a quiet system against the Kramnik's Queens Indian defence. Kramnik accepted hanging pawns to increase the scope of his pieces and a thrilling battle appeared to be on the cards.

In the middle game, Kramnik went in for a forced tactical sequence which led to large scale trading of pieces and pawns. A roughly level position was reached after the tactical flurry. There was some imbalance in the position but the players decided to play it safe and agreed to a draw after 21 moves.

Evgeny Alekseev hung on to the lead with a draw against Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen in a Queens Indian defencegame. Carlsen, playing white, obtained a technical edge by saddling his opponent with hanging pawns in the endgame.

Alekseev defended energetically and managed to create counter play. Magnus won a pawn, but a rook ending was reached with Alekseev having a very active rook. Due to the constant threats created by this rook, Carlsen was unable to make any progress and conceded the draw after a 59 move battle.

Peter Leko (Hungary) played the Alapin variation against the Sicilian defence adopted by Arkadij Naiditsch. Leko tried to create chances for himself, in the middlegame and in the endgame, but his German opponent countered him effectively and managed to maintain equality.

After exhausting all possible tries, Leko agreed to a split the point in a clearly drawn endgame.

Results Round 3: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1.5) drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 2.0); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1.5) drew Evgeny Alekseev (Rus, 1.5); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 1.0) drew Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 1.5); Peter Leko (Hun, 1.5) drew Arkadij Naiditsch (Ger, 1.0)

The moves: Boris Gelfand  Viswanathan Anand 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 00 8.Be2 b6 9.00 Bb7 10.Bb2 Qe7 11.Rad1 Rad8 12.Rfe1 Rfe8 13.Bd3 e5 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nd4 Nxd3 17.Qxd3 Ne4 18.Nf5 Qg5 19.Nxe4 dxe4 20.Qb5 Ba6 21.Qxa6