Indian ace Viswanathan Anand drew his fifth round game against teenager Teimour Radjabov in the Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament on Thursday evening.
Hungarian Peter Leko shot into the lead after beating local Spaniard Francisco Vallejo Pons, while Garry Kasparov registered his first win, beating FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov.
Ponomariov gave up a pawn to break the attack, but Kasparov made the endgame win look very easy.
Radjabov got nothing with white against NIIT brand ambassador Anand. Despite having white pieces he did not make much progress against the World Cup champion. The game was a Queen's Indian Petrosyan and it lasted all of 25 moves till the two players decided there was no chance for either. That's when they split the point.
Anand is now in second place with 2.5 points from four games. Leko is half a point ahead at three from four games. Radjabov has 2.5 from five games and Kasparov has two from four games. Vallejo Pons has 1.5 from four and Ponomariov, who has now suffered three defeats, has just one from five games. He has a bye in sixth round.
Kasparov started looking for holes in Pono's opening play. The FIDE champion played a line of the Queen's Indian, something he did not seem to have much experience with and that was dangerous with Kasparov. Then followed a dubious move by Pono and Kasparov was all over him and closed in 43 moves.
Leko had the better of Vallejo Pons in a Sicilian Paulsen and he too got a full point in 43 moves.
In the sixth round, Anand will attempt to go for the lead as he plays with white against Leko. Kramnik, who had a bye and rest on successive days, will also have white against Radjabov.
The schedule shows that it's still anyone's tournament. Kasparov still has games with white against Anand, Leko and Kramnik. He will be looking to kick Vallejo while he's down when they meet in round six tomorrow. Kasparov, with black, will be looking for another win against Vallejo Pons.
Ponomariov has a bye.
Results of fifth round: Radjabov drew with Anand; Leko beat Vallejo Pons; Kasparov beat Ponomariov.
Standings after round 5: 1. Leko 3.0/4; 2. Anand 2.5/4; 3. Kramnik 2.5/4; 4. Radjabov 2.5/5; 5. Kasparov 2.0/4; 6. Vallejo Pons 1.5/4; 7. Ponomariov 1.0/5.