Viswanathan Anand played out another draw after an intense struggle against Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to remain in the hunt for top honours in the Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament, on Thursday.
On another day marred by draws, the lead positions remained almost unaltered and Kramnik maintained his slender advantage over nearest rival Peter Leko of Hungary. The Russian has six points from 10 games, but is likely to lose his sole lead in the next round as he has a bye.
Leko, on 5.5 points from nine games, is the next man in the standings while Anand and top-rated Garry Kasparov of Russia trail him on five points from nine games.
The next round will be crucial for Anand as he plays against Teimour Radjabov with white pieces. A victory will probably make him a joint leader and then he can work on a showdown with Kasparov in the final round on Sunday.
With Kasparov having a bye in this round not much action was expected but Kramnik lit up the proceedings with a valiant attempt to outdo Anand.
Playing white, the Russian opened with the king pawn and was surprised early by Anand with the choice of the opening. A transposition led to a kind of Zaitsev variation, where white launched an attack against the king with a pawn sacrifice on the king side.
Anand's active pieces gave him ample chances on the other flank to strive for the full point while Kramnik fell under time pressure with only 12 minutes to make as many moves.
However, the Indian ace missed out on a real chance to prolong the battle on the very next move and after 32 moves the draw was agreed.
"I am not sure where the first new move of the game was because of all the many transpositions to other lines in this vast opening. Perhaps white was wise to sack his pawn the way he did, leaving a nice optional square for knight in many future lines," Anand said after the match.
Leko blitzed out the opening moves against the Sicilian defence of World champion Ruslan Ponomariov but achieved nothing in the middle game. Subsequent exchanges led to a drawn rook and pawns endgame where the peace treaty was signed on the 31st move.
Radjabov faced the semi-slav defence from local lad Francisco Vallejo Pons and got a miniscule advantage in the middle game. The Spaniard showed his prowess in understanding the positions with a spectacular queen sacrifice on the 27th move and got a near impregnable position thereafter. The game lasted 32 moves.
Results (round 11): Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) drew Viswanathan Anand; Peter Leko (Hun) drew Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr); Teimour Radjabov (Aze) drew Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp).
Standings after round 11: 1. Kramnik 6/10; 2. Leko 5.5/9; 3-4. Kasparov, Anand 5/9 each; 5-6. Ponomariov, Radjabov 4/10 each; 7. Vallejo Pons 3.5/9.