Viswanathan Anand settled for two draws with Grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain to maintain a one point lead after the second day of the main event of the Mainz Chess Classic, dubbed as the duel of the World champions in Mainz, Germany.
At the half-way mark in this eight-games contest, Anand leads by 2.5-1.5 and now needs just a fifty per cent score from the remaining games to win this event for the fourth time in succession.
The match is being played with 25 minutes each to both players with a 10 seconds addition after every move is made.
The fourth game of the day had ample excitement as Anand went for the Ruy Lopez open and Shirov employed the most dangerous position.
Sacrificing a piece early in the opening that is already a part of established theory, Anand got two connected passed pawns in the middle of the board and Shirov was constantly nagged thereon.
The Spaniard apparently did not have any new idea to test and as a result Anand got a slightly favourable position. To add to Shirov's trouble the clock also showed a substantial lead in time for the Indian ace.
Shirov, however, fought back brilliantly and restricted Anand from making a decisive headway. Subsequent exchanges witnessed a transposition to rook and pawns endgame by force and there was nothing to play for either player. The peace was signed in 42 moves.
"I was under tremendous time pressure and I am happy to draw this game," Shirov said after the game.
Summing up the days play, Anand said: "Somehow in the second game I missed the chance. Having said that, I am still pressing him in every game."
Earlier in the first game of the day, Anand played white and yet again was prompted to go for the Marshall Gambit, that is the main weapon in Shirov's armour.
However, this time, probably anticipating that Shirov was well prepared, Anand went for the Anti-Marshall but could not achieve what he really desired in the complex middle game.
Even though Shirov surrendered a miniscule advantage to white, Anand only had just as much for the major part of the game as black pieces too made their presence felt in the not-so-exciting encounter.
After routine manoeuvring, Anand found himself in a balanced middle game position where playing for a win could have been futile.
Sacrificing a pawn in the final stages of the game, Anand went for the minor piece endgame wherein Shirov's pieces did not gain the mobility they deserved and a draw was a just result after 45 moves.
In the Chess 960 battle between defending champion Peter Svidler of Russia and Armenian Levon Aronian two more decisive games were the order of the day.
Aronian was the first to strike but Svidler came back with some imaginative ideas to level scores. Chess 960 is a variant of the game where the position of the pieces is changed randomly before the start of every game.
An invention by former world champion Bobby Fischer who is currently detained in Japan, the initial position of the pieces can have as many as 960 designs and that's where the new name is derived from.
In the FiNet Chess 960 open, Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran failed to make most of his fine 4/4 start and finished 9th in the overall standings on 8 points out of a possible 11.
GM Zoltan Almasi of Hungary was merciless in the tournament and won the title with a whopping 9.5 points, conceding just three draws.
In a seven-way tie for the second spot Grandmaster Etinnet Bacrot of France was declared runner's up with his best tie-break score. Quite interestingly, Bacrot had won the first seven games but failed to keep the momentum ticking.
Results:
Duel of World Champions: Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 2.5); Alexei Shirov (Esp, 1.5).
Chess 960 match: Levon Aronian (Arm, 2); Peter Svidler (Rus, 2).
Standings of FiNet Chess 960 open: 1: Zoltan Almasi (Hun, 9.5); 2-8: Etienne Bacrot (Fra), Mikhail Kobalia (Rus), Pavel Tregubov (Rus), Darmen Sadvakasov (Kaz), Arkadij Naiditsch (Ger), Sergei Rublevsky (Rus), Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 8.5 each; 9-13: Krishnan Sasikrian (Ind), Alexander Grishchuk (Rus), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr), Konstantin Landa (Rus), Vladimir Baklan (Ukr) 8 each.