Viswanathan Anand played out his third successive draw and continues to share the lead with four others at the end of the fifth round in the 66th Corus Grandmasters chess tournament at the De Moriaan sports centre in Wijk Aan Zee in the Netherlands.
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Anand now has three points from five games.
Others leading the field with him are Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Michael Adams and Peter Leko.
Adams and Leko played out 101 moves in a game that for a some time looked like going Leko's way. Ultimately Adams managed to take a half point and ensure a bunched up leader group.
There is no game on Friday and in the sixth round on Saturday evening, Anand will have white pieces against Alexey Shirov, against whom the Indian mind champion has a heavy score with white pieces. He also beat him in the finals of the NIIT-sponsored World Championships in Teheran in December 2000.
Anand, who realized he had missed a win against Bologan in fourth round, went all out against Svidler. The game was a Ruy Lopez way and Anand made two pawn sacrifices on the 19th and 20th moves, which gave the game an interesting twist.
Anand tried to go for his rival's bishop, but Svidler handled his defence well. He got back one of the pawns, and then it was Svidler who was pushing the Indian. Anand managed to defend perfectly in a queen and pawn ending, where the Russian had an extra pawn on the Queen side.
As Svidler tried to promote his pawn, Anand looked for a draw via perpetual checks. In the end, Anand held Svidler at bay and a draw was agreed after 80 moves.
There were two just decisive games, even though many of the fifth round clashes were long battles. One of the upsets was veteran Jan Timman beating the 2003 Dortmund champion Viorel Bologan. The game lasted 59 moves from a French defence in which Timman had black.
In the only other decisive game, Vladimir Akopian beat Ivan Sokolov in 37 moves of Ruy Lopez game. Vladimir Kramnik with black drew with Alexey Shirov in 25 moves of a Sicilian Rossolimo, while Zhang Zhong of China with white managed to stave of defeat against Evegeny Bareev, who was ahead in material from a French defence. Loek Van Wely and Veselin Topalov played a draw from a Nimzo Indian in 26 moves and Leko was held by Adams in a marathon Ruy Lopez after 101 moves.
Pairings for Round 6: Adams v Bareev; Kramnik v Zhong; Anand v Shirov; Timman v Svidler; Topalov v Bologan; Sokolov v Van Wely; Leko v Akopian.
Results of round 5: Leko drew Adams; Van Wely drew Topalov, Svidler drew Anand; Akopian beat Sokolov, Bologan lost to Timman, Shirov drew Kramnik, Zhong drew Bareev.
Standings after Round 5: 1. Topalov, Anand, Leko, Kramnik and Adams 3.0 each; 6. Van Wely, Svidler, Akopian and Bareev 2.5 each; 10. Sokolov, Bologan, Shirov, Zhong and Timman 2.0 each.
The moves
Svidler v Anand
Wijk Aan Zee, Round 5
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Be7 10. c3 Qd7 11. Re1 Nc5 12. Bc2 Bf5 13. Bxf5 Qxf5 14. Nb3 Rd8 15. Nxc5 Bxc5 16. Be3 Be7 17. Nd4 Nxd4 18. cxd4 c5 19. dxc5 d4 20. Bxd4 O-O 21. c6 Rd5 22. Rc1 Rc8 23. g3 Qe6 24. Qd3 Rxc6 25. Rxc6 Qxc6 26.Qe4 g6 27. Bc3 Qe6 28. Kg2 h5 29. h3 Rd8 30. a3 Rc8 31. Re3 Rc4 32. Qa8+ Rc8 33. Qb7 Rd8 34. Ba5 Re8 35. Rd3 Kf8 36. Rd7 Qxe5 37. Rxe7 Rxe7 38. Bb4 Qe6 39. Bxe7+ Qxe7 40. Qxa6 Qe4+ 41. Kh2 Qd4 42. Qc8+ Ke7 43. Qb7+ Ke6 44. Qc6+ Ke7 45. Qc2 h4 46. g4 Qe5+ 47. Kg2 Qd5+ 48. Kg1 Qe5 49. Qd2 Kf8 50. Qc3 Qg5 51. Qe3 Qd5 52. Kf1 Qd1+ 53. Kg2 Qd5+ 54. Qf3 Qa2 55. Qb7 Qc4 56. Qa8+ Kg7 57. Qf3 Qa2 58. Qc3+ Kg8 59. Kf3 Qd5+ 60. Ke2 Qe4+ 61. Kd2 Qd5+ 62. Kc2 Qg2 63. Qe3 Qc6+ 64. Kd2 Qd5+ 65. Kc2 Qc6+ 66. Kb1 Qd5 67. f4 Qg2 68. Ka2 Qg3 69. Qb3 Kf8 70. f5 gxf5 71. gxf5 Qe5 72. f6 Kg8 73. Qf3 Kh7 74. Qg4 Qd5+ 75. Kb1 Qh1+ 76. Kc2 Qc6+ 77. Kd2 Qxf6 78. Qh5+ Kg7 79. Qxb5 Qf4+ 80. Kc3 Qc1+ 1/2-1/2.