Vishwanathan Anand, comfortably in the lead, did not have to exert himself as he played a relaxed draw with Michael Adams in the 10th round of the 66th Corus Grandmasters Chess tournament at the de Moriaan Sports Centre. That result was arrived at from a mere 18 moves of a Sicilian game.
It took the Indian GM's tally to seven points, with four wins and six draws with three more rounds remaining in the Category 19 tournament. Two of those games are with Jan Timman (11th) and Ivan Sokolov (13th), who occupy the last two places in the current standings.
Clearly Anand armed with the lead was in no mood to take unnecessary chances with black. He will bide his time with white.
Anand's chances to retain is title further increased as his nearest rival, Peter Leko was held to a draw by Alexey Shirov in a Petroff defence in just 25 moves. Leko with white was expected to mount an aggressive charge to win and attempt to narrow the gap between him and Anand. But the draw ensured that the Indian GM continued to stay a full point ahead of the field.
Kramnik continued his none-to-impressive showing in the tournament, as he was held to a draw by veteran Jan Timman in 32 moves off a Queen's Indian. Vladimir Akopian dealt a severe blow to whatever chances Peter Svidler may have had in this tournament with a defeat in 48 moves of a closed Ruy Lopez, while Veselin Topalov suffered a reverse against Evegeny Bareev, who thus far had struggled with his form. Viorel Bologan put himself in with a chance to finish in top three with a win over Loek Van Wely in 25 moves of a Queen's Indian, Petrosyan variation.
Kramnik's draw meant he is now at 5.5 points, while there is a bunch of five players with five points each.
The Adams-Anand game was in the Scheveningen variation and the game stayed with the limits of theory and just a knight was exchanged.
In the 11th round Anand will play Timman with the white pieces.
Results of the tenth round: Leko drew with Shirov, Adams drew withAnand, Van Wely lost to Bologan, Timman drew with Kramnik, Akopian beat Svidler, Topalov lost to Bareev, Sokolov drew with Zhang.
Standings after Round 10: 1. Anand 7.0; 2. Leko and Adams 6.0 each; 4. Kramnik 5.5; 5. Van Wely, Topalov, Akopian, Bologan, Svidler and Shirov 5.0 each; 11. Bareev, Timman and Zhang Zhong 4.0 each; 14. Sokolov 3.5.
Pairings for Round 11: Anand v Timman, Kramnik v Topalov, Svidler v Van Wely, Bareev v Sokolov, Shirov v Akopian, Bologan v Adams, Zhang v Leko
Adams v Anand
Wijk Aan Zee 2004, Round 10
½-½
ECO B85
1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. Be2 Be7 8.
a4 Nc6 9. O-O O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Bf8 13. Nde2 b6 14. Qe1 Bb7
15. Qf2 Nd7 16. Rad1 Rab8 17. Ng3 g6 18. Bg4 1/2-1/2 (Draw)