Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by world junior champion, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who looked like he was essentially playing to ensure a half point in the tenth round of the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament at the de Moriaan Hall in Wijk Aan Zee.
Veselin Topalov's fine win over Lev Aronian saw him edge ahead of the Indian and into sole lead. The tenth round is followed by the tournament's last rest day and then Topalov has white against Anand in 11th round.
Topalov now has 7.5 points from ten rounds and Anand has seven. Michael Adams and Boris Gelfand followed at 6.5 each.
World junior champ Mamedyarov played very cautiously against Anand in a Queen's Indian. He was coming back from two consecutive losses and therefore wanted to take no chances with the Indian looking for fifth Corus title. So, Mamedyarov decided not to risk anything. Anand himself deviated from his previous round game in the same line, just in case Mamedyarov had prepared some surprise in it.
Once the second pair of rooks was traded, it went towards a boring draw and Anand proposed it himself, which Mamedyarov accepted after 26 moves. Anand commenting on his opponent's play said that that he chose a "Very solid line, not much you can do"
Topalov found a new idea in a variation of the Queen's Indian seen in Kramnik - Leko 2004. Black held in that game, here he uncorked an exchange sacrifice on move 18 which put black in a lot of trouble. Aronian didn't find the way our and Topalov's passed pawns became a huge factor allowing him to part with a second exchange. He then wrapped things up efficiently after first time control.
Pairings for Round 11: Karjakin v Sokolov; Aronian v Gelfand; Ivanchuk v Topalov; Anand v Tiviakov; Leko v Mamedyarov; Kamsky v van Wely; Adams v Bacrot
Results of Round 10: Gelfand drew with Karjakin; Tiviakov drew with Ivanchuk; Mamedyarov drew with Anand; Topalov beat Aronian; Sokolov drew with Adams; Van Wely beat Leko; Bacrot beat Kamsky
Standings after Round 10: 1. Topalov 7.5; 2. Anand 7.0; 3. Adams and Gelfand 6.0; 5. Karjakin and Ivanchuk 5.5; 7. Van Wely 5.0; 8. Tiviakov, Leko and Aronian 4.5; 11. Mamedyarov and Bacrot 4.0; 13. Sokolov 3.5; 14. Kamsky 2.5