Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was yet again held to a draw, this time by former Russian champion Peter Svidler, in the ninth and penultimate round of the Mtel Masters chess tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Saturday.
While Anand slipped to the third spot, Veselin Topalov crushed Grandmaster Gata Kamsky of United States for the second time running to emerge joint leader along with the American, on 5.5 points in the category-20 event.
Anand inched to five points after a hard fought draw with Svidler and is now on sole third place.
The Russian remained fourth on 4.5 points and Frenchman Etienne Bacrot retained his fifth spot after drawing with now-in-the-cellar former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine.
While Bacrot has 3.5 points to back him, Ponomariov is on just 3 points from the 9 games played so far in the six-player double round-robin tournament.
Anand has not had a decisive game with Svidler for quite some time now and the penultimate round of the strongest event of the year was no different either.
Playing black, Anand yet again preferred to face the Ruy Lopez closed which all the players have tested with or against here.
Svidler went for the variation Topalov successfully played against Ponomariov in the previous round but Annad had already had a good look at it and came up with an equalizing salvo in the early stages of the middle game itself.
The game became double edged after Svidler tried to make a foray on the king side but subsequent deployment of pieces by Anand saw things under control.
Svidler could not do better than repeat the position and the peace was signed after 40 moves.
After the game Anand felt he was worse at some stage and with his clock ticking away he was content with the result.
Topalov showed real class for the second time against Kamksy.
Earlier in the event, when Kamsky seemed to be running away with the title, the Bulgarian had played an eventful game as white to stop the American in his tracks.
And with just one round remaining, defending champion Topalov knew that his best chance to win the event lay in beating Kamsky.
Playing the black side of Sicilian Nazdorf, Toplaov faced an early surprise when Kamsky allowed the poisoned pawn variation and after the latter declined the offer and went for a dubious position, Topalov was simply on a roll.
The final stages of the game witnessed Topalov attacking the white king in fine fashion and the American called it a day after just 29 moves.
Results round 9: Gata Kamsky (USA , 5.5) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul, 5.5); Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 5) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 4.5 ); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 3.5) drew with Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 3).
Standings after round 9: 1-2. Topalov, Kamsky 5.5 each; 3. Anand 5; 4. Svidler 4.5; 5. Bacrot 3.5; 6. Ponomariov 3.
Pairing final round: Ponomariov v/s Anand; Topalov v/s Bacrot; Svidler v/s Kamsky.