On a day of drab draws, Krishnan Sasikiran split point with Romanian Grandmaster Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu to maintain his wafer-thin half point lead after the penultimate round in the third Mtel Masters International chess tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
A victory in the ninth round could have given Sasikiran a crucial one-point cushion before the final round but the Indian Grandmaster could not cash in on the opportunities that came his way and had to be satisfied with a draw.
With just one round to come in the six-player double round-robin tournament, Sasikiran (5) is followed by a pack of four -- former world champion Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Gata Kamsky (USA), Nisipianu and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) -- on 4.5 points each, while Michael Adams (England) is now in the cellar on four points.
In the crucial final round, Sasikiran takes on Topalov with black pieces and Mamedyarov plays with the same colour against Nisipeanu while Kamsky has white against Adams.
Sasikiran is the second Indian, after Viswanathan Anand, to get an invite to a category-20 event.
After losing to Kamsky in the previous round, Sasikiran came to the board with the intention of a full-bloodied fight but could not make most of the opportunities after Nisipeanu fought hard from an inferior position.
The Mamedyarov-Adams and Topalov-Kamsky matches also ended in tame draws.
Results (Round 9): Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 5) drew with Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 4.5); Gata Kamsky (Usa, 4.5) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 4.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 4.5) drew with Michael Adams (Eng, 4).