Garry Kasparov of Russia maintained sole lead with an eventful draw with Corus champion Peter Leko of Hungary in the eighth round of the 22nd Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament on Thursday.
With Viswanathan Anand having his second and final bye in the event, Kasparov distanced himself a little more from the Indian ace and took his tally to 4.5 points out of a possible seven.
Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (4 points) edged himself up to sole second spot in the seven players double round-robin tournament after a hard-fought draw with Brit Michael Adams.
Anand on 3.5/6 moved to third spot in the tournament with an extra game in hand while Leko is closely following him with 3.5/7. Adams and FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan are next in line on 3/7 and local star Francisco Pons Vallejo remained at the bottom of the table despite scoring his first victory in this year's tournament, defeating Kasimdzhanov in a fine game.
Kasparov had his task cut out against Leko and pressurized the Hungarian for quite some time. Playing white, Kasparov looked in command of the situation in a closed Sicilian set up with his white pieces but Leko's defensive skills came to fore at the right time to deny Kasparov a decisive advantage.
After a series of exchanges the players arrived at a rook and minor piece endgame where the draw was a natural result in 31 moves.
The local crowd that had been cheering for Vallejo for almost a week now got something in return from the Spanish talent as he outplayed Kasimdzhanov in all departments of the game.
It was a Queen's gambit declined by the Uzbek that caught Vallejo by surprise but he was quick to throw caution to the winds with an unexpected queen side Castling as early as on move eight.
Nothing worked right for Kasimdzhanov thereafter, as his bid to complicate matters did not materialize in the right way.
With thematic manoeuvres backed by excellent calculation, Vallejo arrived at a pawn plus endgame and made no mistake once on top. Kasimdzhanov called it a day on the 60th move.
Adams drew with Topalov in another keenly contested game of the day. Playing the white side of a Sicilian Nazdorf, Adams went for an all out attack against Topalov's king but after the Bulgarian struck upon the correct defence, the English could not claim a substantial advantage.
The tactical melee continued till late in the game as Adams sacrificed a piece on his 42nd turn only to realize soon enough that the resulting position had little hopes for him.
Peace was signed on the 48th move.
Results round 8:
Michael Adams (Eng, 3/7) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 4/7); Francisco Pons Vallejo (Esp, 2.5/7) drew with Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb, 3/7); Garry Kasparov (Rus, 4.5/7) drew with Peter Leko (Hun, 3.5/7); Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 3.5/7) had a bye.
