Anand Keeps Lead With Draw
By Arvind Aaron

World No.1 Viswanathan Anand kept his half point lead with a 20-move draw with the black pieces against Boris Gelfand of Israel. The two oldest players of the tournament clashed and Gelfand proposed a draw in a lively position to the disappointment of the spectators. Anand, the NIIT Brand Ambassador agreed to it immediately.

Anand, Chennai-born player lead the 8-player FIDE World Chess Championship with 5.5/8. Six rounds remain to be played. Gelfand is in second place with five points. World champion Vladimir Kramnik is further behind with 4.5 points on plus one.

In a Catalan Opening, Anand obtained dynamic equality with the black pieces on the 13th turn and after 17 moves it became clear that the game was heading for a draw. Gelfand offered a draw along with his 20th move and this was the first game to end in two hours.

Defeats come in a row. Grischuk lost yet again with the Ruy Lopez this time to Leko. Leko has moved up to 50% score with the victory with the white pieces.

The results (round eight): Boris Gelfand (Isr) 5 drew Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 5.5, Peter Leko (Hun) 4 bt Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 3.5, Levon Aronian (Arm) 3.5 drew Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 3, Peter Svidler (Rus) 3 drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 4.5.

Pairing for Saturday's round nine: Anand v Aronian, Grischuk v Gelfand, Leko v Svidler, Morozevich v Kramnik.