A cautious Krishnan Sasikiran played it safe and split the point with former European champion Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu to hang on to joint-third place after the fifth round in the third Mtel Masters International Chess tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.

After a debacle against Veselin Topalov in the previous round, this was sort of a recovery by Sasikiran, the lowest ranked player in the category-20 super tournament.

At the half-way stage of this six-player double round-robin tournament, twice world junior champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan remained in sole lead with 3.5 points after signing the peace pact with Michael Adams of England, who is in sole second spot on three points after a desired result.

Sasikiran and Nisipeanu maintained their overnight status on 2.5 points while Topalov, who drew with tail-ender Gata Kamsky of the United States, is in fifth position on two points.

With five rounds still to come, Topalov, generally known to fire towards the end, is in fifth spot on two points while Kamsky, who is yet to win a game, languishes at the bottom on 1.5 points.

Nisipeanu's attempts to confuse Sasikiran by going for an irregular opening came a cropper as the Indian equalised with his black pieces in quick time in copy-book style.

The Romanian decided to go for a balanced position in the middle game itself with some regulation exchanges and Sasikiran complied to get an easy half point with the slightly unfavourable colour in the game. For the record, the game was drawn vide repetition on move 27.I

Mamedyarov, meanwhile, employed the Taimanov Sicilian and Adams went for known theoretical manoeuvres leading to a dynamically balanced position. The Englishman went for complications but Mamedyarov gave a professional display to keep white pieces at bay.

They traded pieces at regular intervals and the ensuing endgame was just level. The longest game of the day lasted 64 moves.

Topalov tried to make headway but did not succeed against a resolute Kamsky in the Queen's Indian defence game where the Bulgarian played white. A few pieces changed hands in the opening itself and while the game was heading towards level territories, Kamsky did not allow Topalov to gain any ground.

The players arrived at a rook and pawns endgame and soon the truce was signed in 43 moves.

Results (Round 5): Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 2.5) drew with Krishnan Sasikiran (Ind, 2.5); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2) drew with Gata Kamsky (USA, 1.5); Michael Adams (Eng, 3) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 3.5).

Moves (Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu v/s Krishnan Sasikiran):

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Na3 a6 4. Nxc4 b5 5. Ne3 Bb7 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2  Nbd7 8. O-O e6 9. b3 c5 10. Bb2 Be7 11. Qc2 O-O 12. Rfd1 Qb6 13. Rac1 Rac8  14. Qb1 Rfd8 15. Qa1 Ne8 16. d4 Ndf6 17. Ba3 Ne4 18. dxc5 Nxc5 19. Bb2 Bf6  20. Ne1 Bxg2 21. Kxg2 h6 22. Nf3 Ne4 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Rc1 Rd8 25. Rd1 Rc8 26. Rc1 Rd8 27. Rd1 game drawn.

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