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Top seeded Viswanathan Anand survived a few anxious moments before settling for a draw with arch-rival and defending champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the third round of the World Chess championship in Mexico.
Anand inched himself up to 2 points from two games and continued to lead the tables along with Kramnik. The day witnessed Russian Alexander Morozevich warding off his previous round loss as he scalped another Russian- Peter Svidler in a keenly contested game.
The other games of the third round were drawn as Alexander Grischuk from Russia signed peace with Levon Aronian of Armenia while Hungarian Peter Leko reached the same result against Boris Gelfand of Israel.
With 11 rounds still to come in this 8-players double round robin event where each player meets the others twice, Morozevich, Gelfand, Grischuk and Leko share the third spot on 1.5 points each while Aronian and Svidler are now at the bottom of the tables with one point apiece.
For the second time in three days Anand faced the Petroff defense.
Earlier in the first round Gelfand had played the same opening against the Indian ace and had got an easy half point.
In the post game conference Kramnik said that he was 'well prepared' for this key match and indeed, as it happened, black had some practical chances.
Anand played the opening nonchalantly but was in trouble after the queens got traded as one of his far advanced pawn came under mortal danger. Kramnik pocketed the pawn and transposed to a rook and pawns endgame which needed precise defense from Anand.
Having lost similar endgames a few years back, Anand's homework came to the fore as he went on finding the best defense especially after black's 33rd move. The final position was a stalemate after 65 moves.
"This was one of the toughest games I played so far, so a draw is a fair result", Kramnik said.
Morozevich outplayed Svidler from an innocuous looking Scotch opening. After attaining a comfortable position in the middle game Svidler underestimated white's attacking potential on the queen side and paid heavy dividends. The game lasted 37 moves.
Grischuk opted for the Ruy Lopez against Aronian and went for a direct attack at the expense of a pawn. Aronian had to remain alert for a long time battling white's menacing forces but in the end the Armenian managed to hold his defense together.
"He was short of time, possibly with more time white could have found a better way to attack," Aronian said after the game.
The longest game of the championship so far was played between Leko and Gelfand who fought on for 100 moves before splitting the point from another Petroff of the day.
Results round 3: Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 2) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 2); Peter Leko (Hun, 1.5) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 1.5); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 1.5) beat Peter Svidler (Rus, 1); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 1.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 1).
The moves:
Anand v/s V Kramnik
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. cxd5 Qxd5 15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Qa4 Bd7 17. Qc2 Qf5 18. Qxf5 Bxf5 19. Bb5 Bd7 20. d5 Ne5 21. Bxd7 Nxd7 22. Bxc7 Rxc7 23. d6 Rxc3 24. dxe7 f6 25. Rad1 Rc7 26. Nd4 Ne5 27. f4 Nc6 28. Nxc6 bxc6 29. Rd6 c5 30. Ree6 c4 31. Rc6 Rexe7 32. Rxc4 Rxc4 33. Rxe7 Ra4 34. Rb7 h6 35. f5 Rxa3 36. Kf2 h5 37. g3 a5 38. Ra7 a4 39. h4 Ra2+ 40. Kf3 a3 41. Ke3 Ra1 42. Kf2 Kf8 43. Kg2 a2 44. Kh2 Ke8 45. Kg2 Kd8 46. Kh2 Kc8 47. Kg2 Kb8 48. Ra3 Kb7 49. Ra4 Kb6 50. Ra8 Kc5 51. Ra7 Kd5 52. Ra4 Ke5 53. Ra5+ Ke4 54. Kh2 Kf3 55. Ra3+ Kf2 56. Ra4 Kf1 57. Kh1 Ke1 58. Kg2 Kd1 59. Ra7 Rc1 60. Rxa2 Rc2+ 61. Rxc2 Kxc2 62. Kf3 Kd3 63. g4 hxg4+ 64. Kxg4 Ke4 65. Kh5 Kxf5 game drawn.
Alexander Morozevich v/s Peter Svidler
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Be3 Qf6 6. c3 Nge7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. O-O Ne5 9. Bb3 d6 10. f3 Be6 11. Kh1 Bc4 12. Rf2 d5 13. Bc2 dxe4 14. Nd2 Bd3 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. fxe4 Qg6 17. Rf4 Nc4 18. Bg1 Qh6 19. Rf3 Qd2 20. Qb1 Bb6 21. Bb3 Bxd4 22. cxd4 Na5 23. Bc2 Rad8 24. Rc3 Nac6 25. d5 Nb4 26. Bb3 Na6 27. Be3 Qe2 28. Bc4 Qg4 29. h3 Qh4 30. Bxa6 bxa6 31. Rxc7 f5 32. Bc5 Rfe8 33. d6 Ng6 34. exf5 Nf4 35. Qc2 Re2 36. Qb3+ Kh8 37. Rg1 black resigned.
A Grischuk v/s Levon Aronian
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. c3 Bf6 12. Nbd2 Nf4 13. Ne4 Nxd3 14. Nxf6+ gxf6 15. Re4 Nxc1 16. Rg4+ Kh8 17. Qxc1 Ne7 18. Bc2 Rg8 19. Qh6 Ng6 20. Nh4 Qf8 21. Qh5 Qe8 22. Re1 Rd8 23. Bf5 Bc8 24. Bxc8 Rxc8 25. Nf5 Qd7 26. Ree4 Rcd8 27. Kh2 Qd1 28. Nh6 Rg7 29. Nf5 Rgg8 30. Nh6 Rg7 31. Nf5 Game drawn
Peter Leko v/s Boris Gelfand
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nd7 8. Qd2 Ne5 9. O-O-O O-O 10. h3 Nxf3 11. gxf3 Bf5 12. h4 Re8 13. h5 Bf6 14. Rg1 Qe7 15. Kb1 d5 16. Bd3 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Rad8 18. Rg4 Kh8 19. a3 b6 20. Rdg1 h6 21. Qd2 Kh7 22. Bd4 Rg8 23. Re1 Qd6 24. Bxf6 gxf6 25. Qd3+ Kh8 26. Qa6 Rxg4 27. fxg4 Qc6 28. Re7 Qd6 29. Re3 Qc6 30. Qd3 Kg7 31. Re7 Kf8 32. Re1 Kg7 33. f4 Qd6 34. Qf3 c5 35. Qf2 d4 36. Rd1 Qe6 37. Re1 Qd5 38. Rd1 Qe6 39. Qg1 Qe4 40. g5 fxg5 41. fxg5 d3 42. cxd3 Rxd3 43. Rxd3 Qxd3+ 44. Ka1 Qf5 45. g6 fxg6 46. hxg6 h5 47. Qg3 Qf1+ 48. Ka2 Qc4+ 49. Ka1 Qf1+ 50. Ka2 Qc4+ 51. Ka1 Qg4 52. Qc7+ Kxg6 53. Qxa7 Qd1+ 54. Ka2 Qd5+ 55. Ka1 Qd1+ 56. Ka2 Qd6 57. Qa8 Qe6+ 58. Ka1 Qe1+ 59. Ka2 Qe6+ 60. Ka1 h4 61. Qg2+ Kh5 62. Qf3+ Kg5 63. Qg2+ Kh5 64. Qf3+ Kg5 65. Qg2+ Qg4 66. Qd2+ Kf5 67. Qd5+ Kf4 68. Qd6+ Kf3 69. Qf6+ Kg2 70. Qc6+ Qf3 71. Qg6+ Kf1 72. Qxb6 h3 73. Qd6 Qf2 74. Qd3+ Kg2 75. Qd5+ Kg1 76. Ka2 Qf4 77. Qxc5+ Kf1 78. Qb5+ Ke1 79. Qd5 h2 80. c4 Qh4 81. Qe5+ Kd1 82. Qd5+ Ke2 83. Qe5+ Kd1 84. Qd5+ Kc1 85. Qh1+ Kd2 86. Qd5+ Ke3 87. Qe5+ Kf3 88. Qf5+ Qf4 89. Qd3+ Kf2 90. Qd5 Kg1 91. Qg8+ Kf2 92. Qd5 Qf3 93. Qd2+ Kg1 94. Qg5+ Kf1 95. Qc1+ Kf2 96. Qd2+ Kg3 97. Qg5+ Kh3 98. Qh6+ Kg3 99. Qg5+ Qg4 100. Qd5 Qf3 game drawn.