NDTV.com, India

Anand draws with Kramnik

Press Trust of India

Sunday, September 16, 2007 (Mexico)

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.