World champion Viswanathan Anand was held to an easy draw by Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan but went in joint lead as overnight leader Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria was outplayed by Spaniard Alexei Shirov in the fourth round of the Morelia-Linares chess tournament here.
Anand was once again deprived of a win with white as he could not do much after he was surprised early in the opening and the match was drawn in the middle game with many pieces still on board.
The Indian ace had lost his previous game with white pieces against Levon Aronian of Armenia.
Anand took his personal tally to 2.5 points out of a possible 3 and is now atop the table along side Topalov and a lucky Aronian, who scored over Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, thanks to a blunder by the latter.
Shirov jumped to the joint fourth spot with his first victory in the tournament and now shares it with Peter Leko of Hungary while Radjabov, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Ivanchuk are now in joint sixth spot on 1.5 points apiece.
Results (IV Round): V Anand (Ind, 2.5) drew Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1.5); Alexei Shirov (Esp, 2) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2.5); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 1.5) lt to Levon Aronian (Arm, 2.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1.5) drew Peter Leko (Hun, 2).