Top seed Viswanathan Anand surged ahead of his rivals after playing a quick draw with Levon Aronian of Armenia in the ninth round of the World Chess Championships here.

Aided by the half point, the Indian ace took his tally to 6 points out of a possible 9 and stretched his lead to a full point over nearest rival Boris Gelfand of Israel who suffered a loss at the hands of Alexander Grischuk of Russia.
In what would be known as the shocker of the championship, defending champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia was comprehensively beaten by compatriot Alexander Morozevich who scored his first victory in the event.

Big threat
Kramnik’s loss was Anand’s gain as the Russian was perceived as a big threat to the Indian. After the demoralising loss, Kramnik remained on 4.5 points and it will be a do or die situation for him in the game against Anand slated in round 10. The other game of the day between Peter Svidler and Peter Leko of Hungary ended in a draw leaving the standings interestingly poised with just five rounds to come.

Giving Kramnik company on 4.5 points is Grischuk and Peter Leko while another half a point adrift are Morozevich and Aronian. Svidler is now alone at the bottom with 3.5 points.

Having scored his first win in the championship over Aronian in the second round with black pieces, Anand could not quite repeat the same but the draw was a desirable outcome in view of the other results of the day.

It was the Marshall Gambit by Aronian that Anand accepted for a change. Aronian equalised quickly with precise manoeuvres and the peace was signed in just 21 moves.

Results: Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 6) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 4); Peter Leko (hun, 4.5) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 3.5); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 4) bt Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 4.5); Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 4.5) bt Boris Gelfand (Isr, 5).