Anand remains in sole lead

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Vladimir Kramnik in the fourth round but remained in sole lead to stay in contention in the Candidates chess tournament, here on Monday.

With two victories in three games, Anand was in for a rude shock in the game against Kramnik as for the first time the Indian ace found his preparation wanting.

Kramnik’s Vienna variation has been analysed extensively and Anand went for a variation which is conclusively drawn. Kramnik had analysed it well and better than Anand, something that the Indian might have hoped he had done better.

As it turned out, Kramnik had the final word and the game was drawn in the middle game itself vide repetition of moves. The draw took Anand, who was playing with white, to three points out of a possible four and he remained in sole lead.

Kramnik remains in second with two-and-a-half-points. Aronian joined Kramnik in second after completing an easy win over Peter Svidler.

Former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria signed peace with Sergey Karjakin of Russia.

Results: V Anand (Ind, 3) drew with V Kramnik (Rus, 2.5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 2.5) bt Peter Svidler (Rus, 2); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 1.5) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1.5) bt Dmitry Andreikin (Rus, 1).