World Rapid champion Viswanathan Anand played out an effortless draw with black pieces against Classical champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the second round of the MTel Masters chess tournament in Sofia , Bulgaria, on Friday.
Local stalwart and World number 3 Veselin Topalov also could do little with his white pieces against a well-prepared Michael Adams of England and signed peace in quick time through repetition of moves.
The other game of the category-20 double round-robin tournament between the world's top rated woman player Judit Polgar of Hungary and former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine also reached the drawn result albeit after a nerve-wracking 78 moves.
After the draw, Kramnik retained the sole lead, gained from the victory over Ponomariov in his first round game.
With Kramnik on 1.5 points, Anand, Topalov, Polgar and Adams are close behind at this stage with a point each in their kitty, while Ponomariov opened his account after signing truce with the prima donna of chess.
After this, there are eight more rounds to come in this biggest event ever held in Bulgaria.
Anand gave a firm display as black in the Petroff defence game against Kramnik, who employed one of the main lines. The middle game was on expected lines as Anand sacrificed a pawn to get all his pieces to exert pressure on the weak white central pawns.
Kramnik tried hard to keep his material advantage but Anand skillfully countered his plans to win back the pawn.
Asked about the game, Anand confided that he was a bit surprised.
"I did not expect this line at all and he (Kramnik) caught me by surprise. I remembered this variation vaguely and also remembered that Anatoly Karpov (Russian and former world champion) suffered quite a bit in this line," he said.
Topalov and Adams played a shorter game moves wise but their duel lasted longer than Anand's. Topalov went for the Anti Marshall variation and Adams appeared well-armed to tackle the opening.
Giving the middle game a tactical shift, Adams opened up the center with a pawn sacrifice and soon after Topalov had no choice other than to repeat the position. The game ended in just 26 moves.
Women's chess over the past few years is going through a great upheaval and as the connoisseur Polgar yet again gave enough indications why is it precisely so.
Up against Ponomariov, Polgar employed the Sicilian in her second straight black game and got a clear advantage thanks to precise d employment of pieces in the middle game well coupled by a deep insight of the middle game position she arrived at.
The Ukrainian was suffering for quite some time but just while Polgar was on the verge of attaining a decisive advantage she faltered and let the position drift towards a deadlock that resulted after numerous exchanges leading to a rook and pawns endgame.
More from rediff