Viswanathan Anand [ Images ] played a short draw with Michael Adams and went into second position after seven rounds in the year's first Super Grandmasters chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee, a Dutch seaside resort in the Natherlands.

The Indian ace now has 4.5 points from seven rounds and shares the second place with young Sergey Karjakin.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov [ Images ] moved into the top slot after a crushing win over Ivan Sokolov that gave him five points and half a point lead over the Indian.

Topalov won in 37 moves after an opening that was in the Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence. Karjakin beat S Mamedyarov.

Four games produced results, and three of them were in Ruy Lopez, the only exception being the Anand-Adams game.

Anand, sponsored by NIIT [ Get Quote ], had a short game with Adams. His new idea in the Anti-Marshall got him nothing tangible. When Adams replied comfortably and neutralized all possible advantages, he looked fine. He made an offer of a draw after some more moves and that was accepted straightway by Anand. For either to probe and play further for a win was not without risks.

Peter Leko finally broke through with a convincing win over Gata Kamsky, who is having problems adjusting to black pieces. The seventh round game was a Ruy Lopez in which Leko crushed him.

In group B, Magnus Carlsen [ Images ] is going great guns and with yet another win against Giovanni Vescovi is at six points from seven games. David Navara is in clear second with five points after a win over India's [ Images ] Koneru Humpy, who with three points is in tied ninth place with Ivan Cheparinov and Alexander Beliavsky.

Pairings for Round 8: Sokolov v Kamsky; Adams v Leko; Bacrot v Anand; Van Wely v Ivanchuk; Mamedyarov v Aronian; Tiviakov v Karjakin; Topalov v Gelfand

Results of Round 7: Topalov beat Sokolov; Anand drew with Adams; Karjakin beat Mamedyarov; Gelfand drew with Tiviakov; Ivanchuk drew with Bacrot; Leko beat Kamsky; Aronian lost to Van Wely

Standings after Round 7: 1. Topalov 5.0; 2. Anand and Karjakin 4.5; 4. Adams, Gelfand and Ivanchuk 4.0; 7. Van Wely, and Leko 3.5; 9. Tiviakov, Mamedyarov and Aronian 3.0; 12. Sokolov and Bacrot 2.5; 14. Kamsky 2.0.