World champion Viswanathan Anand settled for a draw against Norwegian top seed Magnus Carlsen before Vladimir Kramnik scored over Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov to take the lead following the sixth round of Tal memorial chess tournament in Moscow on Wednesday.
With three rounds to go, Kramnik leads with 4.5 points, half a point ahead of Anand.
The day also saw Boris Gelfand surprise Levon Aronian and Vassily Ivanchuk, playing black, defeated Alexander Morozevich to share the third spot with 3.5 points. Anand, who started the day in joint lead with Kramnik, showed aggressive intent with black pieces in the Queen’s Gambit Declined game. Carlsen, who has not been in the best physical shape in this competition, sensed danger and chose to force a draw through perpetual checks in 36 moves.
If Anand was involved in the day’s shortest game, Kramnik battled for 81 moves against Ponomariov in search of his third victory in six games. In the next round, Anand plays white against an unpredictable
Morozevich while Kramnik, with black, takes on a wounded Aronian.
The results: Sixth round: Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 3) drew with Viswanathan Anand (4); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 4.5) bt Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 2.5); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 3.5) bt Levon Aronian (Arm, 3); Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 2) lost to Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 3.5); Peter Leko (Hun, 2) drew with Peter Svidler (Rus, 2).
