Viswanathan Anand played a comfortable 22-move draw with Sergei Rublevsky to remain on top of his group at the end of the third round of the Sparkassen Dortmund chess tournament.
Anand, now has two points from three games, while Peter Svidler and Rublevsky have 1.5 each. Young Arkadij Naiditsch, who did well to draw with Anand in the first round, lost his third round to Svidler and now lies in the fourth and last position in Group A with one point.
Meanwhile in Group B, the spate of draws continued, as for the third day running both games were drawn. The 14-year-old sensation Sergey Kajarkin is holding his ground with draws against top stars. He has drawn his games with Vladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko and the third came against Peter Leko, who had white.
Against Rublevsky, Anand had black pieces. The 22-move game did not provide any sparks and Anand seemed content to take a draw that kept him on top.
In the next set of matches, Anand again meet Naiditsch, Svidler and Rublevsky in that order. The top two will move into semi-finals in this format.
Svidler, the four-time Russian champion bounced back from his defeat at the hands of Anand, with a good win over Naiditsch. Svidler outplayed his 18-year-old rival in 39 moves from a Ruy Lopez, closed.
Leko and Karjakin drew in just 30 moves from another Ruy Lopez, while defending champion Viorel Bologan held Kramnik to a draw in a 45-move Queen Indian games.
Results and standings:
Group A Results Round 3: Rublevsky drew with Anand; Svidler beat Naiditsch.
Group A Standings (after Round 3): 1. Anand 2.0; 2. Rublevsky, and Svidler (1.5 each); Naiditsch (1).
Results Group B Round 3: Leko drew with Karjakin; Bologan drew with Kramnik.
Group B Standings (after Round 3): 1. Kramnik, Leko, Karjakin and and Bologan (all 1.5 each)
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