Anand draws with Ponomariov

Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov played the third King v King ending in the M-Tel Masters Chess tournament as they shared the point in the eighth round after 54 moves.

Anand has been involved in each of the three such unique endings and it brought a smile to his face. "I suppose there was no other way we could just offer or accept a draw," he said referring to the rule of no draw offers being allowed and players restricted from speaking to each other.

King versus King endings are rather uncommon at Grandmaster level, because they generally offer and accept draws when the situation shows no appreciable advantage or is a theoretical draw.

Anand's sixth draw in eight games gave him fifty per cent with four points from eight games and Ponomariov was the leader at 4.5 points from eight rounds. Veselin Topaov, battling Judit Polgar can go past with a win and Polgar could join Ponomariov with a win over Topalov, whose game with the Hungarian lady was in the Sicilian Taimanov.

The third game between Vladimir Kramnik and Michael Adams, which was a Ruy Lopez closed was still in progress.

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The Ponomariov-Anand game was an English Symmetrical Opening, where neither side had any clear advantage. White at times seemed better but it was never good enough to get a win. And when black tried any initiative, white had no problems neutralizing that at once.

Anand, black, when asked if he thought white was better at any stage, said, "No, I don't believe white has chances unless black makes any mistakes. If he can manage two passed pawns, then maybe but it was always comfortable for black. It was a trivial draw and I just went ahead with it."

Ponomariov, who had won his last two games to shoot up the leaderboard said, "It was an interesting end game." But speaking through interpreters, the Ukrainian admitted that it was a draw all the same for quite some time.

When some one referred to the day as a possible rest day, a smiling Anand replied, "I have had better and more relaxing rest days. Three and a half hours of rook ending is not exactly a rest."

Anand has now played three such endings -- against Adams in the fourth round and then against Polgar in fifth and now Ponomariov in the eighth.

The 22-year-old Ponomariov succeeded Anand as the FIDE World Champion in 2002. Overall Anand has a huge head-to-head advantage over the Ukrainian, but here Ponomariov has shown good form despite a poor losing start against Kramnik.

Anand had beaten Pono in their clash at Wijk Aan Zee this January, and he has never lost to Pono in a classical clash. His only loss being in a rapid game in Chess Classic of Mainz in 2003.

Pairings for ninth round: Adams v Anand; Topalov v Ponomariov; Polgar v Kramnik

Anand's game:

Ponomariov -- Anand

M-Tel Masters 2005, Eighth Round

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 8. Nxe4 Bxe4 9. d3 Bb7 10. e4 Nc6 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 O-O 14. b3 Bc5 15. Qc3 Qe7 16. Re2 a5 17. a4 f5 18. e5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Rad8 20. Qf3 d6 21. exd6 Qxd6 22. Bg5 Rd7 23. Rae1 Qd3 24. Qxd3 Rxd3 25. Rxe6 Rxb3 26. Be7 Re8 27. Bxc5 Rxe6 28. Rxe6 bxc5 29. Re8+ Kf7 30. Re5 Rb4 31. Rxf5+ Kg6 32. Rxc5 Rxa4 33. Kf3 Ra2 34. h4 a4 35. Ra5 a3 36. Ke4 Re2+ 37. Kd4 a2 38. f4 Kf6 39. g4 g6 40. c5 Rd2+ 41. Ke4 Re2+ 42. Kd3 Rh2 43. Ra6+ Ke7 44. Ke4 Rxh4 45. Rxa2 Rxg4 46. Ke5 Kd7 47. Ra7+ Kc6 48. Rxh7 Kxc5 49. Rc7+ Kb4 50. Rc1 Kb5 51. Ke4 g5 52. Rf1 Rxf4+ 53. Rxf4 gxf4 54. Kxf4 1/2-1/2