Anand, Kramnik settle for a draw

World number one Vishwanathan Anand had to settle for a draw against Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in the opening round of the Dortmund Chess Meet, at the Civic Theatre in Dortmund.

Playing with white pieces, Kramnik opened with d4 to which Anand immediately replied with d5. After playing theoretical moves, the game then moved on Queens Gambit Declined Slav variation.

Anand, who lost to Kramnik in the sixth round of the Corus tournament earlier this year, played cautiously. Right from the beginning his pieces were well coordinated; he defended well and in the process built up a solid case for an eventual draw.

Neither Kramnik nor Anand were ready to take any risks in their opening encounter and happily agreed to split the point with no result in sight.

Meanwhile, the games between youngest Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Hungarian Peter Leko, followed by the game between Boris Gelfand (Israel) and Evgeny Alekseev (Russia) also ended in no result.

However, the last game of the day between Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and German Grandmaster Arkadij Naiditsch did yield a result with the Azerbaijanian Grandmaster coming on top of the young German to establish half a point lead over his other seven compatriots.

Results Round One: Viswanathan Anand drew with Vladimir Kramnik; Boris Gelfand drew with Evgeny Alekseev; Magnus Carlsen drew with Peter Leko; Shakhriyar Mamedyarov beat Akradij Naiditsch.

Round Two Pairing: Vishanathan Anand vs Peter Leko; Akradij Naiditsch vs Magnus Carlsen; Evgeny Alexejew vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov; Vladimir Kramnik vs Boris Gelfand