Anand in dire straits

DORTMUND, July 5: Viswanathan Anand, still looking for his first win here, found himself in an incredibly dismal situation when he was held ...

DORTMUND, July 5: Viswanathan Anand, still looking for his first win here, found himself in an incredibly dismal situation when he was held to a seventh draw in eight games at the Sparkassen chess meeting 1998.

The Indian GM was held to a 30-move draw by Hungary’s Zoltan Almasi in the eighth round here last night. Anand now lies in the lower half of the standings with 3.5 points, less than 50 per cent, something which has not happened to him in a very long time.

World No 3 Vladimir Kramnik (5.5 points) escaped defeat at the hands of talented Peter Leko of Hungary and drew his game to share the lead with Michael Adams of England with one round to go in this category-18 tournament.

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Adams drew with Alexey Shirov of Spain to maintain his claim for the title. In a Nimzo-Indian game, Anand playing white, was unable to take advantage of an early initiative.

Almasi, who had lost to Anand in the World Championship qualifiers in Groningen last December, was content with a draw here, a much bigger leaguetournament.

As Anand continued with his win-less streak in this tournament, something of a rarity and what worse is score, less than 50 per cent. It could mean a loss of some ELO points for Anand, who is now knocking on the doors of a historic 2800 mark. His tournament rating thus far has been 2645 as compared to his normal 2795.

Results (8th round): Kramnik drew with Leko, Adams drew with Shirov, Svidler beat Ivanchuk, Anand drew with Almasi, Beliavsky lost to Yusupov.

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Points (after penultimate round): 1-2: Kramnik and Adams (5.5 each); 3-4: Leko and Svidler (5 each); 5: Ivanchuk (4); 6-8: Anand, Almasi and Yusupov (3.5 each); 9: Beliavsky (2.5); 10: Shirov (2).