Anand draws with Shirov

Monaco:

Indian chess stalwart Viswanathan Anand drew with Alexei Shirov of Spain in the blindfold game of the 9th round of Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament. Scoring his sixth victory on the trot, Alexander Morozevich of Russia joined Braingames champion and compatriot Vladimir Kramnik when the latter failed to capitalize on his full point lead over Evgeny Bareev of Russia and went down in the rapid game to finish 1-1 on a nerve-wrecking day. Both Morozevich and Kramnik have 12 points each and are followed by Peter Leko on 11. Anand will play the rapid game with Shirov later this evening with black pieces and if the Indian ace wins that game, he will improve his position considerably. The Indian stalwart has been struggling with his form that netted him the champion's crown last year and against Shirov too Anand could not get any advantage with his white pieces. Shirov came up with an opening surprise by threatening to go for the Marshall Gambit to which Anand opted for a safe approach that did not give him anything desirable. Shirov equalized quickly with central pawns trade and the draw was agreed to in just 21 moves. (PTI)