Anand to meet Leko after first rest day in Corus

Wijk Aan Zee :

Chasing an elusive win after four successive draws, world champion Viswanathan Anand will take on Hungarian Peter Leko in the fifth round of the Corus Chess tournament's elite 'A' group on Friday.

The Indian ace is tied fifth in this category-19 tournament with two points. Spaniard Alexei Shirov leads the pack with four victories on the trot.

Shirov is a full point adrift of the nearest competitors Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Hikaru Nakamura of United States and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine. Anand shares the next spot along with Leinier Dominguez of Cuba and the Russian duo of Sergey Karjakin and Vladimir Kramnik.

It has been a sedate start by Anand, contrary to what many expected ahead of his world championship match against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria slated in April this year.