Michael Adams

San Luis : Viswanathan Anand was held by Michael Adams of England in the 10th round of the World Chess Championship here.

Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria settled for a draw with Alexander Morozevich, taking another big step towards his world title.

In the other games, Peter Leko of Hungary drew with Peter Svidler of Russia while Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan scored over now-firmly-in-the-cellar Judit Polgar of Hungary.

Topalov maintained his two point lead over Svidler after the draw.

He is now on 8 points and needs just four draws in the remaining four games to be crowned the world champion.

Svidler, on 6 points, is followed by Anand and Morozevich on 5.5 while Leko and Kasimdzhanov are another full point adrift. Michael Adams is next in line on 3.5 and Judit Polgar’s is at the bottom on just 2.5 in the $1 million championship.

Going by the Anand-Adams game, it appears that the Indian has given up the title race. Playing with black, Anand faced the anti-Marshall by Adams and faced no difficulty right through the 25-mover.

Adams played solidly to split the point after offering the exchange of queens on his 25th turn.

Topalov fought it out against now-in-form Morozevich, putting the three-games winning streak of the Russian to an end. Playing the white side of a Queen’s gambit, Topalov was in command in the middle game and his king side attack helped him knock down two black pawns in quick succession. Morozevich hung in, just about making the right defensive moves only to prolong the game.

Kasimdzhanov added to the woes of Polgar with a fine performance with white pieces. The Uzbek played a Sicilian Scheveningen, winning in 47 moves.

Leko enjoyed some pressure against Svidler for quite some time but the Russian found enough counter play on the queen side in another anti Marshall of the day wherein the former played white. The peace was signed in 36 moves.