Anand draws with Svidler; joint second now

World champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Russian Peter Svidler but rose up to the joint second spot after the eighth and penultimate round of Alekhine Memorial Chess tournament here.
On what turned out to be an off-day in office after a couple of remarkable victories with white pieces, Anand could do little against Svidler who had things under control for the most part of the game despite playing black.
The Russian did not let his position slip in any way to earn an easy draw.
Maxime Vachier-Lagraev was in for a surprise as he was taken to task by Nikita Vituigov of Russia and the Frenchman suffered his first loss in the tournament after being very close to annexing the title.

Vachier-Lagraev's loss was a big gain for Boris Gelfand of Israel who became the sole leader after drawing with Vladimir Kramnik of Israel.
In other games of the day, Laurent Fressinet recovered after a shattering loss at the hands of Anand in the previous round and drew with world number three Levon Aronian of Armenia while Ding Liren of China signed peace with Michael Adams of England.

With just one round to come, the tournament is set for an exciting finale. Gelfand leads the field but is set to play with Anand in the final round. It may be recalled that Israel had lost to Anand in the last World Championship match held in Moscow in May last year.

With Gelfand on five points out of a possible eight, Vachier-Lagraev, Anand, Michael Adams and Levon Aronian are in close pursuit of the leader just a half point behind and they are followed by Vituigov and Fressinet now who have four points apiece.
Finding himself in an unusual eighth spot is world number two Kramnik on 3.5 points, half a point ahead of Ding Liren who in turn is a half a point ahead of the last-placed Svidler.