Anand held by Morozevic, placed joint second in Moscow meet

MOSCOW - World champions Vishwanathan Anand was held by Russian Alexander Morozevic in the seventh round of the Tal Memorial Chess here.

Anand playing with white may have held hopes of scoring over Morozevich. But Morozevic had some solid play and managed to hold the World Champion to a draw in the Queens Gambit here Thursday.

A win would have helped Anand join Vladimir Kramnik in the lead. The Russian stood his ground. Anand did give it all and kept the back rank occupied until the queens were off the board. But in the end, the players were forced to draw in 36 moves.

There was only one decisive game allowing Vassily Ivanchuk to move to within half a point of the leader Kramnik and Anand.

The only decisive game of the day saw Ivanchuk win and then eventually convert an extra pawn. For most of the game, Boris Gelfand should have been able to hold but his position deteriorated prior to the first time control.

Round VII:

Results: Anand drew with Morozevich; Ivanchuk beat Gelfand; Aronian drew with Kramnik; Ponomariov drew with Leko; Svidler drew with Carlsen.

Points: Kramnik 5; Anand and Ivanchuk 4.5; Carlsen, Aronian and Gelfand 3.5 each; Ponomariov 3; Morozevich, Svidler and Leko 2.5 each.