Anand draws with Morozevich; maintains sole lead

Linares, Mar 7 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand played a 29-move draw with Alexander Morozevich but still maintained a half-point sole lead after Round 11 of the Morelia-Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament here.

The Indian ace, who defeated Magnus Carlsen for the second time in tenth round, is being followed closely by Carlsen, who outplayed veteran Vassily Ivanchuk.

Anand remained in sole lead on seven points from possible 11 after the easy draw with Morozevich.

Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler of Russia and Levon Aronian of Armenia are in joint third spot on 5.5 points.

Bulgarian Topalov is in sole sixth spot on five points while Hungarian Peter Leko and Morozevich share the last spot on 4.5 points apiece.

Anand will play two of his remaining three games with white.

The day saw just one decisive game. Carlsen was the star with a memorable 35-move triumph against the former world championship finalist Ivanchuk. It was a good comeback for Carlsen after losing to Anand in the previous round.

There are three more rounds to go in the eight-player double round robin tournament held at Morelia in Mexico and here.

Pairings for Round 12: Topalov v Carlsen; Leko v Svidler; Anand v Aronian; Ivanchuk v Morozevich Standings after Round 11: 1. Anand 7.0; 2. Carlsen 6.5; 3. Svidler, Aronian and Ivanchuk 5.5; 6. Topalov 5.0; 7. Morozevich and Leko 4.5 UNI