Anand draws with Shirov, title hopes over

Wijk Aan Zee, Jan 27 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand's chances of retaining the Corus Chess title are as good as over after the Indian Super Grandmaster was held by Alexei Shirov of Spain in the 11th round of the tournament here.

With just two rounds remaining in the tournament, Anand aggregates 6.5, a full point less than chart topper Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who shockingly lost from a winning position against Russian Peter Svidler.

Anand failed to cash in on the advantage of playing with white pieces and both the players settled for a draw after 30 moves.

Contrary to expectations, a series of violent exchanges in Anand's Petroff game led to an equal endgame involving a rook, a bishop and three pawns each.

Anand had some winning chances in the endgame with his extra pawn, despite his ruptured kingside structure but did not get it against his bottom-placed rival and agreed for a draw.

The Indian takes on reigning Dutch Champion Sergey Tiviakov in the penultimate round today. Tiviakov split points with Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in his round 11 game.

Anand now has 6.5 points and shares the fourth spot with World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and wins over Tiviakov and David Navara -- in the last round -- can give him a chance to come inside top-three.

Meanwhile, in other important Group A matches, Levon Aronian beat Sergey Karjakin to join Svidler and Teimour Radjabov at second place.

In Group C, Parimarjan Negi drew with black pieces against local Peng Zhaoqin. Negi is now fifth with six points. Ian Nepomniachtchi, who has 9.5 points, leads the pack and he is followed by Michael Krasenkow with 8.5. Emmanuel Berg has seven points and Hou Yifan 6.5.

Pairings for Round 12: Motylev v Radjabov, Topalov v Kramnik, van Wely v Svidler Karjakin v Carlsen, Shirov v Aronian, Tiviakov v Anand, Navara v Ponomariov Results of Round 11: Aronian beat Karjakin, Svidler beat Topalov Kramnik drew with Radjabov, Anand drew with Shirov, Ponomariov drew with Tiviakov, Navara drew with Motylev, Carlsen drew with Van Wely Standings after Round 11: 1.Topalov 7.5, 2.Aronian, Svidler and Radjabov 7.0, 5.Kramnik and Anand 6.5 7.Ponomariov 5.5, 8.Navara and Karjakin 5.0, 10.Motylev and Tiviakov 4.5, 12.Van Wely 4.0, 13.Carlsen and Shirov 3.5.

UNI