Anand draws but stays joint leader after fifth round

Viswanathan Anand split honours with Russian Evgeny Bareev and remained in joint lead along with braingames champion Vlaidmir Kramnik of Russia after the conclusion of the fifth round of Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament now underway here.

The two leaders have 6.5 points apiece out of a possible 10 and are closely followed by Evegny Bareev of Russia and Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine who both have 6 points.

The other overnight leader Peter Leko had a day that will be best left forgotten in quick time. Leko is known as extremely solid in elite chess circles but in the fifth round game nothing worked right for him against sleeping giant Vassily Ivanchuk, who improved his position dramatically in the overall standings.