Cautious Anand,Gelfand split points again

A battle that began with a lot of promise ended without much fanfare,with reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand playing it safe in the dying stages of Game

A battle that began with a lot of promise ended without much fanfare,with reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand playing it safe in the dying stages of Game Three of the World Chess Championship for a third consecutive draw against Boris Gelfand on Monday.

Coming back to the challenge after a days rest,both players appeared ready to take the battle to a higher level. The third game was the most sharp and fluid so far in this 12-game series where the player reaching 6.5 will be crowned the world champion.

The game lasted 37 moves and had the followers on the edge of their seats for most part. Unlike the first two games where both players appeared to be more keen on sizing up the opponent,Game 3 was razor sharp,needing both players to play precisely to maintain some semblance of balance.

Gelfands Grunfeld defence was met with a new move on the third turn by Anand but the 43-year-old Israeli GM had more than done his homework,the speed with which he belted out the moves giving a strong indication that he was all along on home turf. Anand castled on the queen side but it was Gelfand who was more on the attack in the initial stages. His queen and rooks along with the knight kept the pressure on Anands King.

Despite the initial blaze of aggression,however,Gelfand was unable to maintain his hold in the middle game and Anand was quick to seize the initiative,taking advantage of playing with white pieces. Anands pieces on the kingside were undeveloped for which Gelfand had sacrificed a pawn. Anand,however,exchanged off the queens,bishops and knights and appeared better to try and probe for victory.

The end position was complex and appeared promising for Anand but running into time trouble and with an impending checkmate as Gelfands both rooks patrolled his seventh rank,Anand was satisfied with settling for a draw with repetition of moves.

The scores now stand level at 1.5-1.5 with Game Four on Tuesday.

Game 3: The moves

Anand starts with white

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1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 00 8. Qd2 e5 9. d5 c6 10. h4 cxd5 11. exd5 N8d7 12. h5 Nf6 13. hxg6 fxg6 14. 000 Bd7 15. Kb1 Rc8 16. Ka1 e4 17. Bd4 Na4 18. Nge2 Qa5 19. Nxe4 Qxd2 20. Nxf6 Rxf6 21. Rxd2 Rf5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. d6 Rfc5 24. Rd1 a5 25. Rh4 Rc2 26. b3 Nb2 27. Rb1 Nd3 28. Nd4 Rd2 29. Bxd3 Rxd3 30. Re1 Rd2 31. Kb1 Bf5 32. Nxf5 gxf5 33. Re7 Kg6 34. Rc7 Re8 35. Rh1 Ree2 36. d7 Rb2 37. Kc1 Rxa2 draw agreed