Moscow: The deadlock continued with World Champion Viswanathan Anand settling for a draw against challenger Boris Gelfand in the 10th game of the World Chess Championship at the Tretyakov Art Gallery at Moscow.
The 12 Game Match has the potential to heat up with just two games remaining and the score tied at 5-5. The player reaching 6.5 points would be crowned Champion and in case of a 6-6 tie, the players will play the tie-break on the 30th of this month in the Rapid and if needed, in the Blitz format.
After a string of six successive draws, Gelfand had drawn first blood with a victory in the 7thround but Anand had struck back swiftly in the very next game to draw level. The ninth game was also a tough battle but with a drawn result
Saturday is once again a rest day and Gelfand will play with the White pieces in the 11th game on Saturday evening.
Today Anand once again switched to the King Pawn Opening which he had used in the fifth game. The other three times that he wielded Whites, Anand had opened with the queen pawn.
Gelfand also once again responded with the Sicilian but Anand deviated on the third turn in an effort to surprise Gelfand. However the Israeli GM appeared well prepared and countered with a novelty on the 8th turn.
However once again it was a solid show with Black equalizing without much effort and the queens traded rather early. This balance was maintained through out and exchange of pieces ensured that truce was signed on the 25th move when each had a rook and minor piece along with identical number of pawns.
In both the decisive games so far, victory was scored with White pieces and in the next two games both Anand and Gelfand have one game with White each.
