Morozevich's stiff resistance deprives Anand a victory

Mexico City, Sept 17 (UNI) Stiff resistance from Russian Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich deprived Viswanathan Anand a victory in a well fought game in the fourth round of the World Chess Championship here.

The Indian, however, still continued to share the joint lead with another Russian Vladimir Kramnik, who drew with compatriot Alexander Grischuk, on 2.5 points.

Anand, playing with black pieces, replied with Nf6 to his opponent's opening move of d4 and after a few moves, the game was fought on Meran variation Slav defense.

Anand came up with a completely different plan with Bg7 which turned the game in Black's favour. Both the players played the first 15 moves in Blitz tempo.

In the middle game, Anand began consolidating his position. He forced Morozevich to win an exchange.

The world number one then cleverly traded Knights and created a decisive advantage in his favour. At this juncture, a win for Anand looked certain.

Morozevich, however, did not loose heart and fought back and Anand needed a couple of nice moves to break open Morozevich's defence.

The Russian's stubborn resistance paid off in the end and Anand has to console himself with a draw.

Anand later said getting one point from the game was not bad but ''it is a shame to play what I did today.'' On the other tables, Kramnik was held to a draw by his compatriot Alexander Grischuk, while Peter Svidler and Boris Gelfand also signed peace after 24 moves.

The only decisive game was Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian defeating Peter Leko of Hungary.

Aronian Played a good game and did not miss any opportunity to exploit many minor mistakes committed by his opponent which paid off in the end.

The eight Grandmasters will have a one-day rest before slugging it out the fifth round.

Standings after Round Four: 1-2: Viswanathan Anand; Vladimir Kramnik (2.5 points) 3-6: Alexander Morozevich; Alexander Grischuk; Boris Gelfand; Levon Aronian (2.0 points) 7-8: Peter Leko; Peter Svidler (1.5 points) Pairings for Round Five: Viswanathan Anand vs Peter Svidler; Boris Gelfand vs Levon Aronian; Alexander Grischuk vs Alexander Morozevich; Peter Leko v Vladimir Kramnik.

UNI