Anand settles for draw, Van Wely loses in third round action

Defending champion Vishwanathan Anand let go a winning chance to draw his first game with Grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev of France, while highly rated Dutch GM Loek Van Wely went down to GM Ye Ziangchuan of China in third round matches of the World Chess Championship at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Saturday.

Playing white, Anand was a picture of confidence as he agreed to a draw in 48 moves.

In other matches, GM Peter Svidler of Russia defeated GM Vadim Milov of Switzerland on a day that witnessed seven decisive games out of a possible 16 in the men's section.

Amongst the favourites, only GM Alexander Morozevich of Russia could manage a victory while GM Michael Adams of England had to be content with a draw after a complicated battle against GM Vadim Zvjagintsev of Russia.

Russian champion Grandmaster Alexander Motylev continued with his excellent form and held last year's runner-up Grandmaster Alexei Shirov of Spain to a draw with black pieces.

Against Tkachiev, Anand opened with his pet king pawn and produced a good theoretical novelty on the 14th move and stood better for the major part of the game. The middle game witnessed many tactical complications and Anand appeared to be cruising through.

However, Russian-born Tkachiev was quite up to the task. Playing true to his reputation, the Frenchman produced a gallant defence on the 22nd move with a Bishop sacrifice.