Wijk aan Zee: World champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Hungarian Peter Leko in group A while Parimarjan Negi beat Dennis Rujigrok of The Netherlands to move to joint second in group C at the Corus International Chess Tournament.

Things did not go well for Anand, who was playing white, as Leko was up to the task.

The closed position opened up a bit, paving the way for Leko to exchange a couple of minor pieces and a thematic central breakthrough ensured a perfect balance for the Hungarian. The peace was signed in a mere 19 moves. The high point of the day was Norwegian Magnus Carlsen’s remarkable recovery against local favourite Loek van Wely.

Carlsen was in a completely lost position when disaster struck Van Wely in the mutual time scramble. The Dutchman blundered to give the point away. Carlsen thus regained sole lead with 6.5 points. Levon Aronian of Armenia is in second spot with 6 points.

Anand, Michael Adams of England, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan are third with 5.5 points each. (PTI)