Tilburg, Oct 26: India's Vishwanathan Anand was held to a quick 21-move draw by Jeron Piket of The Netherlands in the third round of the Tilburg International Grandmasters Chess tournament here.Anand still leads the 12-man field with 2.5 points after wins over Joel Lautier of France and Russian world number three Vladimir Kramnik in the first and second rounds.He is followed by Englishman Michael Adams and V Topalov of Bulgaria on two points.Playing with black pieces for the first time in the tournament, Anand adopted the Semi-Slav Defence against Piket.
The Dutchman, bouncing back from his loss against Peter Svidler in the previous round, tried to trap a wary Anand in his 19th move. After 21 moves, Anand offered a draw when no result was possible.
Results: J Piket (Neth) 1 drew with V Anand (Ind) 2.5; V Topalov (Bul) 1.5 bt P Svidler (Rus) 1.5; M Adams (Eng) 2 drew with V Zviaginsev (Rus) 1.5; L Van Wely (Neth) 2 bt V Korchnoi (Swi) 0.5; P Leko (Hun) 1.5 drew with M Sadler (Eng) 1.5; V Kramnik(Rus) 1.5 bt J Lautier (Fra) 0.5.
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