World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out a quick draw, while Parimarjan Negi scored his first victory in the third round of the Corus Grandmasters chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.
It was an exciting start to the game between Anand and Pavel Eljanov but the Ukrainian preferred to maintain the balance rather than try for unwarranted complications which resulted in the point being split in just 17 moves.
Elajnov surprised Anand with his aggressive intentions with a king side pawn advance early on the 11th move in a Nimzo Indian defense game.
Anand retained his cool and equalised just a few moves later. Anand remained 1.5 points behind the leaders and is currently at the bottom of the tables.
"It's a nice idea, but sometimes these things fizzle out fast. I was never in trouble his king can easily get weak", Anand said after the game referring to the alternative Eljanov had.
World's second youngest ever Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi scored his first victory in the Group 'C' at the expense of veteran GM and overnight joint leader John van der Wiel of The Netherlands.
After two losses this was a good recovery by the Delhi-based youngster and he can now look up to an improved performance in the remaining 10 rounds.
The third round was by far the quietest of the premier group 'A' with all seven the games ending in draws. As a result the standings remained unchanged and Anand remained tied for 10th place on one point from his three games so far.
Overnight leaders Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Levon Aronian of Armenia strengthened their position atop the tables with draws against Michael Adams of England and Hungarian Peter Leko of Hungary respectively.
In group 'B', Pentala Harikrishna defended for a long time with black pieces and drew with Daniel Stellwagen of Netherlands while the other Indian aspirant Koneru Humpy suffered a setback at the hands of another Dutchman Erwin L'Ami.
In a major upset in the Group 'B', Chinese sensation Hou Yifan defeated highly regarded former World championship contender Nigel Short of England.
It was a Berlin defence by Short that did not come out good as Yifan played imaginatively and won in just 23 moves.
In fact, Harikrishna's was the sole draw in this competitive section while the remaining six games ended decisively.
Jan Smeets of Holland and Etienne Bacrot of France emerged as the joint leaders on 2.5 points each while Harikrishna slipped tot the third spot on 2 points.
Parimarjan Negi found his rhythm against John van der Wiel. The 14-year-old was at his best against the French defense and cruised past Wiel in just 29 moves.
