Viswanathan Anand finally got his first win in the seventh round of the M-Tel Masters chess tournament Thursday as Vladimir Kramnik committed an uncharacteristic blunder.

With the victory, Anand moved out of the last position to tie second with Judit Polgar at 3.5 points. Polgar drew her seventh round game with Ruslan Ponomariov, who now has four points.

The third game between Michael Adams and Veselin Topalov - both have three points each - was still in progress. In case of a draw, they will join Polgar and Anand. If there is a result, the winner will join Ponomariov at the top and the loser Kramnik at the bottom.

"That win was a relief, especially after yesterday," said Anand, who had lost to Topalov in the sixth round. "You can imagine my mood yesterday. Well I will take it. A win is good to have."

"I am actually not thinking about the tournament situation. That win was welcome, more so after the game against Topo (Topalov)."

The Anand-Kramnik game, which lasted just 20 moves, was the shortest of the tournament and certainly the shortest result-producing clash between the two giants.

Talking of his seventh round game, which was Petroff, Anand recalled a similar game with Kramnik six years ago in another Petroff.

"It was the tournament in Frankfurt in 1999 and I had played a game with Karpov the day before. When I went back and checked on the computer I saw it was a forced win, very easy. The next day to my surprise, Vlady (Kramnik) played the same game and it gave me a forced win," recalled Anand.

"Sometimes you are tired and don't check on the computer when you get back to the room. I had and Vlady repeated it."

Interestingly, Anand's last win over Kramnik, which came in the Amber Blindfold was also in the Petroff, where Anand had white. Anand has never lost to Kramnik in a Petroff, even though Kramnik has played it with greater success with a lot of others.

"Okay these things are rare but happen. Vlady is usually very well prepared, but maybe it happens once in six years," Anand said.

Anand said he had prepared 16 Qc1, which had Kramnik thinking for long after dashing off the early moves in the well-analysed Petroff's main line.

"This is something that has been played in the Leko-Kramnik clash in Brissago and I had prepared it. So, when he played Na5 and then Qe4 and Qd3, it was a surprise, as it was a forced win for white."

Kramnik, when asked if tiredness was the reason for the blunder, gave no excuses and said: "If I am tired and I blunder then it is my problem. It will be nice to have another rest day, and I said that earlier too."

Polgar and Ponomariov drew in 27 moves from a Ruy Lopez opening, which had the Berlin defence. It was a clear draw and the arbiters agreed, and some farcical moves were avoided.

ANAND V KRAMNIK
M-Tel Masters 2005 Round 7

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8.
c4 Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. cxd5
Qxd5 15. Bf4 Rac8 16. Qc1 Na5 17. c4 Qe4 18. Bd1 Qd3 19. Re3 Qxc4 20. Re5
1-0

POINTS AFTER SIXTH ROUND: 1. Ponomariov (4 points); 2. Polgar and Anand (3.5 points each); Adams and Topalov (3 plus one game); 6. Kramnik (3 points)

PAIRINGS FOR EIGHTH ROUND: Ponomariov v Anand; Kramnik v Adams; Topalov v Polgar

--Indo-Asian News Service