Viswanathan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov matched each other step for step to come to a draw after 54 moves in another King v King ending at the end of the eighth round of the M-Tel Masters chess tournament at the Grand Hotel Sofia.

The game extended the Indian grandmaster's record of such endings to three in five games.

With no draw offers being allowed and players restricted from speaking to each other, draws have come often by repetitions. But in Anand's case, he almost seems to have a fascination for King v King endings, so uncommon in top-level chess.

The draw left Anand at 50 percent with four points from eight games and Ponomariov was still the leader at 4.5 points from eight rounds.

Veselin Topalov, engaged in a skirmish with Judit Polgar, could go past with a win, which if achieved would be his third in as many games.

On the other hand Polgar could join Ponomariov with a win over local star Topalov. Topalov and Polgar were engaged in a Sicilian Taimanov.

The third game between Vladimir Kramnik and Michael Adams, which was a Ruy Lopez closed, was still in progress.

The Ponomarov-Anand game was an English Symmetrical Opening, where neither side had any clear advantage. The white position at times seemed better but it was never good enough to create problems for black.

On the other hand, if black took any initiative, white had no problems neutralising that at once.

Anand (black), when asked if he thought white was better at any stage, said: "No, I don't believe white has chances unless black makes any mistakes. If he can manage two passed pawns, then maybe. But it was always comfortable for black. It was a trivial draw and I just went ahead with it."

Ponomariov, who won his last two games to shoot up the leader board, said: "It was an interesting end game."

But speaking through interpreters, the Ukrainian admitted it was a draw all the same for quite some time.

When someone referred to the day as a possible rest day, a smiling Anand replied: "I have had better and more relaxing rest days. Three and a half hours of rook ending is not exactly a rest."

With no draw offers possible, the two players knew it was a drawn ending barring any blunders, but kept going and reached a King v King ending.

Anand has now played three such endings - against Adams in the fourth round, against Polgar in the fifth and Ponomarov in the eighth.

The 22-year-old Ponomariov succeeded Anand as FIDE World Champion in 2002.

Overall Anand has a huge head-to-head advantage over the Ukrainian, but here Ponomariov has shown good form despite a poor losing start against Kramnik.

Anand beat Ponomariov in their clash at Wijk Aan Zee in January, and he has never lost to the Ukranian in a classical clash. His only loss was in a rapid game in the Chess Classic of Mainz in 2003.

Pairings for the ninth round: Adams v Anand; Topalov v Ponomariov; Polgar v Kramnik, Ponomariov v Anand.

M-Tel Masters Eighth Round

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Re1 Ne4 8.
Nxe4 Bxe4 9. d3 Bb7 10. e4 Nc6 11. d4 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 O-O 14. b3
Bc5 15. Qc3 Qe7 16. Re2 a5 17. a4 f5 18. e5 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Rad8 20. Qf3 d6
21. exd6 Qxd6 22. Bg5 Rd7 23. Rae1 Qd3 24. Qxd3 Rxd3 25. Rxe6 Rxb3 26. Be7
Re8 27. Bxc5 Rxe6 28. Rxe6 bxc5 29. Re8+ Kf7 30. Re5 Rb4 31. Rxf5+ Kg6 32.
Rxc5 Rxa4 33. Kf3 Ra2 34. h4 a4 35. Ra5 a3 36. Ke4 Re2+ 37. Kd4 a2 38. f4
Kf6 39. g4 g6 40. c5 Rd2+ 41. Ke4 Re2+ 42. Kd3 Rh2 43. Ra6+ Ke7 44. Ke4 Rxh4
45. Rxa2 Rxg4 46. Ke5 Kd7 47. Ra7+ Kc6 48. Rxh7 Kxc5 49. Rc7+ Kb4 50. Rc1
Kb5 51. Ke4 g5 52. Rf1 Rxf4+ 53. Rxf4 gxf4 54. Kxf4 1/2-1/2

--Indo-Asian News Service