Ponomariov, Kasparov share
the lead at Linares

Former World champion Vishwanathan Anand agreed to another draw while his successor Ruslan Ponomariov joined Garry Kasparov at the top after the 12th round in the Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament.

With just two rounds to go, both Ponomariov and Kasparov have six points each from 10 games and are followed by Vassily Ivanchuk on 5.5 points from 11 games.

Anand is next in standing along with Michael Adams on five points from 10 games.

Playing black pieces, Anand faced a Catalan opening from Ivanchuk and had little difficulty equalising after the opening moves.

Ivanchuk sacrificed a pawn in the early phase and got a slight advantage on the queenside as he threatened to weaken Anand's pawn structure. But Anand, though not in his best form here, was up to the task. He sacrificed his queen on the 20th move and had ample counter-play with his rook and minor pieces when Ivanchuk thought it wiser to settle for a draw in just 23 moves.

The result has left Anand with chances of a clear third place if he is able to beat Adams in their return game in the next round. The game will be of utmost importance to Anand, who lost to Adams in their first encounter at Linares.

The revenge will not only bring Anand close to the two leaders but will also help him to go all out against Spaniard Alexei Shirov in the last round.

Ponomariov continued to impress with a crushing victory over local player Francisco Pons Vallejo.

The Spaniard shied away from his early favourite, Berlin defence with black pieces for the third time in succession and received the third jolt in the Sicilian Paulsen.

Ponomariov was at his positional best as he went about squeezing the defence lines of black in a masterly fashion and left Vallejo confined to the task of defence on both flanks with an excellent middlegame plan.

In the final stages, Vallejo found some solace with a pawn sacrifice but the relief was short-lived as Ponomariov controlled the queen file with his rook and dented Vallejo's position beyond repair.

With threats looming large, a pawn deficit and his queen stuck in enemy camp, Vallejo resigned on the 29th move.

Kasparov didn't have to do much against Adams with black pieces.

Known for his opening creativity, Adams embarked on a new set-up but only managed a dynamic equilibrium in the Sicilian Nazdorf defence game.

Kasparov complicated the tussle a bit in the middlegame but an exchange of queens on move No. 20 gave the Englishman an easy draw agreed to in 34 moves.