Anand signed for a draw after 64 moves, so far the longest game of this category-18 tournament here last night. World No 3 Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Vassily Ivanchuk recorded swift victories in the second round and broke away from the pack to be joint leaders with 1.5 points each.

Anand had some winning chances in the game, but he failed to cash in on them. It was a positional game in which the Indian GM seemed to be better off in terms of material, but his extra pawns scattered and hence he could not take advantage.

When Anand realised even exchanges or sacrifices would not work, he gave up and agreed to spilt the point. The third result of the day came from Zoltan Almasi, a late entrant into the tournament, who beat experienced Alexander Beliavsky in a Ruy Lopez game.Hungary's Peter Leko and Michael Adams of England drew in 33 moves of a French defence game.

This year, so far anand has been in splendid form, but yesterday's draw was a little setback as he was expected to take the full point from Yusupov.Incidently Yusupov and Anand are very good friends, as they had prepared together for a while when the Indian was challenging Garry Kasparov for the PCA world title in New York in 1995. Last year Yusupov lost to Anand in the same tournament here.

Results (2nd round): Kramnik bt Svidler, Ivanchuk bt Shirov, Anand drew with Yusupov, Leko drew with Adams, Almasi bt Beliavsky.Points: Kramnik, Ivanchuk (1.5 each); Adams, Anand, Svidler, Yusupov, Leko, Almasi (1); Beliavsky and Shirov (0.5).

Mixed luck for Indians

ANDORRA, (SPAIN): IM K Sasikiran and V Saravanan scored contrasting victories to remain in the lead after the conclusion of the second round of the 16th International Chess Tournament here. Konguvel had a tough draw, while Rahul Shetty held sixth-seededGM Oleg Korneer with an Elo rating of 2560 to a draw in a Ruy Lopez open variation.

THE MOVES

Anand vs Yusupov

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. 0-0 Be7 8. c4 Nf6 9. Bd3 Be6 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bd2 Nbd5 12. Nc3 c6 13. Re1 Nbd5 14. Qb3 Nb6 15. Bd3 Be6 16. Qc2 h6 17. Bd2 Nbd5 18. a3 Nxc3 19. Bxc3 c5 20. Rxe6 fxe6 21. Re1 Qd6 22. Bc4 Nd5 23. Qe4 Rad8 24. dxc5 Qxc5 25. Bxh6 Rxf3 26. gxf3 gxh6 27. Qxe6+ Kf8 28. Re5 Rd6 29. Qxe7+ Nxe7 30. Rxe5 Rd1 31. Kg2 Ra1 32. Ra5 Nc6 33. Rb5 Rxa3 34. Rxb7 Rxc3 35. Bd5 Ne7 36. Be4 a5 37. Rb5 a4 38. Kg3 a3 39. Ra5 Kg7 40. Kf4 Ng6 41. Kg4 Ne7 42. Ra6 Rc5 43. h4 Ng8 44. Ra7+ Kf6 45. Kf4 Rc3 46. Ra6+ Kg7 47. Ke5 Rc5 48. Ke6 Rc7 49. Rxa3 Re7+ 50. Kd6 Re8 51. Bc6 Re2 52. Ra7+ Kf6 53. Be4 Rd2+ 54. Bd5 h5 55. Ke5 Ne7 56. Be4 Rxf2 57. Ra6+ Kf7 58. Rh6 Ng8 59. Rh7+ Kf8 60. Rxh5 Nf6 61. Rf5 Ke7 62. Bd3 Rh2 63. Rf4 Ke6 64. Kd4 Rd2 (Draw)