With a shock victory over world number two Anand, Adams joined leader Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to jointly lead the 10-men field after seven rounds in this category-18 event.

Adams and Kramnik, with five points each, lead the table with just two rounds to go. They are followed by Hungary's Peter Leko (4.5 points).

With victory still eluding, Anand's loss here will surely rank as one of his most lacklustre performances in the recent times. Especially so since it comes in a year when Anand has had unprecedented success.

The Indian GM went down in long drawn out battle with Adams even as the remaining four games ended in draws, two of them lasting less than 20 moves.

Vassily Ivanchuk has not endeared himself to either the organisers or the spectatorswith another quick draw, this time against Kramnik. The highly temperamental Ivanchuk has taken quite a few quick draws and this time he had white pieces. The game lasted 17 moves in a dull Petroff defence.

German Artur Yusupov, a former trainer of Anand, grabbed half a point from Peter Svidler after an 18-move draw in Gruenfeld Indian game, while Alexi Shirov, continuing to struggle drew with Alexander Beliavski in 47 moves in Ruy Lopez.

Anand, who is now close to joining the elite club of players who have achieved rating of 2800 or over, will have to wait for some time more to cross the mark. At present, he is at 2795 and only Kasparov has more than that at 2815.

Here, he has drawn six games and lost a seventh. Adams started with the Closed Sicilian and Anand seemed to have the definite advantage by the middle game. And then came the Qc7 on the 24th and that seemed to transfer the advantage to the English player, who has often lost to Anand in the past. He has a minus score against the Indian.

Anandstill had the chance to salvage a half point in an opposite colour bishop ending but he missed it and finally resigned after 57 moves.Anand now has a game against Almasi in the next round.

Results of seventh round: Adams beat Anand; Leko drew with Almasi; Ivanchuk drew with Kramnik; Yusupov drew with Svidler; Shirov drew with Beliavski.

Points: (After seven rounds): 1-2. Adams and Kramnik (5 each): 3 Leko (4.5); 4-5. Ivanchuk and Svidler (4 each): 6-7. Anand and Almasi (3 each): 8-9, Beliavski and Yusupov (2.5 each): 10. Shirov (1.5).