Dortmund, June 27: Viswanathan Anand played his third successive draw, this time against Boris Gelfand at the Sparkassen Super Grandmasters chess in Dortmund. Anand with 1.5 points from three rounds is tied for third with three others.

All four games ended in draws in the third round at the end of which Vladimir Kramnik and Evegeny Alekseev are leading with two points each.

Both Anand and Kramnik were involved in 21-move draws. As Anand was held by Gelfand, Kramnik split points with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

In the match against Gelfand, NIIT sponsored Anand equalized easily from the opening, and the draw was agreed at move 21. The game was an Anti-Meran variation.

Peter Leko got nothing out of Arkadij Naiditsch's rare Nimzowitsch Variation and the game was drawn in 38 moves. Magnus Carlsen tried a long squeeze against leader Evegeny Alekseev in an anti-Queen's Indian line, but the Russian's defences held.

Results of Round 3: Carlsen drew with Alekseev; Leko drew with Naiditsch; Mamedyarov drew with Kramnik;

Gelfand drew with Anand

Round 3 Standings: 1. Alekseev and Kramnik 2.0; 3. Anand, Carlsen, Leko and Mamedyarov 1.5; 7. Gelfand and Naiditsch 1.0

Anand's third round game:

Gelfand v Anand

Sparkassen GM Dortmund

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Bb2 Qe7 11.Rad1 Rad8 12.Rfe1 Rfe8 13.Bd3 e5 14.cxd5 cxd5 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nd4 Nxd3 17.Qxd3 Ne4 18.Nf5 Qg5 19.Nxe4 dxe4 20.Qb5 Ba6 21.Qxa6 ½-½.