Draws abound at World Chess Championship

Top-seeded Vladimir Kramnik was forced into a tie-breaker and only one player was able to win in the fourth round on Tuesday of the World Chess championship at Caesars Palace.

Vladimir Akopian of Armenia, the 31st seed defeated the veteran Bulgarian grandmaster Kiril Georgiev, seeded 23rd, in an endgame that lasted 90 moves.

Akopian had one extra pawn, but he felt that Georgiev could have forced a draw with perfect play. Several small errors were made, however, and Akopian earned his way into the quarter-finals of this event.

The Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) is sponsoring this tournament. The winner will receive $660,000 of the $3 million prize fund.

Kramnik tied against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria while sixth seed Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine also tied, against Liviu Nisipeanu of Romania.

Second seeded Alexei Shirov of Spain, who won a marvelous game Monday, secured a draw Tuesday against 10th ranked Nigel Short of England. And by winning the match, Shirov earned one of the eight spots in Thursday's fifth round.

The other six matches saw draws for the second straight day. Two-game sets of tie break matches will be held Wednesday.

Judit Polgar of Hungary, the only woman remaining in the tournament, was on the verge of elimination in her game with Russia's Vadim Zvjaginsev. Polgar was forced to sacrifice a bishop but her counterattack forced the Russian give up a piece of his own.

The youngest player, Sergei Movsesian, 20, of the Czech Republic managed a magical draw against Alexei Fedorov of Belarus, the third seed. Fedorov gained an early advantage, and Movsesian was forced to give up his queen for only a rook and knight.

Fedorov was winning handily but played inaccurately. Movsesian, the 27th seed, was able to build a fortress and salvage the draw.

The other four games each ended in 30 moves or less.

England's Michael Adams, the fifth seed, played an uneventful draw against Aleksey Dreev of Russia. Israel's Boris Gelfand did the same against Alexander Khalifman, also of Russia.

The score of the Tuesday's fourth round game between Zvjaginsev, playing white, and Polgar.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 00 7.Bg2 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.Bxd5 exd5 11.Be3 Bxc3+ 12.Qxc3 Qg6 13.h4 h5 14.g4 Bxg4 15.f3 Rc8 16.Qd2 Nc6 17.fxg4 Ne5 18.gxh5 Qe4 19.Rg1 Nc4 20.Qd3 Nxe3 21.Qxe4 dxe4 22.Kf2 Nc2 23.Rad1 Rc5 24.Nxc2 Rxc2 25.Rd7 Rxb2 26.h6 e3+ 27.Kxe3 Re8+ 1/2-1/2

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