Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand played a hard-fought 57-move draw with defending champion Peter Leko of Hungary in his opening match at the Dortmund Sparkassen International on Thursday.

The NIIT-sponsored former world champion is now in tied third place with half a point after the opening round.

The event is a category 18 event with an average rating of Elo 2695. There are ten rounds in the event.

In the other games in this six-man super GM tournament, Vladimir Kramnik took an early lead with a good win over youngster Teimour Rajdabov in the first round.

In the third game, Moldovan GM Viktor Bologan converted a pawn advantage in the sixth hour of play in a rook and pawn ending to a full point against local hope, GM Arkadi Naidistch.

Anand was a pawn up, but there was little chance of him being able to convert that into a meaningful point. As a result, he accepted the peace offer and shared the point.

In the next round Anand clashes with Radjabov and could well get a full point considering the low state the youngster is expected to be in after a crushing defeat against Kramnik. Anand will have white pieces.

Two of the three games, including the Anand-Leko games, saw Sicilian-Sveshnikov openings, opening up the speculation that like some of the other big tournaments this year, this going to the flavour of this event, too.

However, Kramnik, whose form has been a matter of discussion, simply because he has not been seen in action and dropped a few Elo points in the last rating list, demolished first-timer Azerbaijani Teimour Radjabov in just 31 moves of a Sicilian-Sveshnikov.

The third match,  pitting comparitive lightweights, Arkadi Naiditsch, considered by many as the new hope chess hope of Germany, drew with Moldovan Viktor Bologan, who got a berth by virtue of his win in the Aeroflot tournament earlier this year. The game was a marathon 63-move clash in Caro-Kann.

Kramnik outplayed Radjabov's attempt to play a rather dubious line in the Sveshnikov Sicilian, while Bologan held the edge from start and scored a full point against Naiditsch, though it took a long 63 moves to do so.

Round 1 Results: Kramnik beat Radjabov; Anand drew with Leko; Naiditsch lost to Bologan.

Second round pairings: Anand v Radjabov, Leko v Naiditsch, Bologan v Kramnik

Round 1 Standings: 1. Bologan and Kramnik 1.0 each; 3. Anand and Leko 0.5 each; 5. Naiditsch and Radjabov 0.

Anand's Game

Anand (2774) v Leko (2739)
Dortmundm Round 1
1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6, 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. c3 Bg7 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3 Be6 15. Bd3 f5, 16. O-O Ra7 17. Qh5 Raf7 18. Rad1 Ne7 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7, 20. Bc2 e4 21. Nd5 Bxd5 22. Rxd5 Kh8 23. f4 b4 24. cxb4 Bxb2 25. Bb3 Ba3, 26. Qd1 Qa7+ 27. Qd4+ Qxd4+ 28. Rxd4 Re7 29. Kf2 a5 30. Rxd6 Bxb4 31. Rd5 Kg7 32. Ke2 Rf6 33. Rc1 Rg6 34. g3 Rh6 35. h4 Rg6 36. Rxf5 Rxg3 37. Rg5+ Rxg5 38. hxg5 h6 39. gxh6+ Kxh6 40. Rc6+ Kh7 41. Ke3 Rg7 42. Be6 Rg3+ 43. Kxe4 Rc3 44. Bc4 Rh3 45. Ra6 Rh6 46. Be6 Rh4 47. Ra7+ Kg6 48. Bf7+ Kf6 49. Bb3 Bd6 50. Rf7+ Kg6 51. Rf5 Rh1 52. Rd5 Re1+ 53. Kf3  Bb4 54. Bc4 Kf6 55. Rb5 Rd1 56. Rb6+ Rd6 57. Rb7 Rd4 1/2-1/2 (Draw)