Former world champion Viswanathan Anand settled for a 1-1 draw with Russian Grandmaster Evgeny Bareev to maintain his top position in the combined standings after the 10th and penultimate round in the 12th Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in Monte Carlo on Thursday.

Anand was, in fact, lucky to remain in sole lead. It was due to the suprise victory by tailender and "written off" veteran Ljubomir Ljubojevic that he now goes to a final round showdown with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria with half a point more in his kitty.

Ljubojevic sprang a major surprise in the blndfold against Peter Leko and bounced back from a nearly lost position to score his first victory in the tournament.

Anand now has 13 points in his bag and is half a point ahead of Linares champion Peter Leko of Hungary and Topalov in the combined standings. Besides these three, only defending champion Alexander Morozevich of Russia is in with a chance for top honours in this $193250 tournament that has one blindfold and one rapid game in each round.

Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik set himself as the number one in the blindfold standings as he extended his lead to a full point over Morozevich in this section. The Rapid section, however, is still open with Bareev leading the field with half a point margin over Anand and Leko.

Anand played two uneventful draws with Bareev. The first duel was a Nimzo Indian defence in the blindfold and it appeared for some time that Bareev was in mood to take some risks.

However, with a terrible score behind him in this section, the Russian decided against it and a few exchanges led to a level position. The peace was signed in 24 moves.

The Rapid encounter between the two lasted just one more move than the previous game and this time Anand did not get much out of his pet Winawer variation as white against the French defence. Two pieces got traded quite early and Anand's attack on the kingside did not really materialise.

Ljubojevic's perseverance yielded high dividends against Leko. Playing white in blindfold Leko outplayed his opponent right from the opening and had an extra rook by the 21st move itself. To his credit, Ljubojevic hung in there and created some threats that could not be countered by the Hungarian.

After the 40th move, Ljubojevic turned the tables.

In the return Rapid game, Leko was again in trouble and even offered a draw but it was spurned down. However, an oversight cost Ljubojevic dearly and Leko equalised the mini match through a simple and pretty combination.

Topalov lost to Morozevich in the blindfold but bounced back in the Rapid to level scores while Kramnik defeated  Dutchman Loek Van Wely 1.5-0.5 by winning the blindfold and drawing in rapid.

Results (Penultimate round):

Blindfold: Evgeny Bareev (Rus) drew Viswanathan Anand; Alexei Shirov (Esp) beat Boris Gelfand (Isr); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) beat Loek van Wely (Ned); Peter Leko (Hun) lost to Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yug); Zoltan Almasi (Hun) drew Vassily Ivanchuk(Ukr); Veselin Topalov (Bul) lost to Alexander Morozevich (Rus).

Rapid: Anand drew Bareev; Gelfand drew Shirov; Van Wely drew Kramnik; Ljubojevic lost to Leko; Ivanchuk drew Almasi; Morozevich lost to Topalov.

Standings after round 10:

Blindfold: 1. Kramnik 7.5; 2. Morozevich 6.5; 3-5. Gelfand, Anand, Topalov 6.0 each; 6. Leko 5.5; 7. Shirov 5.0; 8-10. Ivanchuk, Almasi, Van Wely 4.5 each; 11. Bareev 2.5; 12. Ljubojevic 1.5.

Rapid: 1. Bareev 7.5; 2-3. Anand, Leko 7.0 each; 4. Topalov 6.5; 5. Morozevich 5.5; 6-7. Gelfand, Shirov 5.0; 8. Almasi 4.5; 9. Kramnik 4.0; 10. Ivanchuk 3.5; 11. Van Wely 3.0; 12. Ljubojevic 1.5.

Combined Standings: 1. Anand 13.0; 2. Leko, Topalov 12.5; 4. Morozevich 12.0; 5. Kramnik 11.5; 6. Gelfand 11.0; 7-8. Shirov, Bareev 10.0; 9. Almasi 9.0; 10. Ivanchuk 8.0; 11. Van Wely 7.5; 12. Ljubojevic 3.0.

The moves:

Blindfold: Evgeny Bareev v/s V Anand:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. e3 c5 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 Bxd4 9. Bxd4 Nc6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Ne2 Bd7 12. Nc3 Nb4 13. Qc1 Qg5 14. a3 Nc6 15. Ne4 Qe5 16. Bd3 O-O-O 17. f4 Qd5 18. Qc2 f5 19. Nc5 Rhg8 20. Rg1 Qd6 21. Kf2 Kb8 22. Rgd1 Qe7 23. Bb5 Ne5 24. Nxd7 draw agreed.

Rapid: V Anand v/s Evgeny Bareev:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Qd2 Be7 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O-O b6 11. h4 Bb7 12. c3 c5 13. Neg5 h6 14. Bh7 Kh8 15. Bc2 Bxf3 16. Nxf3 Nf6 17. Kb1 Qc7 18. Qe2 cxd4 19. Nxd4 h5 20. f3 Bc5 21. g4 Rad8 22. Nb3 g6 23. a3 Kg7 24. Qc4 Bd6 25. Qe2 Bc5 draw agreed.