Vishwanathan Anand battled his way back in the World Rapid Chess Championship after his shock defeat to Hungarian Judit Polgar. He held Frenchman Joel Lautier to a draw in the fifth round at France on Sunday.

Anand, who lost to Polgar on Saturday in the fourth round after beating her Hungarian compatriot Peter Leko earlier in the day, now has 2.5 points in Group B, where Russian Peter Svidler is in the lead with 4 points.

The Indian ace is fourth in the group, where eight players are competing to finish among the top four, with just two more rounds remaining in the league phase. The top four from each of the two groups will qualify to the quarter-final.

Svidler had two drawn encounters with local stalwart Lautier and compatriot Alexander Grischuk and a fine victory over former World champion Anatoly Karpov in the last three rounds. He looks a near certainty for the knock-out stage as well as Polgar, who has 3.5 points.

Polgar's form against Anand was reminiscent of their last encounter in Mainz Chess Classic, where she held the lead thrice. She now shares the second spot in Group B with Grischuk.

It is a different story in Group 'A' with the top seed Vladimir Kramnik of Russia leading by a half point over Etienne Bacrot of France, World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

Anand had an easy time with black against Lautier, who failed to press for any initiative in a Nimzo Indian Defence. He had experienced a similar position against Kramnik some time back and had no troubles in attaining equality. The draw was agreed to in 32 moves.

Yesterday, Anand began the second day well warding off his two draws with white on the opening day. He was at his attacking best right from the start against Leko who fell prey to some very fine manoeuvres that cost him his queen in a Marshall Gambit.

It did not take Anand too long to wrap the issue, precisely 45 moves, but the Indian was in for a great surprise against Polgar just after a while.

Used to Polgar's attacking style, Anand opened with the English attack against the Sicilian Nazdorf and was subjected to an all-round attack against his own king after missing out a tactical stroke that cost him a couple of pawns. The world's top-rated player gave no chance thereafter and won in 39 moves.

It was a second win of the day after beating Karpov quite convincingly in a Petroff defence game and her score became 2-0 against two World champions in her group.

After winning two games on the opening day, Svidler played two draws lasting an identical 32 moves. Although the Russian champion looked in some problem in both the games with black, his defensive resources helped him when it mattered.

Svidler's best was eminent in his victory over Karpov in the final game of the day.

The top rated player in the event, Kramnik scored two neat victories over Topalov and Boris Gelfand of Israel. The first one was especially sweet as it came over overnight leader Topalov from a Sicilian Nazdorf game where Kramnik played white.

Topalov fell under pressure once Kramnik uncorked a rather dangerous attack on the king side with a pawn and won a pawn to enter a winning endgame. The game lasted 51 moves.

Gelfand achieved a comfortable position but he too came in the firing line as Kramnik went for a crafty knight manoeuvre in the middle game that netted him extra material.

Results - Group 'B':

Round 5: Peter Leko (1.5, Hun) lost to Alexander Grischuk (3.5, Rus); Peter Svidler (4, Rus) beat Anatoly Karpov (1, Rus); Judit Polgar (3.5, Hun) drew Alexei Shirov (2, Esp); Joel Lautier (2, Fra) drew Viswanathan Anand (2.5).

Round 4: Grischuk drew Svidler; Anand lost to Polgar; Shirov lost to Leko; Karpov lost to Lautier.

Round 3: Polgar beat Karpov; Shirov drew Grischuk; Lautier drew Svidler; Leko lost to Anand.

Group 'A':

Round 4: Veselin Topalov (2.5, Bul) drew Etienne Bacrot (2.5, Fra); Vladimir Kramnik (3, Rus) beat Boris Gelfand (2, Isr); Evgeny Bareev (2, Rus) beat Michael Adams (0.5, Eng); Zurab Azmaiparashvili (1, Geo) drew Ruslan Ponomariov (2.5, Ukr).

Round 3:

Kramnik beat Topalov; Ponomariov beat Bareev; Gelfand beat Azmaiparashvili; Adams lost to Bacrot.

The moves:

Peter Leko v/s Viswanthan Anand
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8.c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. g3 Bf5 14. d4 Qd7 15. Be3 Rae8 16. Nd2 Bg4 17. Qc2 Bf5 18. Qc1 h5 19. Nf3 Bg4 20. Nh4 Re6 21. Bd1 f5 22. Bxg4 hxg4 23. Bg5 f4 24. Qd2 Rfe8 25. Rxe6 Qxe6 26. gxf4 Qe2 27. f5 Qe4 28. Rf1 Bf4 29. Bxf4 Nxf4 30. f3 gxf3 31. Nxf3 Rf8 32. Qe1 Qxf5 33. Kh1 Qh3 34. Qf2 Nh5 35. Kg1 Rf4 36. Qe3 Qg4+37. Kh1 Ng3+ 38. hxg3 Qh3+ 39. Kg1 Qxg3+ 40. Kh1 Rh4+ 41. Nxh4 Qxe3 42. Ng2 Qe2 43. Rf5 Qxb2 44. Rc5 Qxa2 45. Rxc6 a5 white resigned.

V Anand v/s Judit Polgar
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 Qb6 7. g4 Nc6 8. Nb3 e6 9. Qe2 Qc7 10. Be3 b5 11. O-O-O Nd7 12. Qf2 b4 13. Ne2 Bb7 14. Ned4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 d5 16. exd5 Bxd5 17. Kb1 Bc5 18. h4 O-O 19. Be2 Rfc8 20. Rd2 Bxd4 21. Bxd4 Bxa2+ 22. Kc1 Bb3 23. Kd1 Bxc2+ 24. Ke1 Ba4 25. Be3 Ne5 26. Qh2 Nc4 27. Qxc7 Rxc7 28. Bxc4 Rxc4 29. Kf2 Rac8 30. Kg3 Rc2 31. g5 e5 32. h5 f5 33. gxf6 gxf6 34. Rd6 Kf7 35. Rd2 f5 36. f4 Rxd2 37. Bxd2 Rc2 38. Rh2 Rxb2 39. fxe5 b3 white resigned.

Joel Lautier v/s V Anand
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nf3 d5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nbd7 9. a3 cxd4 10. axb4 dxc3 11. bxc3 Qc7 12. Qb3 Nb6 13. Be2 e5 14. Ra5 Be6 15. Qc2 Nbd7 16. c4 b6 1 7. Ra6 Rfc8 18. Nd2 Qb7 19. b5 Nc5 20. Ra3 a6 21. bxa6 Rxa6 22. Rxa6 Qxa6 23. Bb2 Nfd7 24. Ra1 Qb7 25. Bf3 Qc7 26. h3 h6 27. Ra3 Qd6 28. Ra7 Qb8 29. Ra8 Qc7 30. Ra3 Qd6 31. Ra7 Qb8 32. Ra8 draw agreed.