On Friday Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) was not very persistent in attacking the defense of Viswanathan Anand (India) and the rivals shook hands after the 32nd move.
A draw was fixed in the game between Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Michael Adams (England) on the 26th move after a triple repetition of the position.
The game between Ruslan Ponomaryov (Ukraine) and Judith Polgar (Hungary) was most stubborn. On the 78th move the FIDE ex-champion gave up his attempts to beat the only woman at the tournament.
On Thursday Kramnik beat Ponomaryov in the starting tournament. Other games (Adams-Polgar and Anand-Topalov) ended in a draw.
Accordingly, Kramnik has taken the lead in the tournament with 1.5 points. Topalov, Adams, Polgar and Anand have one point each. Ponomaryov has only 0.5 points.
The Sofia tournament has one of the highest categories (20) due to the average rating of participants. The tournament has an unusual rule. Player can claim the draw only through the arbiter in 3 cases: perpetual check, triple repetition or a theoretically drawn position. This rule was introduced by well-known Bulgarian chess manager Silvio Danilov.
The tournament includes two rounds and will close on May 22.
