India's defending world champion Viswanathan Anand drew with Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand in the tenth game for the World Chess Championship at Moscow's State Tretyakov Gallery on Thursday.
As in the 5th game, the Sicilian Defense was deployed. Playing as white, Anand refused to accept the draw offered by Gelfand on the 21st move, but found no choice but to make the same offer just four moves later.
The series score is level at 5-5, with each competitor getting half a point per draw.
Despite eight draws in ten games so far, Anand said he was not prepared to hold out for the tie-break.
"I am not going to wait for the tie-break and don't think that even in football the teams look forward to penalty shootout," he said Thursday.
"Someone may be getting tired - but each team dreams of winning in regular time."
Gelfand took the lead Sunday after the first six games all ended in draws, registering his first win against Anand in 19 years. Anand then won Monday's game when Gelfand surrendered after the 17th move.
If the score remains level after 12 games, a tie-breaker will be held May 30, with the grandmasters playing four matches with a shortened time limit of 60 minutes per player.
If that fails to determine a winner, the next stage is Armageddon, whereby the white gets five minutes while black gets just four but is named the winner in the event of a draw.
Regardless of how the result is decided, the winner will receive $1.5 million, while the loser will earn $1 million.
Anand, 42, has held the undisputed World Chess Champion title since October 2008, when he defeated Russia's Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn, Germany. He defended his title in 2009 by beating Bulgarian opponent Veselin Topalov 6.5–5.5 in Sofia.
Gelfand, 43, gained the right to become the world title contender after a win last May against Russia's Alexander Grischuk at a contenders' tournament in Kazan, Russia.
Russian billionaire and Gelfand’s school friend Andrey Filatov paid $7 million from his own pocket to hold the event in one of the halls of the renowned State Tretyakov Gallery before the eyes of some 400 spectators.
Many others follow the matches on the huge electronic board hanging outside.
