Linares: Viswanathan Anand's bid to win the 20th Linares Super Grand Masters chess tournament suffered a jolt when he suffered a shock defeat to Hungarian Peter Leko in the 13th and penultimate round.

Anand's loss almost puts him out of the race for first place as Leko replaced him as the joint leader along with Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

Both Leko and Kramnik have 6.5 points from their 11 games and will clash against each other in the final round.

Anand, who was in joint lead after the 12th round win over Teimour Radjabov, slipped to joint third position with top rated Garry Kasparov of Russia and the two are pitted to meet in a crucial last round game.

Anand has not beaten Kasparov in classical chess for over six years but if he can achieve it here the Indian still has a chance to become a joint winner in the event of a draw between Kramnik and Leko.

Anand went for the Petroff defence with his black pieces but the 'rock solid' tag of the opening did not live up to expectations. Leko masterminded a new idea that guaranteed him space advantage in the middlegame and exerted pressure on the queenside to get a passed pawn in the centre.

Despite having only a queen, rook and pawns on board, Leko maintained his stranglehold. Though Anand gave up a pawn to enter a rook and pawns endgame the Hungarian displayed excellent technique and won with some precise play.

Anand conceded his second loss in the tournament after 65 moves. He had lost to Kasparov of Russia in the seventh round.

Kramnik tried hard but failed to break the defence of Radjabov. The Russian is the only unbeaten player in the competition and considering the fact that he plays with white against Leko; the record is likely to remain intact.

Playing black against Radjabov of Azerbaijan, Kramnik employed the Queen's Indian defence and initiated a direct kingside attack in the ensuing middlegame. Radjabov had some trouble in equalising but the trade of queens on the 26th move gave him ample play.

Further exchanges of pawns led to a drawn position after 48 moves where the draw was agreed. Radjabov finished with 4.5 points as he has a bye in the last round.

Kasparov has a winning streak spanning 10 super tournaments, but it seems it will be broken here in this Spanish city.

Local favourite Francisco Vallejo Pons who seems to be striking form a little late and held the world's highest rated player to a creditable draw. The opening was a Caro Kann defence where Kasparov failed to yield much from his 'Advanced variation'.

Kasparov maintained the pressure keeping quite a few pieces but a fine pawn sacrifice on the 29th move by Vallejo gave the Spaniard ample counter play. Deciding against pressing hard in a double-edged position, Kasparov took the draw vide repetition after 40 moves.

PTI