BONN: Viswanathan Anand settled for a 39-move draw against Vladimir Kramnik in the eighth game of the World Chess Championship here on Friday. He just requires one point from four games to retain his world title. The Indian leads the Russian 5.5-2.5.

After scoring two straight wins with the Slav, Anand went for Queen’s Gambit Accepted with the black pieces and uncorked a novelty on the 10th move. Throughout this match Anand has been able to dictate terms right from opening.

In a now or never situation, Kramnik got a slight advantage and tried to build up a King-side attack after essaying his Queen to h5 in the 27th move.

Anand, who is sitting pretty with a three-point lead, was ready for a draw but Kramnik declined draw by a repetition of moves, when he played 31 Qh4. However, he could not conjure up an attack on the King by combining his Queen, rook and knight and taking risk by opening up his Kingside looked risky.

With no possibility of winning, the Russian put perpetual checks to split the point.

The ninth game will resume after a day’s rest on Sunday with Anand having the white pieces.

Kramnik felt today he had a slight advantage but agreed it was not enough to force a win.