Gelfand plays to draw in 9th match of World Chess Championships

Three matches remain in race to $1.53 million grand prize

Israeli grandmaster Boris Gelfand and reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand, of India, played to a draw on Wednesday in their ninth match in the World Chess Championship. The two are now even at four-and-a-half wins each.

Gelfand lost the previous match, on Monday, to tie the score at 4 wins apiece.

The World Chess Championships, a three-week event, opened in Moscow a week ago Friday. The title will be decided over 12 matches, and the winner will take home $1.53 million while second place will win $1.02 million.

This is the fifth time Anand is defending his World Champion title, though he no longer holds the top world ranking, falling to No. 4 recently.

Gelfand, ranked 22, was born in Minsk and immigrated to Israel in 1998, quickly dominating the local chess scene and capturing a number of world chess tournaments, including the Chess World Cup in 2009.

He is regarded as a classical player who often has tricks up his sleeve. He defeated the world’s top players in the 2011 Candidates Cup round, which earned him a spot at the board opposite Anand.