Ponomariov settles for exciting draw

December 16, 2005
Rediff.com

Former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov settled for an exciting draw as White against former World Junior champion Levon Aronian of Armenia in the first game of the finals of World Chess Cup now drawing to a close in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

The first draw in the two games mini-match means that Aronian will have the upper hand in the return game to be played on Saturday, as he will have the advantage of playing White. In case of a draw, the players will have to fight it out in the tie-break games of shorter duration.

Out of the 8-games of the final round that is played to establish the top 16 of the World Cup, 4 ended in quick draws while the remaining four produced decisive results.
[...]

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.