Nice (France) (PTI): World champion Viswanathan Anand's form in rapid chess was found wanting again as he squandered lead against Boris Gelfand of Israel and settled for a 1-1 draw in the 10th and penultimate round of the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament here.

Anand won the blindfold game showing his depth in preparation but slipped yet again in his favourite Rapid format, giving Gelfand a chance to equalise.

The Indian now stands joint sixth in overall standings with just one round to go and has no chance of winning any title this year.

Levon Aronian of Armenia won the tournament with one round to spare after settling for two draws with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

The Armenian took his overall tally to 13.5 points in all and remained 2.5 points ahead of nearest rivals Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Peter Leko of Hungary, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Kramnik, who all have 11 points apiece.

Anand stands joint sixth in overall standings now with 10 points along with Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Alexander Morozevich of Russia.