Anand draws with Giri, slips to second

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with black against local star Anish Giri but slipped to joint second spot after the sixth round of Tata Steel Chess tournament here.

Having won two of the first three games, this was Anand’s third straight draw in the event and the Indian ace will look to heat things up in the next round when he plays with the slightly favourable colour in the game.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan emerged as the sole leader when lady luck smiled on him from a nearly lost position against Grandmaster B Adhiban.

Adhiban had thus far been outof-sort and nowhere near the performance he showed in the previous edition when he finished third. However, the Indian missed a golden opportunity when he failed to convert what should have been his first victory. With Mamedyarov in front on 4.5 points, Giri, Anand and Wesley So of United States now share the second spot on four points apiece.

Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and top ranked Magnus Carlsen of Norway are joint fifth at the near half-way stage on 3.5 points with seven rounds still to come.

WIJK AAN ZEE:

CHENNAI OPEN CHESS

Chennai-based Grandmaster RR Laxman of ICF defeated GM Sivuk Vitaly of Ukraine in the fourth round of the Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess tournament here on Saturday.

Joining Laxman (4 points) on top of the table were GMs Gareyev Timur (USA), Tukhaev Adam (Ukr) and FIDE Master Karthik Venkataraman (India), also with four wins from four rounds.

In a well contested Pirc game, Laxman showed aggression, when the situated so demanded, coming up trumps in 58 moves.

CHENNAI: