Anand draws with Kramnik in Zurich Chess Challenge

ZURICH: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with his 2008 challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the first round of the Zurich Chess Challenge here on Sunday.

Playing his first game against Kramnik since December last, Anand could not do much with white pieces as Kramnik played a variation, which is being revived at the top level after a long time. American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura continued from where he had left the Gibraltar International tournament and put it across Fabiano Caruana of Italy. The game between Levon Aronian of Armenia and Sergey Karjakin of Russia also ended in a draw, making Nakamura an early sole leader.

SHIV ENDS JOINT 11TH

HUA HIN (THAILAND): Shiv Kapur and Jyoti Randhawa finished joint 11th and tied 15th, respectively, after the final round of the the $2 million True Thailand Classic here on Sunday. Shiv fired four-under 68 to take his total to 13-under 275, while Randhawa managed 71 that drove his total to 277. Anirban Lahiri and Arjun atwal finished joint 21st and tied 31st, respectively. SSP Chowrasia took 77th spot at the par-72 Black Mountain Golf Club.

INDIA HELD

VALENCIA: India women’s team played out a goal-less draw against Spain in the first hockey test series here on Sunday. The series is in preparation for the FIH World League Round 2 to be held in New Delhi from March 7-15. The opening game of the series was also the debut match for Punam Barla and Renuka Yadav.