Croatia Grand Chess Tour: Anand held to draw in sixth-round
(Sourced from PTI)
Former chess world champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Russia's Alexander Grischuk in the sixth round of the Croatia Grand Chess Tour tournament on Thursday. The Indian Grandmaster (GM) was held to a 40-move draw in a Ruy Lopez game and now has seven points after the sixth round. Here are more details.
Earlier, Anand had scored an impressive fifth-round win over Anton Korobov of Ukraine in the rapid competition. To recall, he had also drawn his fourth-round game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in 70 moves in an Alekhine variation game.
The 51-year old Indian maestro, who is playing his first over-the-board event in more than a year, quelled the challenge of Korobov in the fifth round which saw the other four games end in stalemate. To note, he had started the tournament on Wednesday with a fluent win over Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest before faltering against France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the second round.
Anand drew his third-round match against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi. The Russian Grandmaster—who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World champion title later—continued to lead the table after five rounds following a win over compatriot Alexander Grischuk and a draw against Poland player Jan-Krzystof Duda.
The tournament will see 10 elite Grandmasters competing over nine rapid chess rounds (July 7-9) and 18 blitz chess rounds (July 10-11) for a total prize fund of $150,000. In rapid chess, players get 25 minutes to complete the game with 10-second increments after each move. In blitz chess, players get five minutes for the game with two seconds' increment after each move.
