Tata Steel chess: Anand draws with Giri, Adhiban lets Mamedyarov off the hook

Vidit Gujrathi drew with Benjamin Bok in the Challengers' section.

Dutch chess player Anish Giri (L) waits for the move of his Indian opponent Viswanathan Anand at the sixth round of the Masters at Tata Steel Chess.

B. Adhiban let Shakhriyar Mamedyarov off the hook and the World No. 3 from Azerbaijan rallied to win in 86 moves in the sixth round to lead the Masters section of Tata Steel chess tournament here on Friday.

As anticipated, Viswanathan Anand played it safe in a 20-move miniature draw with fellow leader Anish Giri to reach four points. Mamedyarov, starting at defeat after 44 moves, capitalized on a blunder by Adhiban and slowly improved his position as the Indian came under time-pressure. Eventually, Mamedyarov proved his superiority and emerged as the leader at 4.5 points.

Read: Anand plays Giri, Adhiban faces Mamedyarov

Wesley So joined the Anand and Giri in the second spot after beating China’s Wei Yi.

In the Challengers’ section, Vidit Gujrathi drew with Benjamin Bok in 31 moves to stay in the second spot with 4.5 points. Ukrainian leader Anton Korobov enlarged his advantage to one point after beating Norway’s Aryan Tari.

D. Harika held a pawn-down position smartly and eventually drew in 96 moves with higher-rated Russian Dmitry Gordievsky.