Anand draws with Nakamura

Viswanathan Anand settled for a 30-move draw with Hikaru Nakamura in the opening round of the $300,000 Sinquefield Cup chess tournament at Saint Louis, USA, on Wednesday.

Viswanathan Anand settled for a 30-move draw with Hikaru Nakamura in the opening round of the $300,000 Sinquefield Cup chess tournament at Saint Louis, USA, on Wednesday.

Viswanathan Anand settled for a 30-move draw with Hikaru Nakamura in the opening round of the $300,000 Sinquefield Cup chess tournament at Saint Louis, USA, on Wednesday.

On a day when Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave stunned World No. 2 Wesley So in 43 moves while Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin posted impressive victories, the much-awaited clash between Magnus Carslen and Fabiano Caruana ended in a 43-move draw.

In the Ruy Lopez game, Anand looked comfortable from the white side even as Nakamura showed signs of taking the initiative. With all four rooks lined up on one file, draw was agreed after the players lost a pawn and a knight each during this mainly non-violent encounter.

The results:

First round: Viswanathan Anand drew with Hikaru Nakamura (USA); Levon Aronian (Arm) bt Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus); Sergey Karjakin (Rus) bt Peter Svidler (Rus); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) bt Wesley So (USA); Fabiano Caruana (USA) drew with Magnus Carslen (Nor).

Second round pairings: Svidler-Anand; Carlsen-Karjakin; Aronian-Caruana; Nakamura-Lagrave; Nepomniachtchi-So.