Candidates Chess Tournament: Anish Giri wins again, stays in title hunt

Anish Giri moved within half a point of leader Ian Nepomniachtchi after scoring a brilliant win over Ding Liren in the 11th round of Candidates chess tournament on Friday.

Continuing his fine form, Anish Giri scored a second victory in three rounds after stopping the Chinese No. 1 in just 29 moves to reach 6.5 points.

Anish Giri moved within half a point of leader Ian Nepomniachtchi after scoring a brilliant win over Ding Liren in the 11th round of Candidates chess tournament in Yekaterinburg, in Russia, on Friday.

Continuing his fine form, Giri scored a second victory in three rounds after stopping the Chinese No. 1 in just 29 moves to reach 6.5 points.

READ: Candidates Chess Tournament: Nepomniachtchi leads by a point

Fabiano Caruana and Maxime-Vachier Lagrave, who shared the second spot with Giri after 10 rounds, fell back. Nepomniachtchi did not give Caruana any chance of closing the gap and played flawlessly for a draw. Vachier lost to Alexander Grischuk and almost blew away his chances of winning the event.

With three rounds to go, Nepomniachtchi and Giri are involved in a close race to be the challenger to Magnus Carlsen in the World championship match, scheduled later this year.