There was no comeback this time around. Viswanthan Anand, placed in a must-win situation in the second game of the second round at the Chess World Cup, could only draw against his much lesser rated rival Anton Kovalyov on Thursday.
That marked the end of the Georgian campaign at Tbilisi for the 10th seed from Chennai, while the Canadian advanced to the third round. That, however, wasn’t the only shock of the day, as reigning champion Sergey Karjakin too went out, beaten by fellow Russian Daniil Dubov.
For the second day in a row, Vidit Gujrathi gave India something to cheer about. He drew with Vietnam’s Le Quang Liem to move into the third round. Three more Indians are still in the fray. They will feature in Friday’s tie-breakers. Pendayala Harikrishna, seeded 20th, played out another draw with compatriot S.P. Sethuraman, and it was also a second straight draw for B. Adhiban, against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. Adhiban, though, could have sealed his third-round berth on Thursday itself, but he messed up his advantageous position against his higher rated opponent with a rash rook move late in the game.
Important results: Second round, second game (Indians unless specified): Anton Kovalyov (Can) 1.5 beat Viswanathan Anand 0.5; S.P. Sethuraman 1 drew with Pendyala Harikrishna 1; Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) 1 drew with B. Adhiban 1; Vidit Gujrathi 1.5 beat Le Quang Liem (Vie) 0.5; Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 2 beat Aleksey Dreev (Rus) 0; Matthias Bluebaum (Ger) 1 drew with Wesley So (US) 1; Fabiano Caruana (US) 1 drew with Luka Lenic (Slo) 1; Anton Demchenko (Rus) 0.5 drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 1.5; Levon Aronian (Arm) 1 drew with Hou Yifan (Chn) 1; Yuriy Kuzubov (Ukr) 1 drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) 1; Hikaru Nakamura (US) 1 drew with Lazaro Bruzon (Cub) 1; Boris Grachev (Rus) 0.5 drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) 1.5; Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 1 drew with Jorg Cori (Per) 1; Ding Liren (Chn) Martyn Karavstiv (Ukr); Daniil Dubov (Rus) 1.5 beat Sergye Karjakin (Rus) 0.5.
Comments
SHARE