Grand Chess: Anand slips to joint second

The fifth-round draw against Wesley So cost Anand his joint first place but the Indian ace get back his lead in the following rounds.

After a draw in the fifth round, Viswanathan Anand will look to snatch the lead again.

Viswanathan Anand slipped to joint second position after his fourth draw in five games in the Sinquefield Cup, a part of the Grand Chess Tour, here.

The fifth-round draw against Wesley So cost Anand his joint first place but the Indian ace get back his lead in the following rounds.

Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria beat China’s Ding Liren. Topalov topped the field with his second victory in the tournament and moved to 3.5 points out of a possible four. Anand, Wesley So and Levon Aronian of Armenia remained half point a behind.

American duo of Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura share the fifth spot on 2.5 points apiece, a half point ahead of Ding Liren, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Anish Giri of Holland. Russian Peter Svidler is at the last spot on 1.5 points in the USD 300,000 prize money tournament.

In the other games of the day, Vachier-Lagrave survived some difficult moments before he used Caruana’s time trouble to steer to safety while Anish Giri split the point with Aronian. Hikaru Nakamura also had his third draw in the event, signing peace with Svidler.

“I’m very glad to be able to compete with Vishy in the opening,” So said. “He has some of the deepest openings as you can see from his matches.”

Speaking about his chances in the tournament Anand was practical, “Clearly I am well positioned... Having said that it’s too early to think along those lines.”

Results round 5:V Anand (Ind, 3) drew with Wesley So (Usa, 3); Peter Svidler (Rus, 1.5) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 2.5); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 3.5) beat Ding Liren (Chn, 2); Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 2.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2) Anish Giri (Ned, 2); drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 3).