Anand shares third spot, Vidit misses win; Carlsen eyeing sole lead

Vidit Gujarati missed a fine chance to join Viswanathan Anand and two others in the joint third place in the Tata Steel Chess Masters.

Anand played a draw with Ding Liren in 40 moves.

Vidit Gujarati missed a fine chance to join Viswanathan Anand and two others in the joint third place after letting Hungary’s Richard Rapport off the hook in the 12th and penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here on Sunday.

Vidit, winner over Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the previous two rounds, appeared well poised for a third straight win but overlooked the precise continuation towards the closing stages of this tense 50-move drawn encounter.

As a result, Vidit moved to 6.5 points and stayed half-a-point behind Anand and Ding Liren who drew in 40 moves of Guico Piano. At seven points, the duo joined Ian Nepomniachtchi who surprisingly lost to Samuel Shankland in 35 moves.

With Anish Giri (8) playing out a 32-move draw against Teimour Radjabov, Magnus Carlsen (7.5) was close to taking a half-point lead as he held winning advantage over Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof after 45 moves.

Interestingly, in the final round, Giri plays Carlsen in the title-deciding clash while Anand faces Vidit.

In the Challengers section, R. Praggnanandhaa (4.5 points) was staring at defeat against Hungarian Benjamin Gledura after 43 moves.

12th round results: Ding Liren (Chn, 7) drew with Viswanathan Anand (7); Vidit Gujarati (6.5) drew with Richard Rapport (Hun, 5.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 7.5) v Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 6) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 8); Samuel Shankland (USA, 5.5) bt Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 7); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4.5) drew with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 4.5); Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 4.5) v Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3.5).

Final-round pairings: Anand-Vidit; Giri-Carlsen; Nepomniachtchi-Radjabov; Duda-Liren; Rapport-Foreest; Mamedyarov-Fedoseev; Kramnik-Shankland.