Grand Chess Tour: Anand sixth in rapid

Viswanathan Anand lost his final round contest to Anish Giri of the Netherlands, and his campaign in the rapid section of the Croatia Grand Chess Tour came to an end.

The former world champion, playing black pieces, was held to a draw by Croatian GM Ivan Saric in 48 moves in a Sicilian Four Knights variation game. (FILE PHOTO)

Viswanathan Anand's campaign in the rapid section of the Croatia Grand Chess Tour came to a disappointing end at Zagreb on Friday. He lost in the final round to Anish Giri of the Netherlands. Anand, with 4.5 points, was placed sixth.

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Earlier in the day, he had drawn with Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Ivan Saric of Croatia.Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi finished on top of the rapid event with 5.5 points after drawing all his three games on Friday.

Giri jumped to the joint second position, which he shared with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Duda and Saric. The blitz section starts on Saturday, with former World champion Garry Kasparov replacing Saric.

The standings 1. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) 5.5 points; 2-5. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra), Anish Giri (Ned), Ivan Saric (Cro) and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol) 5; 6-7. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) and Viswanathan Anand 4.5; 8. Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 4;  9. Anton Korobov (Ukr) 3.5; 10. Jorden Van Foreest (Ned) 3.