London Chess Classic: Anand draws with Wesley So

Viswanathan Anand's ‘novelty’ on the 10th move stood out as he drew with leader Wesley So in 30 moves in their fifth-round clash of the London Chess Classic here on Tuesday.

Wesley So led the field with 3.5 points, followed by four others at three points. Anand shares the sixth spot with Anish Giri at 2.5 points.

Viswanathan Anand's ‘novelty’ on the 10th move stood out as he drew with leader Wesley So in 30 moves in their fifth-round clash of the London Chess Classic here on Tuesday.

Anand’s capture of a queen-pawn on the 10th move, with a bishop, surprised So who played white in this Queen’s Gambit Declined game. Thereafter, the battle was fought on an even keel and Anand had no trouble in walking away with a draw.

Even as the premier event heads for a rest day, before action resumes on Thursday, So led the field with 3.5 points, followed by four others at three points. Anand shares the sixth spot with Anish Giri at 2.5 points.

For the third round in succession, only one game produced a decisive result, with Michael Adams beating Veselin Topalov in 33 moves, in the clash of the tailenders.

Meanwhile in the FIDE Open, Aravindh Chithambaram stayed in the lead with 5.5 points, following a 17-move draw with the Netherland’s Benjamin Bok in the sixth round.

The results:

Fifth round: Wesley So (US, 3.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (2.5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 3) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5); Hikaru Nakamura (US, 3) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2) drew with Fabiano Caruana (US, 3); Michael Adams (Eng, 2) bt Veselin Topalov (Bul, 0.5).