Former world No 1 Viswanathan Anand and Norway’s Magnus Carlsen drew their third-round game at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday. This was Anand’s third consecutive draw in the tournament, which is the third leg of the Grand Chessh Tour.
Although he was never under any serious danger, Anand was pushed to defend an endgame. And, with three draws from as many games, Anand does need to post some victories if he intends to finish on the podium.
The opening, which was a Ruy Lopez and the Graz variation was a surprise for Anand. Carlsen has seldom employed this particular opening gambit and the 47-year-old opted not to engage in a tactical tussle.
The Norwegian equalised easily and then in his typical style exerted pressure in the rook and minor piece endgame.
Anand even lost a pawn on the 40th move, but the game was always within the boundaries of a draw. The two opponents signed the peace treaty after 66 moves.
Draws decide the day’s play
The other matches on the day also ended in draws.
France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave had Russia’s Peter Svidler on the ropes but missed out on his chances, while American Wesley So wasn’t able to force matters with his extra pawn against compatriot Hikaru Nakamura.
The other American, Fabiano Caruana, was under some pressure against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi but then he decided not to press. Lastly, Armenian Levon Aronian and Russian opponent Sergey Karjakin decided to draw a bit early in their game.
As a result of these draws, the players’ standings have remained unchanged. Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana are maintaining their lead, with two points in three games. Anand, Wesley So, Nakamura, Karjakin and Aronian are tied in the fourth spot on 1.5 points each, a half-point ahead of Peter Svidler who, in turn, leads Nepomniachtchi by a half-point.
With six rounds still to go in the 10-player, round-robin tournament, the match-ups are only going to heat up from the next round.