Anand salvages draw against Carlsen, in joint second

Wed, Oct 27 10 07:36 PM

From Our Chess Correspondent Nanjing (China), Oct 27 (PTI) World champion Viswanathan Anand salvaged a draw from a losing position against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the seventh round to occupy joint second spot in the Pearl Spring Chess tournament here. After a hard-earned victory over Wang Yue of China in the previous round, Anand survived by the skin of his teeth and managed a draw against Carlsen to move to four points out of a possible seven. With just three rounds to come in the six-player double round-robin tournament, Carlsen is sitting pretty with a full point lead from his opponents with five points to his credit from seven games. The Norwegian is now followed by Anand and Frenchman Etienne Bacrot who both have four points apiece while Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria are now tied fourth on with three points each in their kitty. Former world champion Topalov recorded his first victory in the tournament at the expense of Bacrot while the other game of the seventh round between Gashimov and Wang Yue of china ended in a draw. Wang Yue stands last with two points from four draws in the 250000 Euro prize money tournament. Anand opted for the Berlin defense that had given him a victory against Carlsen in the previous event played at Bilbao in Spain. The Indian did not find much trouble in reaching a balanced middle game when Carlsen shied away from main lines and concentrated on playing some original chess that has been the hallmark of his success in past few years. The Indian ace started to feel the heat after a pair of rooks got traded and Carlsen nonchalantly started to build an attack on the king side with a pawn roll. Soon Anand was pushed to the wall and his pieces were saddled with the task of a long and tiring defense which is always difficult to manage. Anand put up stiff resistance but Carlsen was persistent enough to get a study-like winning position which he could not convert on move 63. Anand quickly regained his composure and Carlsen, realising that he has missed the opportunity, agreed for a draw vide perpetual checks after 68 moves. .

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