Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Wei Yi of China in the fifth round of Tata Steel Masters Chess tournament on Thursday.
With his third draw in five games, the reigning world rapid champion remained in the joint lead on 3.5 points and now shares the lead with Anish Giri of Holland and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. While Giri was held to a draw by Gawain Jones of England, Mamedyarov’s tactics worked pretty well as he outplayed Fabiano Caruana of United States.
The other Indian in the fray, B Adhiban succumbed to his third defeat as he went down to Wesley So of United States while in the other decisive game, Peter Svidler defeated top woman player Yifan Hou of China.
With eight rounds still to go, world number one Magnus Carlsen is half a point behind the leaders and giving him company is Wesley So and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Carlsen found just about the right moves to draw with Kramnik in the fifth round game.
In the Challengers section, India’s Vidit Gujrathi slipped to second spot on four points after he was held to a draw by Erwin L’Ami of the Netherlands. D Harika played out her fourth draw in five games, splitting the point with local youngster Lucas Van Foreest.
Anton Korobov of Ukraine emerged as the sole leader on 4.5 points with another fine victory coming against Jordan Van Foreest. The players will get their first rest day in the marathon event and the sixth round will see Anand as black against co-leader Anish Giri.
-Inputs PTI