World champion Magnus Carlsen defeated Viswanathan Anand in the 10th round of Tata Steel Masters chess to open up half a point lead at the top of the points table.
Carlsen and Anand went into the 10th round in joint lead and it looked like they would end in similar fashion till the Norwegian once again opted for a long drawn game which he eventually won in 76 moves. Anand, after the loss, slipped to joint third spot with six points.
However, Dutchman Anish Giri joined the title race with three more rounds to go by beating Vladimir Fedoseev to take his points tally to 6.5. Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, who’s has six points, also lost for the first time in the tournament, going down against lower-ranked Jorden van Foreest in 60 moves.
Earlier, Vidit Gujarati defeated former world champion Vladimir Kramnik in just 29 moves in their Nimzo-Indian game to keep alive his hopes of finishing in the top half.
In the challengers section, R. Praggnanandhaa (4) lost to leader Maksim Chigaev in 51 moves.