Anand draws with Grischuk

Shamkir (Azerbaijan), April 8 

Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with Alexander Grischuk of Russia, while Norwegian Magnus Carlsen raced ahead with a crushing win over out-of-sort Dutchman Anish Giri in the seventh round of Shamkir chess tournament.

Having lost to Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the previous round, Anand’s chances of catching up with Carlsen at the top have now almost evaporated as the reigning champion is now 1.5 points ahead of the Indian with just two rounds to go in the event. The other games in the ten-player round-robin tournament ended in draws. Bulgarian Veselin Topalov split the point with Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.

Carlsen in lead

Carlsen, on five points, is looking good for his fourth title here and is now followed by Karjakin on 4.5 points. Anand is still joint third on 3.5 points, sharing it with Grischuk, Topalov, Radjabov, Navara and Ding Liren. Mamedyarov is at the ninth spot with 2.5 points, while Giri is now sole last with just two points. Anand did not get much from a heavily analysed Anti-Berlin as white and pieces changed hands at regular intervals. Carlsen played like a man possessed and crashed through the defences of Anish Giri in style. — PTI 

Results

(Round 6): V Anand (Ind, 3.5) drew with Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 3.5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 3.5) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 3.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 2.5) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 3.5) Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 5) bt Anish Giri (Ned, 2); David Navara (Cze, 3.5) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 3.5).