Another draw for Anand, Magnus unbeatable

Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands), January 15

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Viswanathan Anand remained winless for the fourth round running, playing out a draw with China’s Yu Yangyi in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament here on Tuesday. Anand, who lost to Wesley So in the second round, shares the 11th spot with Nikita Vituigov of Russia, while Yu is 13th with one point in his kitty.

USA’s So grabbed the top spot ahead of the first rest day after handing Iranian Alireza Firouzja his first defeat of the tournament. So moved to three points out of a possible four and is now followed by compatriots Caruana Fabiano and Jeffery Xiong, local favourite Jorden Van Foreest, Firouzja and Russia’s Vladislav Artemiev.

Magnus Carlsen, after four draws, is joint seventh with Netherlands’ Anish Giri, Russia’s Daniil Dubov and Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof on two points apiece. — PTI

Carlsen breaks world record

Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen has stretched his unbeaten run to a record-breaking 111 games after securing a draw on Tuesday. The reigning world champion surpassed the 110 classical games undefeated set by Sergei Tiviakov in 2005 after drawing against Jorden van Foreest in the fourth round. Carlsen had previously indicated he would not consider the record truly broken until after two more games as he was not prepared to count two wins he had in the Norwegian league. But the 29-year-old told The Guardian he had softened his stance. “I’m all for (claiming the streak) too,” he said. “I consider my streak against elite opposition is 109 and against good opposition is 111 and I am happy about that.” Reuters

Tied at halfway

The FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship between China’s Ju Wenjun and Russia’s Aleksandra Goryachkina is tied 3-3 at the halfway stage. After three draws, reigning champion Ju drew first blood by winning the fourth game but Goryachkina bounced back by winning the next game. Game 6 again ended in a draw, setting the stage for an exciting second half of the championships.