Indian GM Harikrishna holds world No. 1 Carlsen

Chennai: Indian Grandmaster P Harikrishna held world No. 1 and world champion Magnus Carlsen in the fourth round of the preliminary stage of the Champions Chess Tour Airthings Masters online chess championship. Both Harikrishna and Carlsen drew all their four games on the opening day of the tournament as matches ended late on Saturday. The game between Harikrishna and the Norwegian ended in 24 moves. Former world champion Viswanathan Anand had earlier drawn his games.

Barcelona

Barca’s Messi to miss Eibar game with ankle injury

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will miss Tuesday’s match at home to Eibar due to an ankle injury, the La Liga club said today. Barca said that Messi, who is in the last year of his contract and is free to negotiate a move to rival clubs for free in 2021, is undergoing treatment on his right ankle and will return to training before their visit to Huesca on January 3.

SHEFFIELD

Everton beat Sheffield to climb to second spot

Everton moved two places up to second in the Premier League and finished in the top-four during the Christmas holiday period for the first time in 16 years after a late Gylfi Sigurdsson goal gave them a 1-0 win at bottom team Sheffield United on Saturday. Manchester City breezed to a 2-0 home win over Newcastle United thanks to goals in each half from Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres, a result that lifted them to fifth. Arsenal beat London rivals Chelsea 3-1 for their first league win in nearly two months as goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka lifted the pressure on coach Mikel Arteta. Agencies