Anand draws with Kramnik in Chess Classic

Curry39

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posted on 12 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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World Champion Viswanathan Anand failed to take advantage of playing with white pieces.

London: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with former challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the seventh round of the London Chess Classic here.

After a hard earned victory over Nigel Short of England in the previous round, Anand failed to take advantage of playing with white pieces and decided to split points on the first all-drawn day in the Classic this year.

World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway had an off day and that paved the way for Hikaru Nakamura of United States to strengthen his position at the top of the table with another easy draw with black pieces against Luke McShane of England.

Michael Adams of England had it safe right from the word go against Levon Aronian of Armenia while in the other game of the day, Englnad's David Howell drew with compatriot Nigel Short.

The lead positions did not change much as Nakamura stretched himself to be two points ahead of Carlsen, Kramnik and McShane.

Aronian and Anand share the fifth spot on six points, two points clear of short who, in turn, is one point ahead of back-rankers Howell and Adams.

After an initial skirmish, Anand had to part with a rook as the position never left the boundaries of a draw.

Adams went for a harmless set-up in the Berlin defence as regulation exchanges led to a level rook and pawns endgame.

Nakamura looks set to cap the year with another big triumph as he now has two white games remaining. Playing black in a closed Sicilian, the American had little trouble in maintaining the balance with his black pieces.

Short could not secure his second victory in the tournament as Howell played safe.

In the open section, Abhijeet Gupta retained his chances with an easy draw with black against GM Peter Wells of England.

For a final showdown, Gupta takes on English Gawain Jones in the penultimate round.

Results round 6: V Anand (Ind, 6) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 9); Luke McShane (Eng, 9) drew with Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 11); David Howell (Eng, 3) drew with Nigel Short (Eng, 4); Michael Adams (Eng, 3) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 6).