Viswanathan Anand’s defence stood firm against World champion Magnus Carlsen and resulted in a 63-move draw in the third round of the Grenke Chess Classic here on Monday.
Carlsen pressed hard for a decisive advantage from the white side of this English Opening game.
After the 12th move, Anand looked in trouble. But thereafter, Anand’s gritty display against a tenacious Carlsen led the match to a hard-earned draw for the third-seeded Indian.
Third round results:
Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (2); Peter Svidler (Rus, 2.5) bt Georg Meier (Ger, 1); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 0) lost to Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 1.5) drew with Arkadij Naiditsch (Aze, 1); Levon Aronian (Arm, 1.5) drew with Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp, 1).