Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand pulled off an easy win over Wesley So of United States to be joint fifth after the fifth round of the Altibox Norway chess tournament in Stavanger, Norway.
Anand proved why he is hailed as the speed king when he easily managed a draw in the Armageddon game as black and won 1.5-0.5 against Wesley.
With his third victory on the trot after two losses in the first two rounds, Anand took himself to joint fifth position in the super tournament that is for the first time trying out a format that gives decisive results in each round.
For Anand, the writing was on the wall in the Armageddon where he had seven minutes compared to 10 that Wesley got being white.
The 'draw-odds' being order of the day for black, Wesley was expected to go for the King. However, the Filipino-turned-American decided to fight on strategic grounds that did not work as a good idea.
Wesley chose an unorthodox queen pawn game and Anand had no troubles equalising out of the opening.
The pieces changed hands at regular intervals and the Indian ace was at his best in finding some wily manoeuvres that kept Wesley at bay. In the end, the players reached a rook and pawns endgame which was just a draw.
Meanwhile, reigning world champion and local star Magnus Carlsen continued with his winning ways and accounted for Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in another Armageddon of the day.
All five games in the 10-player tournament were decided in the tiebreaker in the fifth round.
Carlsen took his tally to eight points with his fourth victory in the tiebreaker.
Yu Yangyi of China emerged on the second spot on 6.5 points with another fine performance that saw him get past Americal Fabiano Caruana.
Levon Aronian staged a comeback at the expense of Ding Liren of China to share the third spot along with Wesley on six points while Anand is now joint fifth with Ding Liren.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan stands on the seventh spot on 4.5 points a full point ahead of Caruana. Vachier-Lagrave is ninth with just three points. Alexander Grischuk of Russia is on 2.5 points and needs some big scoring in the remaining four rounds.
Results round 5: Wesley So (Usa, 6) lost to V Anand (Ind, 5); Ding Liren (Chn, 5) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 6); Maxime vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3) lost o Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 8); Yu Yangyi (Chn, 6.5) beat Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 3.5); Shakhriyayr Mamedyarov (Aze, 4.5) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2.5).
USA hold Asian champions Japan, enter semis
USA continued their fine run and held Asian champions Japan 2-2 to qualify for the semi-finals as Pool B toppers in the FIH Series Finals hockey tournament in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
The match between World No 18 Japan and World No 35 USA witnessed a hard-fought first two quarters but both the teams failed to break the deadlock till half-time.
Deegan Huisman (41st, 51st minutes) scored a brace for the Americans to give Japan a few nervous moments.
After Kenta Tanaka's goal in the 45th minute, Japan were made to fight hard and finally managed to draw level a minute before the final hooter through a penalty corner conversion by Shuguru Hoshi.
Both Japan and USA have seven points from three games but the Americans, who have impressed one and all in the tournament so far, finished on top by virtue of better goal difference.
USA, thus, directly qualified for the last-four round, while Japan will have to play the cross-overs to make it to the semi-finals.
First-half goals give Venezuela 3-0 friendly win over US
Venezuela scored three goals without reply in a whirlwind first half to grab a convincing 3-0 win over the United States in a friendly in Cincinnati on Sunday.
It was the first time the South Americans had beaten their North American rivals in six meetings.
Salomon Rondon got goals in the 16th and 36th minutes and Jefferson Savarino scored another in between with half an hour gone to give the Venezuelans the perfect send-off before next week’s Copa America in Brazil.
Venezuela are in Group A along with Peru, Bolivia and the host nation.
The United States' next match is their Gold Cup opener against Guyana on June 18.