The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Radjabov, Ivanchuk hold Anand; Harika pressing for a win

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Radjabov, Ivanchuk hold Anand; Harika pressing for a win

NEW DELHI: World champion Viswanathan Anand played out a second successive draw with white pieces after facing Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov in the second round of the Grand Slam Final chess tournament at Bilbao, Spain, on Wednesday.

Anand, who had to bring his defensive skills to the fore to keep Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk at bay in 58 moves of Ruy Lopez in the first round, had no such problems against Radjabov.

In this Sicilian Sveshnikov game, Anand and Radjabov reached an equal ending, involving opposite-colour bishops and equal pawns, in 34 moves and signed peace.

Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, who carved out an impressive victory over Levon Aronian in the first round, forced a draw against Ivanchuk in 29 moves after sacrificing two pieces to retain the lead.

Humpy held

Second seed K. Humpy, the highest ranked player left in the women’s world chess championship, drew with black pieces against Hungary’s Hoang Thanh Trang in 31 moves in the first game of their pre-quarterfinal clash at Nalchik, Russia, on Thursday.

D. Harika, the other Indian in the fray, was pressing hard for a victory over Armenia’s Lilit Mkrtchian.

On Wednesday, Harika won the second rapid game of her second-round tie-break clash against Slovenian Anna Muzychuk for a 2.5-1.5 victory.

Former champion Bulgaria’s Antoaneta defeated Ukraine’s Inna Gaponenko to move closer to a place in the quarterfinals. Swede Pia Cramling defeated China’s Ruan Lufei and Russia’s Nadezhda Kosintseva drew with Shen Yang.

The results (second round): Viswanathan Anand (2) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 2); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 4); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 1); Anand drew with Ivanchuk; Aronian lost to Carlsen; Radjabov drew with Topalov.

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