Viswanathan Anand opened his account following a 40-move draw against defending champion Fabiano Caruana in the third round of the Zurich Chess Challenge in Zurich on Saturday.
Playing black, Anand held a slight advantage even as Caruana was required to hurry to order to meet the stipulation of making 40 moves in two hours. Anand, who had established a ‘passed’ pawn on the kingside, was looking to break Caruana’s defence around white, vulnerable un-castled king. But soon the players agreed to draw the game following repetition of moves.
At the adjacent table, an upbeat Hikaru Nakamura was close to landing a rare knockout punch on Magnus Carlsen but faltered on the 37th and 39th moves. Thereafter, Nakamura blundered again with his queen-move on the 40th turn.
Eventually, Carlsen emerged as the leader following a miraculous triumph in 61 moves.
The results (third round): Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 1.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (0.5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 1.5) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2.5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 2) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 1).
Fourth round pairings: Anand-Gelfand; Carlsen-Caruana; Aronian-Nakamura.
