American Hikaru Nakamura reached the threshold of winning the biggest title of his career when he maintained his position at the top following a quick draw with Vladimir Kramnik while nearest challenger World champion Viswanathan Anand was on the brink of defeat in 12th and penultimate round of Tata Steel chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam, on Saturday.
Much before Anand’s position worsened against young talent Anish Giri, Nakamura reached nine points after a 20-move draw with Kramnik. Nakamura goes into Sunday’s final round needing only a draw against Wang Hao to take one of the most coveted titles in the game.
Anand, playing white, slipped into an inferior position against Giri, the teenager who hit worldwide headlines by stunning World number one Magnus Carlsen last week. Anand was battling for a draw in a materially equal endgame where Giri held strong winning chances.
Carlsen, who outwitted Kramnik in 80 moves late on Friday, dismissed Wang Hao to join Levon Aronian at 7.5 points. Aronian drew with Dutchman Erwin L’Ami with black pieces.
In Group ‘B’ Surya Shekhar Ganguly handed out a struggling top-seed Poland’s Radek Wojtaszek his fourth defeat of the competition to reach five points.
Tania Sachdev, too, performed above expectations in Group ‘C’ by beating Dutch International Master Markvan der Werf to take her tally to 6.5 points.
The results (12th round): Group ‘A’: Viswanathan Anand (7.5) v Anish Giri (Ned, 5.5) (in progress); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 8.5) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 7); Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 4) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 7.5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 7.5) bt Wang Hao (Chn, 5.5); Maxime Vachier Lagrave (Fra, 7) bt Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 5.5); Jan Smeets (Ned, 4) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 4); Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr,) v Alexei Shirov (Esp,) in progress).