Viswanathan Anand drew with Russia’s Vladimir Fedoseev in 34 moves to reach to stay in the lead with Ian Nepomniachtchi at 1.5 points after two rounds of Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee on Sunday.
Vidit Gujrathi drew for the second straight day after facing Ding Liren, the third seed Chinese who proved equal to favourite Magnus Carlsen on Saturday.
Carlsen drew with Nepomniachtchi before the home favourites Anish Giri and Jorden van Foreest — the two first-round losers — made amends with remarkable victories. Like the first round, both decisive games saw the players winning from the black side.
Vladimir Kramnik, who escaped defeat against Teimour Radjabov on Saturday, was not so lucky again and lost to Giri in 42 moves. Soon thereafter, Foreest cashed in on a late error from Jan-Krzysztof Duda to prevail in 50 moves.
In group ‘B’, R. Praggnanandhaa drew creditably with second seed Vladislav Kovalev in 64 moves to open his account.
Second round:
Viswanathan Anand (1.5) drew with Vladimir Fedoseev (Rus, 1); Ding Liren (Chn, 1) drew with Vidit Gujrathi (1); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 1.5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 1) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 0.5) lost to Anish Giri (Ned, 1); Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol, 0.5) lost to Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 1); Richard Rapport (Hun, 1) drew with Samuel Shankland (USA, 1).
