Four players shared the lead after the third round of the Tal Memorial chess tournament proved a black day for three players sitting behind white pieces in Moscow on Friday.
Following Viswanathan Anand's third successive draw after facing Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi, the trio of Sergey Karjakin, Levon Aronian and Peter Svidler scored with black pieces, while the top seed and World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen let Vladimir Kramnik off the hook.
After the third round, Carlsen, Aronian, Karjakin and Nepomniachtchi shared the lead with two points each. Anand, Vassily Ivanchuk and Svidler trailed at 1.5 points.
The results: Third round: Viswanathan Anand (1.5) drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 2); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 0.5) lost to Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 2); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 1.5) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 2); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 1) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 1) lost to Peter Svidler (Rus, 1.5).
