World Champion Viswanathan Anand [Images] played out yet another draw with Levon Aronian of Armenia in the fifth round of the Corus International Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands.
Playing black after the first rest day of this category-20 event, Anand settled for his fourth straight draw after a first round loss to Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.
The Indian inched up to two points with this result while Aronian took his tally to 3.5 points out of a possible 5.
It was a Semi Slav defense where Anand did not have to do much in the Moscow [Images] variation as Aronian preferred to play it safe as white.
Not reaching a more complicated middle game which is usual for the opening, it was instead a simple position which did not offer many chances to either player after Anand gave his extra pawn early in the opening. The peace was signed in just 20 moves and this was the only game to end at the time of going to press.
In group 'B' matches, that are being played simultaneously, GM P Harikrishna appeared to have equalised against Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia. The Indian is leading this section jointly on 3 points out of a possible 4 along with Jan Smeets of Holland and Etienne Bacrot of France [Images].
Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, other Indian contestant in the 'B' group, stood slightly better as white against Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia. Humpy, who has just one point from four games, is looking for her first victory in this section.
After two losses in the first two games itself, a resurgent Parimarjan Negi is taking on Anna Ushenina of Ukraine and the Indian had won the opening battle, springing an early surprise in this group 'C' encounter.
© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|