London Chess Classic | Viswanathan Anand escapes with draw against Anish Giri
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Former world champion Viswanathan Anand managed to hold his fort against Holland's Anish Giri in the sixth round of London Chess Classic. With the draw, Anand is at 3 points and faces an uphill battle in the next three rounds playing two with black, while Wesley So of USA leads the pack at 4.5.
Playing white, Anand tried the Sicilian Najdorf but found that Giri was in fine nick. Anand eliminated three pawns with a piece sacrifice but ended up in a vulnerable position. However, Giri failed to completely utilize the opportunity allowing Anand to get away with a draw.
Wesley So of United Statesdefeated Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria to retain his place at the top with 4.5 points. Topalov has had a tournament to forget so far with five defeat in six games so far.
Second-placed Fabiano Caruana defeated Hikaru Nakamura to remain just 0.5 adrift of Wesley So.
With the top-three from the event being awarded a direct seeding at the Grand Chess tour in 2017, Anand will want to make the most of the event. However, he has to play two of his next and final three games with black pieces.
Results round 6: V Anand (Ind, 3) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 3);Veselin Topalov (Bul, 0.5) lost to Wesley So (Phi, 4.5); Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4) beat Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 3); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3.5) drew with Michael Adams (Eng, 2.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3) beat Levon Aronian (Arm, 3).
