New Delhi: The listless sequence of draws for World champion Viswanathan Anand continued when he was held by young Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi in just 27 moves in the third round of the Tal memorial chess tournament in Moscow on Friday.
Playing from white side of Gruenfeld Russian, Anand tried to create some chances from the queenside while the castled black king was safely fortified on the other flank. Nepomniachtchi could not pose much threat to Anand's exposed castled king since only his queen had some active play.
A third successive draw left Anand with 1.5 points, half-a-point less than leaders Nepomniachtchi, top seed Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin.
The Hindu