Chennai: Draw No 8 was lurking around the corner for Viswanathan Anand right from the time he made his first move and Hikaru Nakamura of US replied with the Kings Indian Defence in the Tal chess tournament in Moscow on Thursday.
And it did come at the right time when both of them took the game through analysed lines and 33 moves to reach a rook and minor pieces ending. It may not be apt to call it an ending but for all practical purposes it was the end of the game at that level.
As usual, Anand did not do anything out of the ordinary to test Nakamura, whose primary concern was also to get a draw against the world champion. When after 27 moves, the American invited Anand to exchange the queens in the centre, the destiny of the game was sealed.
With four points from eight games, Anand now goes into a much-awaited last-round game against his World championship challenger in 2012, Boris Gelfand of Israel.
The Times Of India