Sao Paulo (Brazil): World Champion Viswanathan Anand drew his match with Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the fifth round of 5th Final Masters here. The fifth draw on the trot for Anand meant that the lead positions remained unchanged after the end of the Sao Paulo leg of the tournament.
Meanwhile Armenian Levon Aronian nearly missed a win against Fabiano Caruana of Italy while the other game between Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain and Sergey Karjakin of Russia also ended in a draw leaving the points table similar to what it was before the start of the fifth round.
The event will now shift to Bilbao in Spain after a week's break and the players are expected to work harder when the Battle Royale commences.
Meanwhile Caruana continued with his four points lead under the system that gives three points for a win and one for a draw. After five games, the Italian stands firmly in front with two draws and three wins and has an envious 11 points. Aronian remains a distant second on seven points and the Armenian has only himself to blame for the missed chances that would have helped bridged the gap. Carlsen is on six points while Anand is on five. Karjakin and Vallejo Pons share the last spot with three points apiece.
Results round 5: V Anand (Ind, 5) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 6); Levon Aronian (Arm, 7) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 11); Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp, 3) drew with Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 3).