Zurich, Feb 17: Viswanathan Anand played out a tense draw with Fabiano Caruana of Italy and slipped to second spot after the end of the third round of the Zurich Chess Challenge here.
After a brilliant victory against Armenian Levon Aronian in the previous round, it was a tipsy-turvy battle against Caruana for Anand that was finally drawn.
Hikaru Nakamura of United States, meanwhile, regained the sole lead defeating Russian Sergey Karjakin. In the process, Nakamura became the first player from America and 10th overall to breach the 2800 rating barrier in live world rankings.
The other game between Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia ended in a draw.
With two rounds under Classical format and five under rapid still remaining, Nakamura sits pretty in the tournament with five points in all, while Anand is in close pursuit a full point behind.
Kramnik is in sole third spot on three points coming from three draws while Karjakin, Aronian and Caruana are not so far behind the Russian with two points apiece.
For the purpose of determining rankings, the rules here are unique as each victory in Classical format earns two points compared to one in rapid, which will be held on the last day of the event.
Caruana surprised Anand early in the opening by allowing the Neo Grunfeld vide a relatively less-played move order. Soon it was clear that the Italian meant business as he grabbed Anand’s rook for a minor piece by seriously compromising his development.
Anand won a pawn back to increase his compensation but Caruana defended valiantly, pushing Black back step by step after the trade of queens. (PTI)
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