STAVANGER (NORWAY), June 24: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out yet another easy draw against Levon Aronian of Armenia to remain in joint second position after the end of the seventh round of Norway chess tournament, part of the Grand Chess tour, here.
Following the draw, Anand inched himself up to 4.5 points out of a possible seven and can now look up to his final white game in the tournament slated against lowest ranked Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway.
It turned out to be a dull day in the tournament as all the five games in the 10-player round-robin ended in draws, leaving the overnight positions intact.
Veselin Topalov continued to lead the tables on six points out of a possible seven, while Anand and Nakamura follow him 1.5 points behind.
The only chance for Anand will be to try and win the next round against Hammer and then it would be a showdown with Topalov in the last round.
Anish Giri of Holland on four points is the only other contender for a podium finish holding the fourth position solely. Fabiano Caruana of Italy, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Aronian share the fifth spot with three points each, a half point adrift of world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Russian Alexander Grischuk. (PTI)
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