Viswanathan Anand drew his sixth-round contest against Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the Classical section of the Norway Chess tournament. The match ended in a draw after which the Armageddon ended in stalemate early on Tuesday to leave Anand on 11.5 points and in second place.
World champion Magnus Carlsen moved to the top spot with a victory over Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to take his tally to 12.5 points after six rounds. The classical match between Anand, playing black, and Giri saw the two players shaking hands for a draw after 35 moves in an English variation game.
In the ensuing Armageddon (sudden death tie-break), the duo battled for 45 moves before it ended in a draw. In the previous round, Anand had upstaged Carlsen in Armageddon. The two grandmasters had entered the contest as co-leaders, but the win gave Anand the sole lead.
After defeating the Norwegian in the blitz event that preceded the classical section, Anand outplayed him again on Monday in a thrilling Armageddon encounter.
The 52-year old Indian takes on Teimour Radjabov in Round VIII. The Norwegian world No.1 defeated his Azerbaijan opponent in 56 moves.
France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave beat China’s Hao Wang via the sudden death tie-break while Wesley So got the better of Norwegian Aryan Tari. Veselin Topalov drew with Radjabov in the Armageddon to share honours.