Croatia Grand Chess: Anand held to draw in sixth round

Former World champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Russian Alexander Grischuk in the sixth round of the Croatia Grand Chess Tour tournament in Zagreb on Thursday.

The Indian GM was held to a 40-move draw in a Ruy Lopez game and now has seven points after the sixth round.    

Earlier, Anand had scored an impressive fifth-round win over Anton Korobov of Ukraine in the rapid competition here.

He had also drawn his fourth-round game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) in 70 moves in an Alekhine variation game.

The 51-year old Indian maestro, who is playing his first over-the-board event in more than a year, quelled the challenge of Korobov in the fifth round which saw the other four games end in stalemate.

He had on Wednesday started with a fluent win over Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest before faltering against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the second round.

He drew his third round match against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Russian GM Nepomniachtchi, who will challenge Magnus Carlsen for the World champion title later this year, continued to lead the table after five rounds following a win over countryman Alexander Grischuk and a draw against Poland player Jan-Krzystof Duda.

The tournament will see the 10 elite Grandmasters compete over nine rounds of rapid chess (to be played from July 7 to 9) and 18 rounds of blitz chess (to be played on July 10 and 11) for a total prize fund of US$ 150,000.