World champion Viswanathan Anand missed out on a winning advantage and played out a draw with Daniel Fridman of Germany in the fourth round of the Grenke Chess Classic in Baden-Baden, Germany.
With his fourth draw in as many games, Anand slipped to joint third spot in the six-players double round-robin tournament.
Italian Fabiano Caruana played yet another fine game to draw as black against Michael Adams of England while in the other game of the day, Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany accounted for compatriot Georg Meier.
With six rounds still to come in the category-19 event, Caruana stayed on top with three points out of a possible four and Naiditsch jumped to second spot a half point behind. Fridman on two points shares the third spot with Anand while Adams is now on fifth spot on 1.5 points. Meier with one point in his kitty stands last.
What could have been a finely crafted victory turned in to a missed chance for Anand. The Indian ace went for a topical variation as black and came up with an improvement in the opening to equalize easily as black.
Fridman hung on to his own to get to a slightly worse endgame wherein the grind began to favour Anand once the position boiled down to pure minor piece endgame.
It was only on the 48th move that Anand faltered decisively. Instead of a Bishop retreat, the Indian went for a wrong manoeuvre after which Fridman gave no chances. A draw was signed ten moves later.
Naiditsch came up with his third decisive games out of four rounds and cruised to his second win. The Slav defense was Meier did not prove good enough as imaginative display by Naiditsch helped him reach a decent advantage in the middle game.
Meier was down to his last minute when he failed to spot a single chance that came in his way and it was all over pretty soon.
Caruana opted for the sharp Arkhengelsk variation against black and appeared to be in some difficulties in the ensuing endgame.
However, an erroneous plan by Adams led to an easy equality and the draw was a just result. The game lasted 50 moves.
Results round 4: Daniel Fridman (Ger, 2) drew with V Anand (Ind, 2); Michael Adams (Eng, 1.5) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 3); Arkadij Naiditsch (Ger, 2.5) beat Georg Meier (Ger, 1).
The moves: D Fridman – Anand 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Nb3 Ne5 8. e4 Bb4 9. Qe2 d6 10. Bd2 a5 11. f4 Nc6 12. Be3 Qc7 13. Bg2 e5 14. O-O Bxc3 15. bxc3 a4 16. Nd2 Ng4 17. Rab1 Nxe3 18. Qxe3 Na5 19. f5 f6 20. Rb4 Bd7 21. Bf3 Qc5 22. Kf2Kd8 23. Bd1 Kc7 24. Bxa4 Nc6 25. Bxc6 Bxc6 26. Qxc5 dxc5 27. Rb2 Ra3 28. Nb1 Ra4 29. Nd2 Rd8 30. Re1 Rd6 31. g4 Be8 32. Rg1 h6 33. h4 Ra3 34. Nb1 Ra8 35. g5 Rad8 36. gxh6 gxh6 37. Rg7+ R6d7 38. Rxd7+ Rxd7 39. Re2 Bf7 40. Rd2 Bxc4 41. Rxd7+ Kxd7 42. a3 Kc6 43. Nd2 Bf7 44. c4 b5 45. Ke3 b4 46. Kd3 Kb6 47. Kc2 Ka5 48. Kb3 Bh5 49. Ka2 Ka4 50. Nb3 bxa3 51. Nxc5+ Kb4 52. Nd7 Bf7 53. Nxf6 Bxc4+ 54. Ka1 Kc3 55. Ng4 Kd4 56. Nxh6 Kxe4 57. Ng4 Kf4 58. Nxe5 draw agreed.
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