World champion Viswanathan Anand opened his account with a draw against lowest-ranked Dmitry Andreikin of Russia in the second round of the Tal Memorial chess tournament here.
After suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Italian Fabiano Caruana, Anand was back as a perfect defender against Andreikin who recently won the Russian championship.
World no. 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway surged ahead in one of the strongest tournament ever after signing peace with Sergey Karjanik of Russia along with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and Boris Gelfand of Israel.
For the records, Alexander Morozevich drew with Mamedyarov while Gelfand scored a fine victory against Caruana.
Carlsen, Gelfand and Mamedyarov took their tally to 1.5 points in two rounds and they are now trailed by Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, Sergey Karjakin of Russia, Morozevich, Caruana and Andreikin a half point behind.
Anand is ninth on a half point while Russian Vladimir Kramnik is at the bottom of the table as he is yet to open his account.
The day produced two decisive games as Gelfand defeated Caruana showing better preparation out of an English attack game while Nakamura got the better of Kramnik.
For Anand, the day was not so tough with black as Andreikin went for a solid setup in the Slav defense.
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Lahiri rises to fourth at queen’s cup
Samui (Thailand), June 15: Anirban Lahiri gave himself a chance to bag his first Asian Tour outside India with an electric finish that saw him card three birdies in the last four holes on the third day of the $312,000 Queen’s Cup on Saturday.
Lahiri, who has won three Asian Tour titles at home, all at the Delhi Golf Club, carded a second straight four-under 67 to move to eight-under 205 and into fourth place.
Lahiri is three shots behind the leader, Bangladesh’s Siddikur (67), who was at 11-under with rounds of 66, 69 and 67. Rahil Gangjee, the only other Indian to make the cut, carded 70 and was lying 30th at one-over 214. Lahiri birdied the second and seventh before dropping a shot on 10th. On his back-nine, he birdied the 15th, 17th and 18th.
“I’m happy that I’ve found my rhythm. I’m playing well and hitting the ball good. It’s my first week back with my short putter and that’s a very big positive for me,” said Lahiri.
— PTI