Candidates Chess: Anand draws with Anish Giri

Viswanathan Anand took on Anish Giri in the penultimate round of the Candidates Chess tournament and started off strongly with the Italian opening. The Dutch grandmaster was not one to hold back and countered once the initial momentum for Anand started to wane. Giri’s comeback left Anand with little to manoeuvre. So much so that the Indian had to sacrifice a piece midway through. As time ran out, both players tried different moves to get one over the other but with no avail as the game ended in a stalemate after 52 moves.

In the other games of round 13, Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana won their respective games and share the lead jointly heading into the last round. One of the two will win the Candidates Chess competition thus earning a right to face Magnus Carlsen in the next World Championships.

Anand meanwhile, will face Russian Peter Svidler in the last round.