IOM Chess Meet | Viswanathan Anand and Vidit Gujrathi settle for draws

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand, who got the better of compatriot SP Sethuraman in 51 moves to take the joint third position along with 17 others with 4.5 points in the sixth round, settled for a draw against Lenderman to stay in joint third position with five points. 

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Gujrathi, who comfortably defeated compatriot Harsha Bharathakodi in just 42 moves to take the sole second position behind world champion Magnus Carlsen, played with black pieces against the world champion in the seventh round. The Indian played a defensive game and wasn’t willing to take any risks and by the 15th move, it was clear that the round 7 top table match-up was heading to a draw. The duo decided to call it truce on the 31st move; this ensured that Carlsen remained in the sole lead with six points from a possible seven with two rounds to go.

Gujrathi, who was in sole second position after round 6, now has been joined by US GMs Fabiano Caruana, Hiraku Nakamura, Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine and Emil Sutovsky of Israel as they secured full points from their respective matches.

The other Indians in the fray, D Harika, Aravindh Chithambaram and R Praggnanandhaa, all suffered reversals against higher ranked opponents.