Sinquefield Chess: Anand draws again; held by Wesley So

Viswanathan Anand's hunt for an elusive victory continues. The five-time World champion failed to break the solid defences of Wesley So of the United States in the seventh round of Sinquefield Cup, which is part of the Grand Chess tour, in St Louis, and settled for his fifth draw in the last five games.

Anand could only inch a little forward by adding another half point, but that did not reflect in the tournament standings as the Indian remained joint-eighth with just two rounds to go in the US $300,000 prize-money competition.

Levon Aronian of Armenia took a giant leap forward in the tournament, demolishing the United States’ Hikaru Nakamura to shoot into sole lead on five points out of a possible seven.

Aronian benefitted immensely from an inexplicable blunder by World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who ended up on the losing side against Russia’s Alexander Grischuk.

The other two games in the 10-player round-robin tournament ended in draws with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France signing peace with Fabiano Caruana of United States and Anish Giri of Holland splitting the point with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

With just two rounds remaining, time seems to be running out for Anand, while Aronian looks on course for his first victory on the tour.

The Armenian is now leading by a full point over Carlsen, Giri, Grischuk and Vachier-Lagrave who all have four points each.

Topalov and Nakamura share sixth place on 3.5 points, a full point ahead of Caruana and Anand, while Wesley So is still at the bottom with two points in his kitty.

Anand played the Ruy Lopez as white and faced the Berlin defense from Wesley So, who put the Indian in some sorts of trouble in early middle game. He gave up a pawn and when the pressure increased came up with a fine queen sacrifice for two pieces to keep himself in the game. In the end, it was an impregnable fortress by the Indian.

Aronian completed his American whitewash after beating Nakamura. Having earlier defeated Wesley So and Caruana, this was the last local star remaining and Aronian was pretty pleased with the way things turned out.

Nakamura lost his way early with white pieces after trading the queens and his weakened king side pawns were easy pickings for the Armenian. The game lasted 51 moves.

The other decisive game of the day was a shocker for Carlsen. After attaining a level position the World champion pushed hard for a victory and found himself in a difficult endgame a pawn less. Things, however, were not out of hand but post the sixth hour, Carlsen lost concentration and allowed

Grischuk to win with a picturesque finale.

Results, Round 7: Veselin Topalov (Bul, 3.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 4); V Anand (Ind 2.5) drew with Wesley So (USA, 2); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 3.5) lost to Levon Aronian (Arm, 5); Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 4) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 4); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 4).

Image: Viswanathan Anand