Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands), Jan 18 (IANS) Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand was on Saturday held to a draw by Dutch Jorden Van Foreest in the sixth round of Tata Steel Masters.
Veteran Anand faced the Four Knights opening in the sixth round as black and unleashed an attack in the centre early by sacrificing two pawns.
Anand tried to make inroads as White’s king was stuck around the centre for a long time and
it was a cautious move by both players especially after white lost back one pawn.
The draw was agreed upon once Anand picked the second pawn.
Anand remained in joint sixth spot after three points from six games.
Anand needs a powerful finish to be in with a chance of finishing on the podium with seven rounds still remaining.
Meanwhile, World champion Magnus Carlsen’s got a sixth draw on the trot as his search for an elusive win continued.
It was the 18th straight draw between him and Fabiano Caruana of the United States in the Classical time control.
Elsewhere, Anish Giri bounced back from his previous round loss to defeat Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus while Daniil Dubov thrashed his Russian compatriot Vladislav Artemiev.
–IANS
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