Anand draws again, lies at the bottom in Chess grand slam

Bilbao, Sep 10 (UNI) World champion Viswanathan Anand played yet another draw, his sixth in seven games, as he continued to search for his first win at the Bilbao Grand Slam Final here.

Anand played a quick draw against Teimour Radjabov of Ukraine in 29 moves following a Sicilian Paulsen game, which was a dead draw for quite sometime in the mid-game.

However, the opening was interesting where Anand was neutralised quickly enough.

Anand and Radjabov share the fifth spot with six points apiece and three rounds to go. Both are winless and have had six draws and a loss each.

The game against Radjabov did not require too much effort from Anand once the position reached a kind of deadlock wherein playing for a win for either player was quite risky.

In the other games, Norweigian prodigy Magnus Carlsen was finally halted by Vassily Ivanchuk, who won in 32 moves with black pieces in a Queen's Gambit Declined. Aronian capitalized on a error by Carlsen and built on it for a good victory.

Carlsen, however, continued to lead with 11 points from seven rounds, while Veselin Topalov despite a loss to Lev Aronian was second with 10 points.

Results: Carlsen lost to Ivanchuk; Radjabov drew with Anand; Aronian beat Topalov 3-0 Points: Carlsen 11 points; Topalov 10; Aronian 9; Ivanchuk 8; Radjabov and Anand 6 each UNI XC RKM AB ND1718