Anand Draws Mamedyarov, Leads

Anand Draws Mamedyarov, Leads
By Arvind Aaron

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand drew Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the tenth round to keep his lead after ten rounds in the FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian on March 25, 2014.

Anand castled queen side against the Sicilian Najdorf of Mamedyarov. The repetition of moves are turned down by the black player after one stage but the game was drawn on move 30 as per the FIDE requirement.

Anand is playing at 2884, some 113 Elo above his rating number. He had fully recovered from the Magnus Carlsen match defeat. He will need four draws to win the events practically. He is well placed with three wins and seven draws in the competition. He leads with 6.5/10.

Kramnik, one of Anand’s challenger and favourite from the hosts, overlooked a simple tactic and dropped a rook for a bishop to lose to Svidler. The other Russians, Karjakin and Andreikin drew.

Aronian is in second place with 5.5 points, one point behind leader Anand. He drew Topalov with white after being in mild trouble. in the rook and bishop ending. The winner will challenge Carlsen for the world chess title.

The results (round 10): V Anand (Ind) 6.5 drew with S Mamedyarov (Aze) 5; L Aronian (Arm) 5.5 drew with V Topalov (Bul) 4; V Kramnik (Rus) 4.5 lost to P Svidler (Rus) 5; S Karjakin (Rus) 5 drew with D Andreikin (Rus) 4.5.

The moves:

V Anand – S Mamedyarov
Round 10, Sicilian Najdorf, B90:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. Bg2 Be7 9. Be3 Nc6 10. f4 Nd7 11. Qd2 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 e5 13. fxe5 Bh4+ 14. Bf2 Nxe5 15. O-O-O Bxf2 16. Qxf2 Be6 17. Qd4 Qg5+ 18. Kb1 O-O-O 19. Bf1 Nc6 20. Qf2 Qc5 21. Qg3 Qe5 22. Qf2 Qc5 23. Qg3 Kb8 24. Be2 Ne5 25. Nd5 Rc8 26. c3 f6 27. Rd4 Rhe8 28. Rhd1 Rcd8 29. Bd3 Nc6 30. Rc4 Qa7 1/2-1/2