Leko holds Anand, Negi in joint 2nd

Reigning world champion India’s Viswanathan Anand settled for a quick 19-move draw with Peter Leko to remain in the joint third spot in group ‘A’, while teenage grandmaster Parimarjan Negi scored his sixth victory of the tournament as he defeated Dennis Rujigrok of The Netherlands to move to joint second in group ‘C’ at the 70th Corus International Chess Tournament at Wijk Aan Zee in Holland on Wednesday.

Norwegian Magnus Carlsen regained sole lead after registering victory against local hope Loek van Wely. The tournament has three more rounds to go after Thursday’s rest day. Levon Aronian of Armenia is in second spot with 6 points.

India’s Anand, Britain’s Michael Adams, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, Ukraine’s Vassily Ivanchuk and Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan are in joint third after the end of tenth round with 5.5 points each

Other Indians in the fray drew their games as P. Hari Krishna has 5.5 points in Group ‘B’ and K. Humpy 5 points in Group ‘C’.

RESULTS AFTER TENTH ROUND

Group ‘A’: Viswanathan Anand (5.5) drew with Peter Leko (Hun, 5); Loek van Wely (Ned, 4) lost to Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 6.5); Michael Adams (Eng, 5.5) drew with Levon Aronian (Arm, 6); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 5.5) drew with Boris Gelfand (Isr, 3.5); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 5.5) drew with Veselin Topalov (Bul, 5); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 5) drew with Judit Polgar (Hun, 4.5); Pavel Eljanov (Ukr, 3) lost to Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 5.5).

Group ‘B’: P. Hari Krishna (5.5) drew with Gabriel Sargissian (Arm, 3.5); Hou Yifan (Chn, 4) drew with K. Humpy (4.5); Sergei Morsesian (Svk, 7.5) bt Jan Smeets (Ned, 4.5); Nigel Short (Eng, 6.5) bt Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 4); Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 6.5) drew with Ivan Cheparinov (Bul, 5); Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 5) drew with Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 5.5); Wouter Spoelman (Ned, 2) lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus, 6).

Group ‘C’: Parimarjan Negi (6.5) bt Dennis Ruijgrok (Ned, 1.5); Li Shilong (Chn, 5) bt Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 7); Friso Nijboer (Ned, 6.5) bt Dmitri Reinderman (Ned, 6.5); John van der Wiel (Ned, 5.5) drew with Pontus Carlsson (Swe, 5); Irina Krush (USA, 4.5) bt Arik Braun (Ger, 5); Anna Ushenina (Ukr, 4.5) bt Efstratios Grivas (Gre, 4.5); Peng Zhaoqin (Ned, 3) drew with Mark van der Werf (Ned, 5).