A day of draws in the Norway Chess 2015 meant leader Veselin Topalov moved closer to the elite title after maintaining the overnight 1.5-point lead over Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura in Stavanger, Norway, on Tuesday.
With just two rounds remaining, even a draw in the eighth round on Wednesday would ensure that Topalov finished second to none in one of the strongest fields seen in the game. Interestingly all the games of the day ended following repetition of moves but charted different courses.
The games involving Anand and Magnus Carlsen were among the shortest in terms of the moves played so far in the competition. Facing Armenia’s Levon Aronian in English Four Knights, Anand needed just 20 moves with black to force a draw by repetition of moves. Carlsen took just 17 moves to split the point with Frenchman Maxime Vachir-Lagrave in their battle in Anti Meran Gambit.
Topalov tried harder and even looked in a spot of bother against Fabiano Caruana before peace was signed in 44 moves. Carlsen’s ‘second’ Jon Ludvig Hammer tried to post his first win of the competition by stretching Anish Giri who opted for the sharp Pirc Defence. For long, only Hammer had winning chances but Giri proved equal to the challenge and came out unscathed.
Similarly, Alexander Grischuk looked better off against Nakamura but managed only half a point in a battle lasting 40 moves.
The results:
Seventh round : Levon Aronian (Arm, 3) drew with Viswanathan Anand (4.5); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 6) drew with Fabiano Caruana (3); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 4.5) drew with Alexander Grishcuk (Rus, 2.5); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2.5); Jon Ludvig Hammer (Nor, 2) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 4).
Eighth-round pairings : Anand-Hammer, Grischuk-Caruana, Giri-Topalov, Carlsen-Aronian, Nakamura-Vachier-Lagrave.
