Anand draws with Aronian, finishes joint third

MOSCOW

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand split the point with Levon Aronian of Armenia and finished joint third in the Tal memorial chess tournament.  The draw was Anand's sixth in the tournament, besides two victories and a sole loss. The last game turned out to be a tense affair, with both players taking turns to dominate. However, despite fighting on till the 40th move, neither of them could get into a position from where they could press for victory. Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia won the tournament by holding on to a draw against lowest-placed Boris Gelfand of Israel in the final round.

Douglas (Isle of Man)
Harika draws, faces world No. 1 next

After registering two straight victories, Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli settled for a draw against Armenia's Gabriel Sargissian in the sixth round of Isle of Man International Chess tournament today. "Yes, my opponent had an upper hand for the most part in the match. I had to be at my sharpest to get out of this game unscathed," she said after eking out a draw. 

Vladivostok (Russia)
Russia Open: Ruthvika, Siril, Pranaav-Sikki in semis    

Indian shuttlers Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Siril Verma notched up contrasting victories to reach the semifinals of the women's and the men's singles events at the Russian Open Grand Prix today. Fourth seed Gadde edged out local hope Elena Komendrovskaja 13-21 21-10 21-17 in a 52-minute battle. Verma outclassed Malaysia's Zulhelmi Zulkiffli, seeded eighth, 21-12 21-18 in 36 minutes. In the mixed doubles, N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra also entered the semifinals after beating the Russian pair of Aleksandr Vasilkin and Kristina Virvich 21-10 21-8.

New Delhi
SC dismisses Swamy's plea on CSK ban

The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging the two-year ban imposed on IPL franchisee Chennai Super Kings (CSK) over the 2013 betting scam involving its top official Gurunath Meiyappan. A bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, rejected the plea in which Swamy had alleged that there were no allegations against former BCCI president N Srinivasan or against any members of CSK and hence the ban was "illegal, arbitrary and unreasonable". The Lodha panel had banned CSK and Rajasthan Royals after holding that its top officials -Raj Kundra and Gurunath Meiyappan-were found involved in betting. 

Perth
Colts lose to Victorian Vikings in AHL semifinal

Varun Kumar's hattrick went in vain as the Indian men's team went down (4-3) in a penalty shootout to Victoria Vikings in the semifinal of the Australian Hockey League. Down 0-3, the Indian colts made a strong comeback, courtesy a hattrick by Varun to take the game into a shootout after the regulation time. — Agencies