Stavanger (Norway): Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by rising Chinese star Ding Liren in the third round of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament here, Thursday. It was the third successive draw for both players. Both have 1.5 points in their kitty.
The Chinese has not lost a game in classical chess since August 2017 and even though Anand had a new idea and some semblance of an advantage in the closed Ruy Lopez opening, Liren was able to neutralise that.
The Indian ace sacrificed a pawn and felt that he somehow let it slip it in the middle game when he had chances to fight for the advantage. Liren closed the Queen side and the game was drawn in 35 moves.
Meanwhile World Champion Magnus Carlsen scored a thumping victory over Levon Aronian of Armenia to extend his lead to a full point with 2.5 points in his kitty. The Norwegian came up with a brutal king side assault following an unforced error from Aronian out of an Anti-Berlin opening.
With Carlsen on two points, Anand remained in joint second along with Liren, Shakhriyayr Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Sergey Karjakin of Russia, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and American duo of Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura.