Baden-Baden (Germany), Feb 3:
India’s Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw against world number two Fabiano Caurana of Italy in the first round of Grenke Chess Classic here.
Playing his first tournament after London Classic that he won, five times world champion Viswanathan Anand was pleasantly surprised as Caruana went for the Italian opening with white that does not find many followers in top level chess. The draw with black came easy.
The eight-player super tournament did see some exciting games but the first day did not produce a decisive result.
World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway survived some anxious moments before splitting points against Levon Aronian of Armenia while Frenchman Etienne Bacrot missed out on getting an early lead after he squandered away a better position against lowest seed David Baramidze of Germany.
In the other game of the day, Michael Adams of England also signed peace with local star Arkadij Naiditsch.
As a result of four draws in as many games of round one, all eight players currently stay on a half point and things will only change in the next round when the top four rated are pitted against lowest four in this seven-round tournament.
Anand had little to complaint if the post-game analysis was any indication.
Showing that he was well prepared, Anand played out the opening moves in quick time and did not shy away from complications when it mattered.
Caurana admitted his sixth was probably not a good decision.
“I decided over the board to push my pawn, it was probably not a good idea,” he said. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel