Press Trust of India
Moscow, Oct 7: Viswanathan Anand split a point in the last round with Levon Aronian of Armenia and finished joint third in the 10th Tal Memorial chess tournament here Friday.
It turned out to be a mixed event for Anand although he did add a few rating points. The draw with Aronian was Anand’s sixth in the tournament besides two victories and a sole loss.
The game with Aronian was a tense affair wherein both players could claim to be slightly superior at some point in the natch. However the Italian opening by Anand did not yield enough to press for a win although the players fought on till the 40th move.
Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia won the $2,00,000 prize money tournament by holding on a much worse position against lowest-placed Boris Gelfand of Israel in the final round.
In the end, fortunes smiled on the Russian who had been leading the tournament solely for the past four rounds as Gelfand erred to let his opponent claw back in the game.
Nepomniachtchi ended the tournament on six points, a half point ahead of Anish Giri who missed out on serious winning chances against Li Chao. Giri finished second on 5.5 points, a half point ahead of Aronian and Anand who both tied for the third spot with identical five points.
