Douglas (Isle of Man): Viswanathan Anand played out a draw against Latvian Grandmaster Shirov Alexei while Vidit Gujrathi notched up a win over Benjamin Bok of the Netherlands to jump to joint lead after the fourth round of the Isle of Man International chess tournament here Wednesday.
It took Gujrathi 40 moves to outwit Benjamin and now he shares the lead with six others. The fourth Indian to cross the 2,700 ELO rating barrier, Gujrathi will face American Grandmaster Aleksandr Lenderman in the fifth round.
Playing with black pieces for the first time after three round against an opponent, 164 rating points below him, Anand settled for a draw after 30 moves to remain in joint second spot with three points. He will face Swedish GM Nils Grandelius next.
World No. 10 Harika Dronavalli, however, suffered a loss against French Grandmaster Laurent Fressinet, while SP Sethuraman drew with American GM Nakamura Hikaru after a 94-move long battle.
Among other Indians in fray, B Adibhan defeated compatriot Nihal Sarin in 64 moves while Swapnil Dhopade drew with Armenian Sergei Movsesian after just 13 moves. Both joined Anand for a share of second position along with 27 other players.
Press Trust of India