After letting reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway off the hook in the first round yesterday, Anand had little difficulty with his black pieces as Vachier-Lagrave failed to find anything worthwhile. Anand took his tally to one point out of a possible two as a result.
Carlsen, meanwhile, got into the groove pretty quickly and put it across overnight joint leader Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. The Norwegian was lethal in his brilliant attack on the queen side and Mamedyarov caved in quite early.
With seven rounds still to come in the 100000 Euros prize money tournament, Carlsen emerged as the new co-leader along side Wesley So and these two have 1.5 points apiece. Anand, Kramni k, Adams, Vachier-Lagrave and Mamedyarov follow the two leaders a half point behind while Caruana opened his account with his first draw.
Vachier-Lagrave did not go for wild variations as they have been thoroughly analysed and went for attaining a miniscule advantage instead. Anand showed fine skills while tackling the position and strategically exchanged his pieces at regular intervals to reach a perfect balance in the ensuing endgame. The Frenchman could do no better than force the draw in 47 moves.