World champion Viswanathan Anand could not breach the solid defenses of Sergey Karja-kin of Russia and played out a draw while world No 1 Magnus Carlsen continued with his winning streak in the 75th Tata Steel chess tournament here.
Anand was joined in second spot by Levon Aronian of Armenia and Hikaru Nakamura of the US after they scored contrasting victories against Wang Hao of China and Fabiano Caruana of Italy respectively.
Meanwhile, Carlsen stretched his lead to eight points as Erwin L'Ami of Holland proved no match for the Norwegian.
Chowrasia makes cut
Doha: SSP Chowrasia sank a crucial birdie on the 17th to squeeze inside the cut line even as Jeev Milkha Singh missed out on the weekend action at the Qatar Masters, here.
Chowrasia made the cut with rounds of 70 and 73. Jeev, who shot even par in first round, added a three-over 75 and missed the cut at three-over.
Marcus Fraser (68-67), Martin Kaymer (68-67) were leading at nine-under, though four others, including Sergio Garcia were also at nine-under but still had some more holes to play.
Sandhu top Indian
Hua Hin (Thailand): Ajeetesh Sandhu was the top Indian at the midway stage of the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage here on Thursday. Sandhu, who had a 68 in first round, added a 71 in second round to be at 139 and he was tied 30th. The cut was set at even-par after 36 holes.
Sandhu top Indian
Hua Hin (Thailand): Ajeetesh Sandhu was the top Indian at the midway stage of the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage here on Thursday. Sandhu, who had a 68 in first round, added a 71 in second round to be at 139 and he was tied 30th. The cut was set at even-par after 36 holes.
U-16 final from today
New Delhi: The final of the U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy between Delhi and Mumbai will begin from today at the St Stephen's college grounds. The match starts at 9 am. In DDCA league, Varun Bhardwaj's hattrick helped Central Bank of India beat Syndicate Bank by 47 runs.