World Champion Viswanathan Anand's quest for the elusive victory continued as Vassily Ivanchuk held the Indian for his fifth draw on the trot in the sixth round of the Corus International chess tournament here. Among his compatriots, only Koneru Humpy managed a draw, while P. Harikrishna and Parimarjan Negi bit the dust in other groups.
Playing white, Anand faced the Caro Kann defence by Ivanchuk and following a less-played variation, could not get much leverage in the middle game.
The Indian decided to play it safe when Ivanchuk offered to trade the queens and the game lasted just 18 moves.
With this draw, Anand took his personal tally to 2.5 points out of a possible six and is now on joint 11th spot at nearly half way stage with seven rounds still to come. At the top, Norwegian talent Magnus Carlsen jumped into sole lead on 4.5 points after an emphatic victory over Judit Polgar of Hungary.
Playing white, Carlsen was at his tactical best against Polgar and won a couple of pawns to force resignation in the endgame.
With Carlsen in command, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Kramnik share the second spot on four points each with the latter scoring a fine victory over erstwhile leader Levon Aronian of Armenia.
{{/usCountry}}With Carlsen in command, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Vladimir Kramnik share the second spot on four points each with the latter scoring a fine victory over erstwhile leader Levon Aronian of Armenia.
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