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Anand held by Radjabov
World champion Vishwanathan Anand settled for his second successive draw as the Bilbao Grand Slam Final Chess tournament did not see a single result in any of the boards.
World champion Vishwanathan Anand could not get the better of Teimour Radjabov's defence and settled for his second successive draw as second day of the Bilbao Grand Slam Final Chess tournament did not see a single result in any of the boards.
After two rounds, Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen continues to lead the field with four points, while Anand has two, following his back-to-back draws.
A new system of scoring is being tried on an experimental basis in this all-star event. A player gets three points for winning a game and one for a draw.
This system gives an edge to a player who scores a win and a loss, netting three points, over a player who scores two draws, which fetch him just two.
Anand played a solid system against the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian but failed to gain any advantage from the opening.
Radjabov was well prepared for the game and he made an interesting pawn sacrifice on the 12th move. Realising it would be too dangerous to try to keep the extra pawn, Anand returned it in order to complete his development but had to be content with an equal game.
Radjabov traded pieces and simplified the position. The players agreed to split the point in a dead drawn opposite colour bishop ending after 34 moves.
