Reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen, too, scored a second win in a row, taking down India’s P Harikrishna.
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Anand’s two draws so far had seen him drop out of the Top 10 spot in the rating list, but a comfortable win over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov helped him to move to World no 9.
“The main stroke of luck was that this morning while preparing I noticed Rxa2, so I decided to enter it and make a few moves. I didn’t go very far, because it seemed to me it wasn’t the main line… and then he plays it! So what might be normally a big surprise actually just bounced off harmlessly,” said Anand after win.
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The legendary Grandmaster admitted that he was shocked when Mamedyarov offered him a draw.
“He offered me a draw with Nc4, on the 30th move, which shocked me a little bit, because of all the positions to offer a draw. I understand we just made move 30, but then suddenly I thought have I missed something and I was going around. I decided, well, I can’t stop here, I’ll try f5,” he said.
In the other matches, 16-year-old Indian prodigy Gukesh fell to defeat against Ukrainian GM Sergey Fedorchuk. Vidit Gujrati registered his 4th win in a row as he defeated Aryan Tari.
