Anand bounces back with two consecutive wins, shares the lead with Nihal

The ageless Viswanathan Anand continues to amaze. The five-time World champion shrugged off a reverse in the fourth round against Arjun Erigaisi to post two wins and share the lead in the rapid section of the Tata Steel Chess India with young compatriot Nihal Sarin.

Anand went down to Arjun after being in a position of strength by committing a blunder but bounced back brilliantly to beat Hans Niemann and Russia’s Volodar Murzin to take his tally to 4.5 points after six rounds.

Nihal has quietly worked his way to the top, scoring three wins from an equal number of games on Thursday to be in the joint leadahead of the final day of the Rapid event at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium on the morrow.

There was a bit of confusion in R. Praggnanandhaa’s match against Wesley So in the sixth round as he stopped the clock with a second to spare as he didn’t have enough time to queen.

After some discussion between the players and officials, the decision to award half-a-point to both was taken.

“Obviously, it’s unintentional. But I never complain… I mean, I want to win on the board. And I didn’t feel like I deserved to win the game,” So told the media about the incident.

The commentators had reckoned the match should have been awarded to the American.

Russia’s Katernya Lagno (4.5 points) surged to the top of the women’s standings by securing two victories while American Carissa Yip is close on her heels, half-a-point behind.

The results:

Open: Rapid: Men: Fourth round: Aravindh Chithambaram lost to Wei Yi; Viswanathan Anand lost to Arjun Erigaisi; Nihal Sarin bt Hans Niemann; R. Praggnanandhaa bt Volodar Murzin; Wesley So drew with Vidit Gujrathi; Fifth round: Niemann lost to Anand; Aravindh lost to So; Vidit drew with Praggnanandhaa; Arjun bt Wei; Murzin lost to Nihal; Sixth round: Vidit lost to Nihal; Wei lost to Niemann; Anand bt Murzin; So drew with Praggnanandhaa; Aravindh drew with Arjun.

Women: Fourth round: Aleksandra Goryachkina lost to Katernya Lagno; D. Harika drew with R. Vaishali; Stavroula Tsolkidou bt Vantika Agrawal; Rakshitta Ravi bt Nana Dzagnidze; Carissa Yip drew with Divya Deshmukh; Fifth round: Divya lost to Goryachkina; Dzagnidze bt Yip; Vantika bt Rakshitta; Vaishali drew with Tsolkidou; Lagno drew with Harika; Sixth round: Harika drew with Goryachkina; Tsolkidou lost to Lagno; Rakshitta lost to Vaishali; Yip lost to Vantika; Divya drew with Dzagnidze.