JOIN USThe much-hyped encounter did not quite provide anything spectacular and the World No 1 Carlsen equalised comfortably to get an easy draw in the end. The four-way lead has now turned into five-way and besides the Ukrainian, Carlsen, Aronian, Nepomniachtchi and Karjakin are at the helm.
With all leaders on four points, Anand slipped to joint sixth spot along with Svidler on 3.5 points, a half point clear of Kramnik who was relegated to the eighth spot. Nakamura and Gelfand share the last spot currently with just two rounds remaining. Anand faced the Grunfeld defence with white pieces and his play was quite harmless.
Carlsen exchanged queens early in the middle game and further exchanges simplified to a rook and minor piece endgame which was just a draw. The players shook hands in just 29 moves.
Ivanchuk benefited from a rather lackluster opening by Nakamura. For the record, it was another Grunfeld of the day where the Ukrainian played black. Getting a dream position out of the opening, Ivanchuk found out all the right moves to reach a won rook and pawns endgame. Nakamura resigned after 40 moves.
Results of round 7: V Anand (Ind, 3.5) drew Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 4); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2.5) lt to Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 4); Peter Svidler (Rus, 3.5) drew Ian Nepomniachtchi (4); Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 4) drew Levon Aronian (Arm, 4); Boris Gelfand (Isr, 2.5) drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3).