Struggling Anand held by Carlsen

World Champion Viswanathan Anand’s hunt for the elusive victory continued as he played out fifth draw on the trot, signing peace with Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the fifth round of 5th Final Masters.

Yet another draw, coming with white pieces, did not serve Anand’s cause in any way as the lead positions remained unchanged after the end of the Sao Paulo leg of the super tournament.

Armenian Levon Aronian was on the brink of the victory but missed it by a whisker against Fabiano Caruana of Italy.

The other game between Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain and Sergey Karjakin of Russia also ended in a draw, leaving the points table similar to what it was before the start of the fifth round.

The event will now shift to Bilbao in Spain after a week’s break and the players are expected to work harder when the Battle Royale commences.

As things stand, Caruana continued with his four points lead under the soccer-like scoring system that gives three points for a win and one for a draw. After five games, the Italian stands firmly in front with two draws and three wins and has an envious 11 points.

Aronian remains a distant second on seven points and the Armenian has only himself to blame for the missed chances that would have helped bridged the gap.

Results (round V): V Anand (Ind, 5) drew Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 6); Levon Aronian (Arm, 7) drew Fabiano Caruana (Ita, 11); Francisco Vallejo Pons (Esp, 3) drew Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 3).