A five-time winner here, Anand struggled to find his magical touch yet again and cautious play by both sides resulted in a seventh successive draw for the world champion Indian.

Table-topper Alexei Shirov’s unbeaten run ended when Hikaru Nakamura of United States won a fine technical game against the Spaniard. Despite the loss, Shirov remains at the top on 5.5 points and Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who accounted for Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk, and Nakamura now trail him by half point.

Vladimir Kramnik of Russia is fourth on 4.5 points and he is followed by Leinier Dominguez of Cuba and Ivanchuk who both have 4 points apiece. Anand, with Sergey Karjakin of Russia and Hungarian Peter Leko, remained on the joint seventh spot with six rounds left.