Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Friday played out an easy draw with black against former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the second round of the Candidates Chess tournament here.
Not missing anything after his fantastic opening round victory against top seed levonn Aronian of Armenia, Anand gave yet another emphatic display of positional chess as he drew with Topalov without much ado. The Indian ace moved to 1.5 points out of a possible two, a tally now matched by Russian duo of Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Svidler. While the opening day saw only Anand winning and rest of the games ending in draws, the second round was quite the contrast as only Anand drew.
Vladimir Kramnik cut through the defences of compatriot Sergey Karjakin in great style while Peter Svidler made his ‘wild card’ look worthy with a crushing victory over Dmitry Andreikin. Making sure he won’t be far behind after the first round defeat, levon Aronian struck back with vengeance as he made mince meat of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.