So continues to lead, Anand draws with Anish Giri

Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand drew his sixth-round game against Anish Giri in an exciting game while Vachier Lagrave defeated Levon Aronian. Fabiano Caruana won a battle of Americans against Hikaru Nakamura to jump to second place with four points and Vladimir Kramnik played steady chess to occupy the third position with 3.5 points. 

Anand was bracketed with Lagrave, Anish Giri, Lebvon Aronian and Nakamura with three points each. Topalov played erratic chess and completely collapsed after 18 moves. 

After So played too ambitiously on the kingside, Topalov managed to seize the initiative by opening up the centre and it started to look like So was going to get punished. However, the Bulgarian played a series of inexplicable moves, allowing his opponent to build up a winning attack with simple and logical moves.   In a sharp Najdorf position, Anand made the dubious decision of sacrificing a piece for three pawns. But in the process, Anand had compromised his King’s position, which gave his opponent the initiative. 

Giri found himself in an opposite-color bishop middlegame chasing his opponent’s King across the board; but, much to his surprise, Anand survived. Even though Anand had the white pieces and was playing for a win, it was a nice escape for him. 

The Nakamura-Caruana game exploded after both players blitzed out the opening moves and then Caruana sacrificed his Queen for the initiative. Caruana did not find the most precise continuation to finish off the game, but Nakamura eventually cracked under pressure.