Perez holds Anand

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand settled for a draw with Cuba’s Leinier Dominguez Perez in the third round of the Linares chess tournament at Linares, in Spain, on Saturday. This 42-move encounter with black pieces raised Anand’s tally to 1.5 points and kept him tied for the third spot behind leaders Levon Aronian and Alexander Grischuk after all four boards ended in draws.

Meanwhile, in Sofia, USA’s Gata Kamsky defeated Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov in the fourth game to level their eight-game match 2-2. The winner of this match will challenge Anand for the world title later this year.

The results:

At Linares: Third round: Leinier Dominguez Perez (Cub, 1.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (1.5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 2) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 1); Vassily Ivanchuk (1.5) drew with Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2); Wang Yue (Chn, 1) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 1.5). THE HINDU