By IANS
Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands) : Pentala Harikrishna and Parimarjan Negi continued their upward move, even as men’s World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Women’s world No. 2 Koneru Humpy remained winless after five rounds of the 70th Corus Grandmasters chess tournament Thursday.
In the elite Group A, Anand, who has been going through a sluggish patch, drew with leader Lev Aronian in an Anti-Meran Gambit which went into a lot of complications. The game had chances for either side, but they preferred a half point instead of risking things.
Anand has two points and is still languishing in 10th place, while Teimour Radjabov, Lev Aronian and Magnus Carlsen share the lead with 3.5 points each. Vladimir Kramnik and Judit Polgar are half a point behind.
In Group B, Hari drew with the hugely talented and in-form Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia and inched his way to the sole second spot with 3.5 points, half a point behind sole leader Etienne Bacrot of France, who beat erstwhile leader Jan Smeets with black pieces in another game.
Also in Group B, Humpy, who had lost two earlier rounds, drew with Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia and remained in 13th place with 1.5 points from five rounds.
In Group C, 15-year-old Negi of Delhi notched his third win in a row, beating bottom ranked Anna Ushenina of Ukraine. Negi’s tally of three points took him to tied fourth place in the company of four others, Dutchmen Friso Nijboer and John Van Der Wiel, Greek Efstratios Grivas and Swede Pontus Carlsson.
Hari drew with Movsesian in a 48-move Guico Piano game, while Humpy drew with Sargissian in 59 moves of an Anti-Meran Gambit.
Negi, with white pieces, outplayed Ushenina in just 28 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted.
In Group A, Boris Gelfand blundered and gave Veselin Topalov his first win, while world No. 4 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan beat Loek Van Wely from a difficult position.
Topalov put Gelfand under pressure until the latter broke on move 26, while Mamedyarov defeated van Wely and Radjabov beat Pavel Eljanov to join the leaders. There was practically no play left in the final positions of the Adams-Kramnik and Ivanchuk-Carlsen games.
Results and standings after Round 5
Group A:
Mamedyarov beat Loek van Wely;
Eljanov lost to Radjabov;
Adams drew with Kramnik;
Aronian drew with Anand;
Ivanchuk drew with Carlsen;
Polgar drew with Leko;
Topalov beat Gelfand
Standings: 1. Radjabov, Aronian and Carlsen 3.5 points; 4. Kramnik and Polgar 3 points; 6. Mamedyarov, Adams, Ivanchuk, Leko and van Wely 2.5 points; 11. Topalov and Anand 2 points; 13. Eljanov and Gelfand 1 point
Group B
Daniël Stellwagen drew with Nigel Short
Wouter Spoelman drew with Hou Yifan
Sergei Movsesian drew with P. Harikrishna
Jan Smeets lost to Etienne Bacrot
Ian Nepomniachtchi drew with Michal Krasenkow
Erwin L’Ami beat Ivan Cheparinov 1-0
Koneru Humpy drew with Gabriel Sargissian
Standings: 1. Bacrot 4 points; 2. Harikrishna 3.5 points; 3. Stellwagen, Movsesian, Smeets and L’Ami 3 points; 7. Nepomniachtchi, Cheparinov and Short 2.5 points; 10. Y. Hou, Sargissian and Krasenkow 2 points; 13. Koneru Humpy 1.5 points; 14. W. Spoelman 0.5 point
Group C
Friso Nijboer beat Irina Krush
Parimarjan Negi beat Anna Ushenina
Peng Zhaoqin drew with Li Shilong
Mark van der Werf drew with John van der Wiel
Dennis Ruijgrok drew with Arik Braun
Dimitri Reinderman beat Pontus Carlsson
Efstratios Grivas drew with Fabiano Caruana
Standings: 1. Braun 4.5 points; Caruana 4 points; 3. Reinderman 3.5 points ; 4. Nijboer, Negi, Grivas, Carlsson and van der Wiel 3 points; 9. S. Li 2.5 points ;
10. van der Werf 2 points; 11. Peng 1.5 points; 12. Krush 1 point; 13. Ushenina and Ruijgrok 0.5 points