ST. LOUIS: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played another effortless draw as black with Sergey Karjakin of Russia but slipped to joint fifth spot on 1.5 points after the third round of Sinquefield Cup here.
Settling for his third draw in as many games, Anand has put the ghost of the preceding Rapid and Blitz competition behind.
The Indian ace had finished a rare last in the tournament that ended just a day before the Sinquefield Cup and this has been another remarkable recovery from Anand.
Playing the black side of an open Ruy Lopez, Anand faced one of the topical variations where he borrowed ideas from some of the recent games. The result was a quick equality and subtle liquidation to a drawn endgame.
Karjakin, who opened his account and put an end to his two losses in previous rounds did not mind it and for Anand it was a good result as black.
Once again, the day produced only one decisive game coming after more than six hours of hard work.
Alexander Grischuk of Russia prevailed over Hikaru Nakamura of United States in a fine display of endgame technique and joined the other overnight leaders Levon Aronian of Armenia, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in lead on two points out of a possible three.
Anand shares the fifth spot with Fabiano Caruana of United States and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. Half a point adrift are American duo of Nakamura and Wesley So while Karjakin on just ahalf point is currently last in the USD 300000 prize money event.
The important clash between Aronian and world champion Carlsen ended in a draw. The former has been exclusively using the King opening as white here and in the third round game too, he did not shy away.
Results round 3: Sergey Karjakin (Rus, 0.5) drew with V Anand (Ind, 1.5); Levon Aronian (Arm, 2) drew with Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 1.5) drew with Wesley So (Usa, 1); Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 1) lost to Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 2); Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 2) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 1.5).