Viswanathan Anand holds wily Magnus Carlsen to stay in contention at Norway

Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw with reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway to stay in contention for top honours after the end of the fifth round of Altibox Norway Chess tournament, here.

Having won two games in a row with white pieces earlier in the tournament, Carlsen could do little against Anand this time and the Norwegian was not quite happy with his play. It was a Sicilian through some transposition wherein Anand surprised Carlsen early in the opening. Carlsen in fact came to confessional box and declared early that although the damage was limited he was not very optimistic about getting an advantage.

As it happened in the game, the players reached an identical pawn formation soon and Anand had to find some precise moves to keep Carlsen's pieces at bay. The peace was signed after 45 moves.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever