Anand trails in fourth position

CHENNAI, FEB 4: Defending champion Vishwanathan Anand was trailing three other Grandmasters after five rounds on the opening day of the Wydra International Rapid Chess tournament which began in Haifa, Israel, on Friday. Anand, with three points, was placed fourth behind Russian Peter Svidler (4), Boris Gelfand (3) and Alon Greenfeld (3) of Israel, according to information available here.

Employing the Slav Defence against Gelfand in the first round, Anand drew in 22 moves. He lost the second round to Svidler after 41 moves of an English opening of C4. In the third round, Anand beat Boris Avrukh of Israel and followed it up with a victory over another local player, Lev Psakhis, in the fourth round. In the fifth round, Anand had to settle for a draw with Greenfeld.