Anand beats Sadhwani, Kidambi holds Kramnik in Isle of Man

Five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand scored an expected victory over young gun Raunak Sadhwani while Grandmaster S Kidambi caused a huge flutter by holding Vladimir Kramnik to a draw in the first round of Isle of Man International Chess tournament here.

On what turned out to be a tough day for the highly rated and fancied players, Anand maintained his cool amidst wild complications that once threatened to ruin his position against young International Master Sadhwani who played with white.

Seeded sixth here, Anand went for the variation he had chosen to beat Eric Hansen of Canada in the just-concluded Chess Olympiad but clearly the Nagpur kid was much better prepared. The idol faced some tough time before he could reach an endgame where his extra pawn did the talking.

Kidmabi showed his solid game against fourth seed Kramnik. The Chennai based is known for his deep opening knowledge and that helped initially in maintaining the balance.

Once the endgame approached, former World ...