Monaco, March 24 (IANS) Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw in both games by a resolute Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the sixth round of the Melody Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament here Saturday.

The results kept Anand in shared top place in rapid, but he continued to languish in the eighth place in blindfold and is joint fourth in overall standings.

Russian Vladimir Kramnik bounced back from his unexpected defeat in fifth round by beating Armenian Lev Aronian 1.5-0.5.

Kramnik won in blindfold, and has an impressive score of 5.5 out of six and with three out of six in rapid.

Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine was lucky to draw his mini-match against Russian Peter Svidler and is now in the second place, half a point behind Kramnik.

The NIIT-sponsored Anand and Aronian top the rapid standings with 4.5 out of six.

Anand had recently beaten Carlsen in both the games in Morelia-Amber, so it would have been expected that he would at least win one of the games.

The Indian GM expected an Open Ruy Lopez in his blindfold game against the Norwegian but was taken by surprise by the Sicilian variation they got on the board.

RESULTS:

Round VI (Blindfold): Kramnik beat Aronian; Van Wely drew with Leko; Morozevich drew with Gelfand; Anand drew with Carlsen; Ivanchuk drew with Svidler; Radjabov beat Vallejo.

Rapid: Aronian drew with Kramnik; Leko beat Van Wely; Gelfand drew with Morozevich; Carlsen drew with Anand; Svidler drew with Ivanchuk; Vallejo drew with Radjabov

STANDINGS

Blindfold: 1. Kramnik 5.5; 2. Ivanchuk, Svidler and Gelfand 4.0; 5. Aronian, Leko and Radjabov 3.0; 8. Morozevich and Anand 2.5; 10. Carlsen 2.0; 11. Van Wely 1.5; 12. Vallejo Pons 1.0.

Rapid: 1. Aronian and Anand 4.5; 3. Ivanchuk 4.0; 4. Leko 3.5; 5. Carlsen, Svidler, Kramnik and Morozevich 3.0; 9. Vallejo Pons 2.5; 10. Gelfand and Radjabov 2.0; 12. Van Wely 1.0

Combined: 1. Kramnik 8.5; 2. Ivanchuk 8.0; 3. Aronian 7.5; 4. Svidler and Anand 7.0; 6. Leko 6.5; 7. Gelfand 6.0; 8. Morozevich 5.5; 9. Carlsen and Radjabov 5.0; 11. Vallejo Pons 3.5; 12. Van Wely 2.5