The coin toss gave the Alaskan Knights the white pieces, with 20 minutes per player on the clock -- 40 minutes are alloted a match.
Victory eluded world champion Viswanathan for the third day in a row as he played two draws with Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the seventh round to be sole third in the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Monaco.
Five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway got the better of D Gukesh in the opening round of Norway Chess.
World Champion Viswanathan Anand let go off an excellent position after losing to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the fourth round of the London Chess Classic, in London, on Wednesday.
Kramnik's comments shameful but where were Naroditsky's friends when he was alive? FIDE CEO
India's Pentala Harikrishna secured two wins on the last day but could only finish second, half a point behind Japanese-American wizard Hikaru Nakamura who lived up to his top billing to clinch the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid tournament, in Kolkata, on Sunday.
'Right now, I'm happy with the game that I played today. Tomorrow (Friday), hopefully, another good game I can play. And whatever the result will be, we'll see later. But yeah, just focusing on playing the game.'
On a day when World champion Viswanathan Anand had a bye, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura of the United States stole the thunder with a fine victory over Armenian Levon Aronian, in the second round of third London Chess Classic. Russian Vladimir Kramnik made merry, scoring a thumping victory over an out-of-sorts Nigel Short of England, while the other two games ended in draws, and first to sign peace was English David Howell with compatriot Michael Adams.
Reigning world champion D Gukesh continued to turn adversity into opportunity as he wriggled out of a virtually intractable position to beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi for the first time ever in a classical game and jump to sole second position after round 7 of the Norway Chess.
The stars competing at the Norway Chess event were in for an authentic Wild West surprise when they had to don cowboy hats, roper boots, well worn-out jeans to indulge in some rodeo activity.
Praggnanandhaa wins UzChess Cup Masters, becomes top-ranked Indian and World No.4
World champion Viswanathan Anand tried his best but could not penetrate the solid defences of Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the opening round of the London Chess Classic in London, on Thursday.
It was not the best of birthdays for five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand as he went down to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the third round of London Chess Classic chess tournament.
Nakamura, who started off as the favourite in the blitz section, is in sixth spot on 13.5 points, ahead of tour leader and compatriot Fabiano Caruana who has 13 points.
World champion D Gukesh climbed to a career-high No 3 ranking, while compatriot R Praggnanandhaa broke back into the top 10 in the latest FIDE classical ratings released on Saturday.
Viswanathan Anand went down to Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the Armageddon game and had to be content with a second place finish in the Zurich Chess Classic.
This is Anand's sixth loss to American in Classical chess and the Indian ace will now have to do a lot of hard work to catch up in the last five rounds.
Having lost three and drawn three coming into the third and final day of rapid, Praggnanadhaa lost to Lenier Dominguez of the US in the seventh round.
National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly crashed through the defenses of United States champion Hikaru Nakamura in the Chess World Cup.
While only one place seems assured for the Indians in the men's section, there are already three in the women's category who have made it to the Candidates.
After a scintillating victory over Fabiano Caruana of United States in the previous round, Anand yet again showed great intent against Nakamura, but the American was up to the task in a keenly contested game.
After conceding a draw with white against Levon Aronian of Armenia, Anand got the favour returned although he had to work relatively harder to maintain parity against Nakamura, often termed his nemesis.
Viswanathan Anand made another strong comeback, defeating Hikaru Nakamura of the United States in the fourth round of the Zurich Chess Classic on Wednesday.
India's D Gukesh bounced back with a finely crafted game to outwit compatriot Vidit Gujrathi and regain his joint lead with Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia after the eighth round in the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto on Friday.
Pragg, Gujrathi out of contention
Neither current World Champion D Gukesh nor former world champion Vishy Anand are the top rated Indian chess player.
D Gukesh played out a creditable draw against top seed Fabiano Caruana but slipped a rung to the joint second position.
Victory eluded Viswanathan Anand yet again and the World Champion was held to a draw by Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the seventh round to remain joint second in the fourth Final Masters' second leg, in Bilbao, Spain.
While the mind games will go on in the last two games and a potential tiebreaker, American Hikaru Nakamura and world number one Magnus Carlsen feel that the balance had tilted slightly in Ding Liren's favour.
Praggnanandhaa did not have to sweat hard to hold Caruana under Classical but in the Armageddon the American was a transformed player as he took advantage of his white pieces.
Vaishali stretched her lead to 2.5 points following her second win under classical time control.
Gukesh to clash with Alireza on what promises to be a photo finish
Norway's Magnus Carlsen continues to be the undisputed world No.1 with 2832.5 points, followed by United States' Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura (2802) and country-mate Fabiano Caruana (2798).
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, with a double black, suffered a surprising first round loss at the hands of Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the Sinquefield Cup, in St Louis, the United States.
Reigning world rapid champion Viswanathan Anand drew his sixth straight game of the tournament to stay undefeated and have a mid-table placing at number four with three points.
Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa had drawn their previous three encounters in this format.
Viswanathan Anand is the third Indian in the top 10, occupying the 10th spot with an ELO rating of 2750.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw as black against American Hikaru Nakamura to remained in joint third position after the end of the fifth round of Norway Chess 2015, a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is still third on 9.5 points in the Norway Chess tournament.
Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi opened his campaign with four victories and a solitary defeat in the World Rapid Chess Championship and was tied fifth, even as defending champion Magnus Carlsen endured a frustrating day, managing to log just one victory in New York.
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