Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand got off to a good start holding USA's Hikaru Nakmura to an easy draw in the first round of the Sinquefield Cup, a part of the Grand Chess tour, here. After a rather forgettable outing in the rapid and blitz event where he finished last, Anand did not give any chance to Nakamura out of a Queen's gambit declined.

The pieces changed hands at regular intervals as Anand equalised with a typical central breakthrough in the middle game and the players arrived at a drawn queen and pawns endgame in quick time where the peace was a just result. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan got off to a flier cruising past Wesley So of the US. In the other decisive game of the day, Levon Aronian of Armenia came up with a brilliant endgame show to beat Sergey Karjakin of Russia.