The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Clean sweep by Anand

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Friday, Apr 01, 2005

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Sport - Chess

Clean sweep by Anand

MONACO, MARCH 30. In keeping with the expectations, Viswanathan Anand took two short draws with Boris Gelfand to complete the formality of claiming a triple crown in the 14th Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament here on Thursday.

A day after making sure of the overall and blindfold titles, Anand played out a 22-move draw with Gelfand to retain the rapid title. Anand, winner in 1994, 1997 and 2003, had won all three titles in 1997 as well.

For the record, Anand won the 22-round event with a tally of 15.5 points. He tallied eight points from 11 blindfold games and 7.5 in the rapid section to top the 12-player field.

On Wednesday evening, Anand had drawn with Peter Svidler in their rapid game to take an unbeatable three-point lead for the overall honours.

On the final day, while Anand was understandably content with draws, tailender Loek van Wely produced a stunning display to score a rare victory over Vladimir Kramnik in 47 moves of Ruy Lopez.

Veselin Topalov salvaged some pride by finishing his campaign with a victory over Svidler in their blindfold game.

The results:

Blindfold: 11th round: Evgeny Bareev (Rus) (3) drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) (6); Boris Gelfand (Isr) (5.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (8); Loek van Wely (Ned) (4) bt Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) (5.5); Peter Svidler (Rus) (5.5) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul) (6); Peter Leko (Hun) (6) drew with Alexie Shirov (Esp) (4.5); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) (6) drew with Francisco Vallejo (Esp) (6).

Rapid: 11th round: Anand (7.5) drew with Gelfand (4.5). 10th round: Morozevich (6) bt Ivanchuk (5.5); Bareev (4.5) drew with Shirov (5.5); Leko (6) drew with Vallejo (3.5); Wely (3.5) drew with Topalov (3.5); Svidler (5.5) drew with Anand; Gelfand lost to Kramnik (5).

Combined: 1. Anand (15.5/22), 2-3. Leko, Morozevich (12/21); 4. Ivanchuk (11.5/21); 5. Svidler (11/21); 6. Kramnik (10.5/21), 7-8. Shirov, Topalov (10/21); 9. Gelfand (10/22); 10. Vallejo, (9.5/21), 11-12. Bareev, Wely (7.5/21).

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