World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand reserved his best for the final day and scored two thumping victories to stamp his authority on the Grenkeleasing World Rapid Championship in the Mainz Chess Classic in Germany.
The Indian ace won his sixth title in a row in Mainz, seventh on the trot in Classic and ninth overall, a record that is unlikely to get surpassed according to the pundits of the game.
Anand, who was tied at 3-3 when the seventh game commenced, won the match against Teimour Radjabov by a 5-3 margin on the final day of the week-long chess extravaganza. After a few initial hurdles, Anand was at his best in crushing Radjabov with black first and as the pressure of winning the final game downed on the Azerbaijani talent, the eighth and the final game also went the Indian's way.
Apart from Anand, the other Indian contestants also came up with flying colours in the Ordix open rapid tournament finishing joint third and fourth overall in the strongest open of the world in this variant of the game.
Former World champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and twice World junior champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan tied for the first spot, both tallying 9.5 points out of a possible 11 while Harikrishna scored 9 points to figure in the 3-7 places.
Earlier in the event, Harikrishna had done well to win the Chess960 Junior championship match against Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and in the Finet Chess 960 open he had figured in top ten.
The moves:
Game 7: Teimour Radjabov v/s V Anand
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bd6 a6 14. a4 e5 15. Bg4 exd4 16. e5 c5 17. Re1 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 O-O 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Ne2 f5 21. Bh5 f4 22. b4 cxb3 23. Qxb3 Qd5 24. Qh3 Bc8 25. Qd3 Bf5 26. Qd2 Qd7 27. Rac1 Rac8 28. h4 Kh8 29. axb5 axb5 30. Qb2 b4 31. Red1 Qg7 32. Nxd4 Rfd8 33. Rxc5 Rxc5 34. Qxb4 Rcd5 35. Nxf5 Rxd1+ 36. Bxd1 Rxd1+ 37. Kh2 Qf6 38. Qe4 Rd8 39. hxg5 Qxg5 40. Kh3 Rf8 41. Nh4 Rg8 42. Qf5 Qxf5+ 43. Nxf5 Kh7 44. g3 fxg3 45. fxg3 Ra8 46. Kg4 Ra5 47. Nh4 Kg7 48. Ng2 Kf6 49. Nf4 Rg5+ 50. Kh4 Kf5 51. Nh5 Rg4+ 52. Kh3 Ra4 53. Nf4 Ra1 54. Ne2 Rh1+ 55. Kg2 Re1 56. Kf3 Rd1 57. Kg2 Kg4 58. Kf2 Rd3 white resigned
Anand v/s Radjabov
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Ne7 6. Qe2 Qc7 7. Ng5 Ng6 8. f4 c4 9. dxc4 Ba6 10. b3 Bc5 11. e5 d5 12. exd6 Bxd6 13. O-O O-O-O 14. Nc3 Rhe8 15. Nce4 Bf8 16. Nxh7 Bb4 17. a3 Ba5 18. Nhg5 Bb6+ 19. Be3 f6 20. Nh3 c5 21. Qg4 Ne7 22. Ng3 Nc6 23. Nf2 Bb7 24. Nd3 g5 25. Rae1 f5 26. Nxf5 exf5 27. Qxf5+ Kb8 28. fxg5 Ka8 29. Bf4 Qg7 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. Qf6 Qd7 32. Re1 Rg8 33. Qe6 Qd4+ 34. Kh1 Qg7 35. Qf6 Qh7 36. Qh6 Qd7 37. Qe6 Qd8 38. Qd5 Qf8