Five-times world champion Viswanathan Anand proved all his critics wrong and won the Candidates Chess tournament after settling for a draw
with Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the 13th and penultimate round in Khanty Mansiysk (Russia) on Saturday.
The draw helped Anand reach eight points and he benefitted from the biggest upset in the tournament when top seed Levon Aronian of Armenia lost to lowest ranked Dmitry Andreikin of Russia.
On a day that saw Vladimir Kramnik avenging his earlier loss in the tournament against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan played out a draw with Russian Peter Svidler to seal the fate in Anand's favour irrespective of the results on Sunday.
With Anand on eight points, Karjakin, Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Andreikin and Aronian are now 6.5 points each. Peter Svidler stand seventh on six points while Topalov reamined on 5.5 to fill the last place.
In the last round Anand meets Svidler and the draw could be a likely result as the Indian will play with white pieces. In the game against Karjakin, Anand equalised quite easily with the Queen's gambit declined and had no troubles whatsoever in finding a thematic pawn sacrifice that made his position easier to play.
However, while trying to work out the right path, Anand erred slightly and faced a difficult but possible defense when he parted with two pieces for Karjakin's rook. The ensuing endgame was easier for Karjakin and the defense was not easy, yet Anand kept finding the right moves and obtained a passed pawn on the king side that proved vital.
Karjakin was aware at this point that the fight was over but he played on till 91 moves before signing the peace treaty.
The tournament victory gives Anand winner's cheque of 135000 Euros (a little over Rs 1 crore) and the right to a match against Magnus Carlsen of Norway who dethroned the Indian champion at Chennai in November last. This rematch will take place sometime in the last quarter of this year.
Andreikin came up with a sensational performance to beat Aronian who appeared out of sorts once more. The Russian went for the Trompovsky opening as an early surprise and got a comfortable endgame once the queen's got traded. Aronian was saddled with the worse pawn structure and another accuracy cost him heavily as he landed in a lost rook and pawns endgame.
Kramnik had a fine victory against Topalov out of a Semi Slav defense. Playing white, Kramnik was at the top of his game for once in the tournament. Topalov made the mistake of pushing his king side pawns and Kramnik picked one of them with precise calculation. The Bulgaria posed some problems before he faced inevitable loss.