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| July 2, 2001 |
Vishy Anand wins duel of world champsVishwanathan Anand, who won the official FIDE World Chess Championships in New Delhi and Teheran last year added another accolade to his cap with a tense win over Vladimir Kramnik in the first set of tie-breakers after the 10-game rapid chess match between them ended in a 5-5 tie at the magnificient Rheingoldhalle, Mainz, on Sunday evening.
Anand, who had various times looked more tense than Kramnik, who also admitted to the pressure of such a match, seemed to revel in the blitz games, as he dominated both after the two regulation games on the final day ended in quick draws. After Anand came up with a sensational queen offer, which if Kramnik had fallen for would resulted in forced mate, he got a fine win in 28 moves. The game was a Sicilian with an early Qb6 on the fourth move just as it had happened in eighth game of the regulation match. In the second game, where Anand played the Queen's Gambit Accepted with black pieces for the sixth time in as many games with black, Kramnik was once again inferior, and also had problems with the clock. He was virtually down a second or so. Anand allowed a perpetual and Kramnik came out with a draw, but the overall winner was Anand. For Anand, who is the Brand Amabassador of the Indian IT giant, NIIT, the victory came as a great follow-up to the World Blitz title in Poland, the World Cup Shenyang, China and the World Championships in New Delhi and Teheran. With the Advanced Chess title, where players play with the help of computers, also falling to him for the third time in three years, Anand now has virtually everything in his cupboard. With the re-unification match seeming only a remote possibility, Anand will have to be happy with this win over Kramnik, at least for the time being. "It is always nice to come out with a win," said the NIIT Brand Ambassador, Anand, after the match, as he headed for the press conference. "There was a lot of pressure for obvious reason," he added. Kramnik said, ''Anand played very well in the tie-breaker and I just couldn't come up with the right replies at the right moment." Earlier in the regulation match, Anand and Kramnik drew their ninth and penultimate game in the match. The draw saw the match balanced at 4.5-4.5 with the tie-breakler looking a certainty. A tie in those two games will take the players into the sudden death with the colour being drawn by lots and the match ends as one secures a win. In the ninth game Anand once again played the Queen's Gambit accepted like he did in all his games with black in this match. So in the five games, he has played the same defence each time, clearly happy with his preparations in the opening. Anand managed equality very early. It went on the same lines as previous games and a truce was signed in 26 moves. In the final game, Kramnik with black used the dour Petroff defence, good for a draw. The system occured for the first time in the match. Kramnik used the Berlin defence twice, the Archangelsk once, the Sicilian once and now the Petroff. With calm play from both sides, the tenth and final game ended quickly sending the match into the tie-breaker. The tie-breakers were blitz affairs of five minutes duration with five seconds being added to the clock for each move made. The two players now move on to Dortmund for the Soper GM tournament from July 12. The tournament will be in the classical form. TIE BREAKER GAMES
Anand v Kramnik
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