Kramnik wins Dortmund title

With one final draw, Vishwanathan Anand brought the curtain down on what was, in his own words, a "tournament best forgotten".

Anand drew his last game with Peter Leko after just 13 moves from a Sicilian defence and ended with three points out of ten and a last place among the six super Grandmasters.

With the other two games in the final round also drawn, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov emerged winners.

Kramnik drew his last round with Alexander Morozevich, while Veselin Topalov and Michael Adams also drew their last game.

Kramnik and Topalov both finished with 6.5 points each, while Leko was third with 5.5 points. However, Kramnik was adjuged first on the basis of the SB tie-breaker score of 30.75, while Topalov had 28.25.

For Kamnik, this is the sixth title in Dortmund, while for Topalov, it was the best performanace in his career, coming joint first in a Category 21 tournament for the first time.

Morozevich finished fourth with five, while Adams was fifth with 3.5. Anand was sixth with three.

Anand, speaking to the media after the tournament, said, saying, "It was one of those things, when nothing went right, I suppose."

Anand, who is sponsored by NIIT, admitted he was "tired". As for the tournament, he said, it is "best forgotten".

Anand has also made it clear that he will not be playing in the Braingames Candidates cycle next year in Dortmund.

"There is no question of playing the Braingames qualifier. I have already told them that I will not."

He is definite about it. He said he had been approached in Mainz itself during the match against Kramnik, which he won in the tie-breaker.

Anand values his World title and would not like it to be devalued by appearing in a qualifier of a rival World championship. And that would only be understandable.

On his performance in this Dortmund tournament, Anand said, "It is already deleted from my memory as of now."

He added that in chess despite some bad games, one has to play on. "In tennis or some other sport, you get knocked out after a bad performance, but here you have to complete the tournament."

Anand, who won the FIDE World title in December, said he is looking forward to defending his title later this year.

"Maybe it should be around November-December, though no dates have come out as yet."

Anand said, “I will take some rest now and then prepare. I am playing a small two-three event in Spain. It is a rapid event. Nothing major for sometime right now.”

Some Grandmasters felt that Anand is probably tired and also the absence of his long-time second Elizbar Ubilava may have effected him. But then Anand and Ubilava had agreed on the break for the latter. Ubilava, during his break, played a chess tournament in Spain and won it. He will be back to prepare with Anand next month.

The NIIT-sponsored Anand heads to back to his European home in Spain and will be be in India in September.

On Anand's performance in Dortmund, his arch-rival, Kramnik said, "He was under some tension. But there is no need to draw any conclusions from this. It happens to every sportsman and player. If he continues to have a bad performance, then maybe, but I am sure this was just once."

Kramnik was complimentary of Anand saying, "He is too strong a player and will be back in the next event. He was tired and not in form, and continued here. Clearly he wanted the tournament to be over. But he is a great player. Maybe the pressure of being a World champion told on him. He will soon return to form."

FINAL POSITIONS.
1-2. Vladimir Kramnik (Rus), Veselin Topalov (Bul) 6.5,
3. Peter Leko (Hun) 5.5
4. Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 5,
5. Michael Adams (Eng) 3.5,
6. Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 3.