Anand wins Corus chess title

Vishwanathan Anand won the 65th Corus Grandmasters chess tournament in Wijk Ann Zee (the Netherlands) after settling for a quick draw against Evegeny Bareev in the 13th and final round on Sunday.

The 31-year-old superstar annexed his third Corus title tallying 8.5 points from 13 rounds, pipping the likes of Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine.

After his closest rival, world's strongest woman chess player, Judit Polgar played a quick draw with talented youngster Teimour Radjabov of Azerbeijan, Anand settled for a quick 14-move draw with Evegeny Bareev of Russia in the 13th and final round.

Polgar, who held Anand to a draw in the penultimate round, finished second with eight points.

The swift game, in which Anand played white, began with  the French defence and went into the Burn Variation. The Indian champion played it safe and soon offered the draw, which was accepted by the Russian after a brief thought.

Radjabov finished with 6.5 points in the lower half of the standings.

Anand and Polgar were the only players to finish unbeaten in the 14-player all-play-all tournament.

Anand had four wins - against Ponomariov, Alexei Shirov, Veselin Topalov and Anatoly Karpov - and he drew his other nine games.

Moves:

Vishwanathan Anand v/s Evgeny Bareev

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Be7 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8.Qd2 O-O . O-O-O Be7 10. Bc4 a6 11. Bb3 a5 12. Bc4 c6 13. Kb1 Qc7 14. h4 Draw agreed.

Vassily Ivanchuk v/s Ruslan Ponomariov

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 a6 6. O-O c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Qe2 b5 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. a4 b4 12. Nbd2 Bb7 13. Nb3 Na5 14. Nxc5 Qxc5 15. e4 Nb3 16. Rb1 O-O 17. Be3 Qh5 18. Qc2 Na5 19. Rbc1 Rad8 20. Bb6 Rd6 21. Qc5 Qxc5 22. Bxc5 Rd7 23. Ne5 Rdd8 24. Bxb4 Nb3 25. Rc3 Rfe8 26. Rxb3 Bxe4 27. f3 Bf5 28. Rd2 Rb8 29. Bxa6 Black resigned.

Loek Van Wely v/s Alexei Shirov

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Ne5 Ke7 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. Nd3 Bd6 12. Nd2 Nc5 13. Nc4 Nxd3 14.Bxd3 Bc5 15. Be2 Rd8 16. b3 Bd7 17. Bf3 Nd5 18. Bb2 f6 19. Rac1 Rdc8 20. Rfd1 b5 21. e4 Nb4 22. e5 Nxa2 23. Rc2 Nb4 24. Rcd2 Bc6 25. Bxc6 Nxc6 26. exf6+ gxf6 27. Rd7+ Ke8 28. Ne3 Be7 29. Ng4 e5 30. f4 h5 31. Nf2 Nd4 32. Rb7 Ne2+ 33. Kf1 Nxf4 34. Rdd7 Ng6 35. Ne4 Rc6 36. h4 f5 37. Ng3 Rd8 38. Rdc7 Rxc7 39. Rxc7 Rd1+40. Ke2 Rg1 White resigned.

Results final round:

Vishwanathan Anand (8.5) drew Evgeny Bareev (Rus, 7.5); Loek Van Wely (Ned, 7) lost to Alexei Shirov (Esp, 7); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 7) beat Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 6); Teimour Radjabov (Aze, 6.5) drew Judit Polgar (Hun, 8); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 6.5) drew Alexander Grischuk (Rus, 7); Anatoly Karpov (Rus, 6) drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 7); Jan Timman, (Ned, 2.5) drew Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 4.5).

Final standings: 1. Anand 8.5; 2. Polgar 8.0; 3. Bareev 7.5; 4-8. Shirov, Van Wely, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Kramnik 7.0 each; 9-10. Radjabov, Topalov 6.5 each; 11-12. Karpov, Ponomariov 6.0 each; 13. Krasenkow 4.5; 14. Timman 2.5.

B tournament: Zhang Zhong (Chn, 11) beat John Van der Wiel (Ned, 6); Daniel Stellwagen (Ned, 8) beat Jonny Hector (Swe, 5.5); Arkadij Naiditsch (Ger, 8) beat Friso Nijboer (Ned, 7.5); Peter Acs (Hun, 6) drew Dennis De Vreugt (Ned, 6.5); Koneru Humpy (6) beat Ian Rogers (Aus, 5.5); Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus, 5) drew Sergey Karjakin (Ukr, 7); Harmen Jonkman (Ned, 5) beat Viktorija Cmilyte (Ltu, 4).

Final standings: 1. Zhong 11.0; 2-3. Stellwagen, Naiditsch 8.0 each; 4. Nijboer 7.5; 5. Karjakin 7.0; 6. De Vreugt 6.5; 7-9. Acs, Van der Wiel, Humpy 6.0 each; 10-11.Rogers, Hector 5.5 each; 12-13. Kosteniuk, Jonkman 5.0 each; 14. Cmilyte 4.0.