Viswanathan Anand had to be content with second place in the World Blitz Chess Championship after scoring 28 points, three behind the winner, Magnus Carlsen, of Norway.
Anand, who started off brilliantly, winning 12 out of the first 14 games, was three points clear of third-positioned Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine.
The Indian ace had a two-point lead after the first day, with Carlsen on his heels. However, the remaining two days belonged to the Norwegian, who scored massively to romp home.
Carlsen is likely to become the top-rated player in the new year, when the next FIDE rating list comes out.
The major difference between Anand and Carlsen was individual results. While Carlsen lost eight games, Anand lost just six but his draw percentage was higher.
Overall, Anand finished with 20 wins and 16 draws besides six losses.
In the individual matches, Anand drew, lost and won one match each against both the ladies, Judit Polgar of Hungary and Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia.
With Hungarian Peter Leko, Armenian Levon Aronian and Israeli Boris Gelfand, the Indian star played out two draws apiece and defeated the remaining participants with a 1.5-0.5 or 2-0 score.
Carlsen, who had been ailing with a throat infection just a few days back, during the Tal Memorial, showed no signs of discomfort his 28 victories, including two against Anand, in the 42-round, double round-robin tournament.
Anand next plays in the Corus chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee in Holland in mid-January and thereafter will defend his World title against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in a proposed match in April 2010.
