Indian ace Viswanathan Anand won the 12th Amber chess tournament. In the 11th and final round, in Monte Carlo on Thursday, he beat Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria 1.5-0.5 to swell his points tally to 14.5 from 22 games and emerge triumphant.
The former World champion, who did not play in the last year's traditional blindfold and rapid tournament, lost only one game, in blindfold against Morozevich, the winner of the 2002 edition.
The blindfold tournament was won by Vladimir Kramnik, while Evgeny Bareev took first place in the rapid competition.
The triumph was Anand's third in the unique tournament, which has one blindfold and one rapid game in each round.
The Indian ace had earlier stamped his superiority in the event in 1997, when he won all the three titles at stake -- Rapid, Blindfold and Combined, and in 1994.
Anand finished a full point ahead of nearest rivals Peter Leko of Hungary and 2001 champion Alexander Morozevich of Russia.
Though Anand did not finish first in the individual rapid and blindfold categories, his steady performance in both was enough to net him the champion's crown.
Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia won the blindfold title after he drew his last round game with Ljubomir Ljubojevich of Yugoslavia. Kramnik had a full point lead in this section and he achieved the just result in the last round.
Anand tied for second place along with Morozevich in Blindfold with a fluent victory over Topalov.
Russian Evgeny Bareev won the Rapid title after agreeing to a quick draw with World Championship finalist Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine. Like Kramnik, Bareev also scored 8 points out of a possible 11 and was half a point clear of Anand and Leko in this section.
Anand started the last round with white pieces and faced the in-vogue Sicilian Sveshnikov. Anand deviated from variations he had been employing of late and caught Topalov off guard. The Bulgarian was surprised by a very effective 13th move that gave Anand a tangible advantage with his pawn advances, fetching him a passed pawn on the sixth rank as early as on move 15.
Topalov never recovered thereafter and it was evident that he was fighting a lost battle after Anand exchanged a few pieces to lend momentum to his quest for the title. On move 30 Anand had two passed pawns on sixth rank and it was just a matter of finding the right moves to curb Topalov's last-ditch efforts. The game lasted 43 moves.
In the return Rapid game, Anand equalised comfortably with his black pieces after opting for one of the side variations of the Ruy Lopez. Topalov was obviously dismayed by his mauling in the blindfold and took a safe approach that ended the game in truce in just 17 moves.
Morozevich failed to get past Hungarian Zoltan Almasi in the Blindfold despite fighting till the last nail. However, in Rapid, Almasi proved no match and lost a tactical battle playing white.
Leko drew both the games with Boris Gelfand of Israel after pressing hard for a victory. In the first game, Gelfand defended accurately after losing a piece in the endgame and the second was an intense struggle.
The shared fourth place went to Topalov and Kramnik on 13 points apiece while Gelfand finished sixth on 12 points.
This was Anand's sixth title in eight appearances this season and his victory run, that was temporarily halted in the Linares tournament where he finished third behind Leko and Kramnik, is likely to continue in the next SIS Masters at Copenhagen, Denmark, where the 'Speed King' will play a Rapid tournament in the first week of April.
Besides individual tournament titles, Anand also led the world team to a brilliant triumph over the mighty Russians in the Match of the New century, held last year at Moscow. The only lean patch for Anand was in the Advanced Chess against Kramnik which he lost by a margin of 2.5-3.5 in a six-game match.
Results (Final Round):
Blindfold: Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) drew Evgeny Bareev (Rus); Loek van Wely (Ned) drew Alexei Shirov (Esp); Ljubomir Ljubojevic (Yug) drew Vladimir Kramnik (Rus); Alexander Morozevich (Rus) drew Zoltan Almasi (Hun); Viswanathan Anand beat Veselin Topalov (Bul); Boris Gelfand (Isr) drew Peter Leko (Hun).
Rapid: Bareev drew Ivanchuk; Shirov beat Van Wely; Kramnik beat Ljubojevic; Almasi lost to Morozevich; Topalov drew Anand; Leko drew Gelfand.
Final combined standings:
1. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2753 14.5; 2. Leko, Peter g HUN 2736 13.5; 3. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2678 13.5; 4. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2807 13.0; 5. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2743 13.0; 6. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2700 12.0; 7. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2723 11.5; 8. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2729 11.0; 9. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2676 9.5; 10. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2699 9.0; 11. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2668 8.0; 12. Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2570 3.5
Final Blindfold standings:
1. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2807 8.0; 2. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2678 7.0; 3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2753 7.0; 4. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2700 6.5; 5. Leko, Peter g HUN 2736 6.0; 6. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2743 6.0; 7. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2723 5.5; 8. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2699 5.0; 9. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2676 5.0; 10. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2668 5.0; 11. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2729 3.0; 12. Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2570 2.0;
Final Rapid standings:
1. Bareev, Evgeny g RUS 2729 8.0; 2. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2753 7.5; 3. Leko, Peter g HUN 2736 7.5; 4. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2743 7.0; 5. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2678 6.5; 6. Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2723 6.0; 7. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2700 5.5; 8. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2807 5.0; 9. Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2676 4.5; 10. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2699 4.0; 11. Van Wely, Loek g NED 2668 3.0; 12. Ljubojevic, Ljubomir g YUG 2570 1.5
