Moscow: India’s Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand on Wednesday retained his world championship title for the fifth time beating Israel’s Boris Gelfand by 2.5 to 1.5 in tie-breaker here.
Anand won game two of their four speed chess games with the other three games ending in draws to win the tie-break, which was forced after their 12-game Moscow series of regular matches ended all square.
This is the 5th time Vishy has won the world championship.
He previously won the championship in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010.
Anand made a return error, and Gelfand, instead of looking for his chances in a tactical position, found himself short of time. Soon it was time to restore parity where the Israeli found solace in. The game was drawn quickly thereafter.
The 42-year-old Indian ace played white in the second game and won an absorbing battle that saw fortunes fluctuating many a times. Anand was clearly better out of the Rosslimo Sicilian when some optically safer solutions landed him in some problems.
Gelfand took his chances when he could have objectively drawn and Anand was soon back in the game. The ensuing endgame was also completely drawn, but the Speed king pressed on as Gelfand ran short of time and eventually blundered.
In what was practically his last chance for survival, Gelfand fumbled again in the third game. Attaining a winning position fairly quickly this time, the Israeli again saw his clock ticking away. Striking where it hurts, Anand confidently went in to a two-pawn less endgame, this time showing that the position was completely drawn.
Anand yet again employed the Rosslimo as white with its solid reputation in the fourth game, exchanged the queens early and the position was already equal. Gelfand had the Bishop pair to boost off but there were no targets for him to attack as white had no weaknesses.
Black of Gelfand stood slightly better for a long time but that’s where it ended. The position was never improved beyond that as Anand neutralized the initiative. The draw was what the champion needed and he achieved it after 56 moves.
Born on December 11, 1969 to Viswanathan and Susheela, Anand was highly influenced by his mother, who played a vital role in focusing his interest towards chess as well as shaping his career in this sport. Anand first tasted success at the age of 14 in 1983-84, when he set a new record by scoring 9/9 points. Next year, he earned the title of International Master and he was the youngest Asian to have ever received that title.
After taking the junior circuit by storm, Anand soon graduated to the next level. In 1987, he became India’s first Grandmaster and the youngest Grandmaster in the World at that time.
In 1991, Anand won his first major International Chess Tournament, finishing ahead of world champion Garry Kasparov and former world champion Anatoly Karpov.
REACTIONS:Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have congratulated Viswanathan Anand for winning his World title. (Agencies)