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Viswanathan Anand produced a spectacular display to lift the World Rapid Chess Championship title on Thursday, defeating Russian Vladimir Fedoseev in a two-game tie-breaker to clinch the trophy. The 48-year-old Indian remained unbeaten throughout the 15 rounds of the competition, picking up a total of 10.5 points in the process.
On Wednesday, the Madras Tiger, as he is fondly known, defeated Norwegian prodigy and reigning classical World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in a Round 9 clash and ended the day in joint second place.
On Day 3, he began with three draws in Round 11-13 against Russian GM Peter Svidler (with black), Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (with white) and Ukrainian GM Vladimir Onischuk (with black), to record a score of 9/13.
He then defeated Russia's Alexander Grischuk with white pieces in the penultimate round, to draw level with Carlsen, the World No. 1, at 10 points apiece. However, a shock was to follow in the final round as the Norwegian, who was playing with white, was stunned by none other than Grischuk.
Anand, on the other hand, played out a quickfire 11-move draw against Xiangzhi Bu of China, thus gaining the top spot along with Fedoseev and Nepomniachtchi.
Up against Fedoseev in the tiebreaker with white, it took the Indian just 29 moves to force a resignation from his opponent. Playing with black next and needing a draw to clinch the title, Anand picked up another win against the Russian, thus reclaiming the World Rapid crown which he last won in 2003.
The Indian had not had the best of seasons in 2017 after recording a number of poor results, with speculation of a possible retirement also going around. However, with this win, Anand proved his remarkable abilities once again as he produced a truly spotless performance to clinch the World Rapid Championship crown.
