ANAND JOINT THIRD; ARONIAN WINS

Hindu
Aug 4 2009
India

NEW DELHI: Dethroned champion Viswanathan Anand and Germany’s Arkadij
Naiditsch drew all four games and shared the third spot in the 14th
Grenkeleasing rapid World championship played as part of the Chess
Classic of Mainz in Germany on Sunday.

While the third place playoff proved a tame affair, Armenia’s Levon
Aronian easily stopped debutant, Russian youngster Ian Nepomniachtchi
3-1 after winning the first two games of their four-game final.

Anand, a 11-time winner who failed to reach the final for the first
time in a decade after finishing third in the four-player preliminary
league, did not press too hard in any of the four games on Sunday.

In the first game, Anand played white and settled for a draw in just
26 moves of Two Knights Defence. The remaining three games were fought
on three different variations of Ruy Lopez, with the games ending in
draws in 34, 23 and 27 moves, in that order.

"Well, as there is not that much at stake in the match for third place,
it is very difficult to motivate oneself," said Anand.

Meanwhile, in the Ordix Open rapid tournament played alongside,
K. Sasikiran finished 51st with 7.5 points from 11 rounds. The world’s
biggest rapid contest attracted 694 players. Azerbaijan’s Shakhriyar
Mamedyarov won with a record score of 10 points.