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Anand Moves Closer To No.1
By Arvind Aaron
Having completed his chess engagements for 2006, chesslegend Viswanathan
Anand returned to hometown Chennai on November 29 and would be in India
until his next event at Wijk aan Zee in January 2007.
Anand started the year brilliantly winning the Corus Chess title for the
record fifth time. He also ended the year with a superb showing in the Tal
Memorial Blitz Tournament at the Central Chess Club at Moscow in Nov when
he won a strong field blitz event by a two point difference.
Overall, the year has gone good except for the Chess Olympiad at Turin.
But in the Bundesliga he helped his team Baden Baden to a brilliant title
triumph. Anand stood third in the MTel Masters at Sofia. At Leon he kept
his title beating Bruzon and Topalov. In his favourite hotspot he beat
Radjabov at Mainz 5-3 to defend his title. Anand finished runner-up to
Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan at Bastia, France in the Corsica
Masters.
In two Bundesliga games for the 2006-2007 season Anand beat Yusupov (Ger)
and Macieja (Pol). He has a 2/2 score. This Elo gains will take effect in
the July 2007 rating list after the full Bundesliga season
concludes in April 2007. "This is like Elo in the bank," said Anand.
Including these Elo in the bank, Anand moves very close to Topalov. If
these are calculated today, just
one Elo could separate them. The battle for the No.1 place will resume in
2007 with Topalov slipping from the top.
The 2007 engagements for the world rapid chess champion Anand starts with
the classical chess at Wijk aan Zee and Linares (Spain/Mexico) followed by
the other events and the World Championship in the middle of the second
half of the year.
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Published on 02.12.2006
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