Anand Ties For First Place In Rapid
Aronian Takes Overall First Ahead Of Anand, Kramnik
By Arvind Aaron

World champion Viswanathan Anand missed a 2-0 sweep against Wang Yue of China in the final round to settle for a 1.5-0.5 win and share the second place in the 18th Melody Amber Tournament at Nice.

Levon Aronian drew Veselin Topalov twice on March 26 to take first place on 14/22 in the Euro 216,000 prize fund event. Anand who rallied mid-way through the tournament lost the thread in the penultimate round when he was shocked by Morozevich in the blindfold.

Had Anand mated Wang Yue with the two knights against a pawn of Wang Yue, he would have actually tied with Aronian for first place. These event let Kramnik take a pole vault to the second spot with a 2-0 sweep over Leko.

Anand, Aronian and Kamsky tied for the rapid title on 7/11. The blindfold also saw a three-way share with Carlsen, Aronian share the first place with Kramnik on 7/11. Overall title is the more prestigious of the lot.

Later in the week, Anand's team Baden Baden is playing for the German Bundesliga title and are leading the field. That will be Anand's next event.

Combined Final placings: 1 Levon Aronian (Arm) 14/22; 2-3. Viswanathan Anand (Ind), Vladimir Kramnik (Rus) 13.5 each; 4 Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 13; 5 Alexander Morozevich (Rus) 11; 6-7. Veselin Topalov (Bul), Sergey Karjakin (Ukr) 10.5 each; 8-9. Gata Kamsky (USA), Peter Leko (Hun) 10 each; 10 Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 9.5; 11 Teimour Radjabov (Aze) 9; 12 Wang Yue (Chn) 7.5.

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Home                                                         Published on 27^th March ,  2009