Viswanathan Anand retains World Chess Championships title

Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand today retained the World Chess Championships title, his fifth crown and fourth in a row, after beating Israel’s Boris Gelfand in a tense rapid game tie-breaker here today.

Anand beat Gelfand 2.5-1.5 in rapid chess tie-breaker at the Tretyakov Gallery here after the two Grandmasters ended the 12-game championship match with a 6-6 stalemate.

The first game of the tie-breaker ended in a draw in 33 moves before Anand beat Gelfand in the second game in 77 moves. The two of the remaining four-game rapid chess tie-breaker ended in a draw as Anand successfully defended his world championship title for the third time in a row.

This was 42-year-old Anand’s fifth World Championships title and fourth crown in a row. The Indian chess wizard bagged his first world title in 2000 before winning three in a row in 2007, 2008 and 2010. He has been the world champion since 2007.

Anand will pocket approximately $1.4 million - 55 per cent of the total prize fund of $ 2.55 million — while Gelfand will get the remaining amount.

The Indian ace won the 2007 crown in a tournament format among eight players. In 2008 and 2010, he beat Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria respectively after the format changed to championships match between the defending champion and a challenger.