Anand wins Villarrobledo Open

CHENNAI AUG. 19. World chess champion Viswanathan Anand showed his speedy rapid skills in good measure to win the 19th City of Villarrobledo Open rapid chess tournament in Spain on Sunday.

Both Anand and Alexei Shirov of Spain tied for first place on 7.5 points after the ninth and final round but the Indian had the superior tie-break score to win the 3,000,000 pesetas prize money chess tournament.

Starting day two with a full five out of five score, Anand drew fellow joint leader Ljubomir Ljubojevic of Yugoslavia quickly in under a minute. After playing draws with Alexei Shirov and Atanas Kolev (Bul), Anand went on to defeat Israeli Grandmaster Gofshtein in the final round. In the final round, Shirov only managed a draw and was caught up by Anand on the points.

Anand had done bulk of the scoring on Saturday and ended up with five full points. His victories came with ease, speed and tactical play and the draws with solid play. He was never threatened except when he had to defend a vicious attack in round three by Oscar de La Riva.

Anand won six games and drew three for an unbeaten title performance. In his nine games, Anand beat Gabriel Fernandez, Daniel Barria, Oscar de La Riva, Evgeny Agrest, Elizbar Ubilava on Saturday and on Sunday he drew Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Alexei Shirov, Atanas Kolev and beat Alon Gofshtein for his 7.5 points.

Two of Anand's trainers, GM Ferninand Hellers of Sweden and GM Elizbar Ubilava of Georgia also took part. They scored 5.5 points and finished 37-38 in placing. In the fifth round, Anand defeated his current trainer Ubilava with the white pieces by threatening to queen his pawn. A total of 36 Grandmasters and 22 International Masters took part in this 193-player two-day 25- minute-a-side nine-round tournament.

Final placings: 1-2: GM V.Anand (Ind), GM A.Shirov (ESP) 7.5/9 each, 3-8: GM A.Kolev (Bul), GM L.Ljubojevic (Yug), GM E.Agrest (Swe), GM B.Lalic (Eng), IM D.Collas (Fra), GM A.Chernin (Hun) 7 each.

The moves: GM V.Anand-GM Zeev-Alon Gofshtein, round nine, rapid chess, game in 25 minutes each, Sicilian Paulsen, B42: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Qb6 6.c3 Nc6 7.0-0 d6 8.Be3 Qc7 9.c4 Ne5 10.Be2 Bd7 11.Nc3 Nf6 12.Rc1 Be7 13.f4 Ng6 14.Qe1 h5 15.h3 Rc8 16.Kh1 h4 17.b3 Qa5 18.f5 Ne5 19.Bg5 Qc5 20.Be3 Qa5 21.Nf3 exf5 22.exf5 Bxf5 23.Nxh4 Be6 24.Nf5 Bxf5 25.Rxf5 Qd8 26.Rd1 Ng6 27.Bf3 Qd7 28.Rg5 0-0 29.Qg3 Nh7 30.Bg4 Qd8 31.Bxc8 Bxg5 32.Bxb7 Bxe3 33.Qxe3 Re8 34.Qd4 Qg5 35.Ne4 Qf4 36.Bd5 Ng5 37.Nxg5 Qxg5 38.Rf1 Re7 39.b4 Ne5 40.a4 Nd7 41.a5 Nf6 42.Bc6 Qg3 43.b5 axb5 44.cxb5 d5 45.a6 Qa3 46.Ra1 1-0.

- Our Chess Correspondent

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