Anand is World Rapid Chess champion

Mainz (Germany): World number two Viswanathan Anand reserved his best for the final day scoring two thumping victories to stamp authority in the Grenkeleasing World Rapid Championship in the Mainz Chess Classic.


The Indian won his sixth title in a row, seventh on the trot in Classic and ninth overall, a record that is unlikely to get surpassed according to the pundits of the game.


Anand, who was tied at 3-3 when the seventh game commenced, won the match against Teimour Radjabov by a 5-3 margin on the final day of the week long chess extravaganza.


After a few initial hurdles, Anand was at his best in crushing Radjabov with black first and as the pressure of winning the final game downed on the Azerbaijani talent, the eighth and the final game also went the Indian's way.



Apart from Anand, the other Indian contestant also came up with flying colours in the Ordix open rapid tournament finishing joint third and fourth overall in the strongest open of the world in this variant of the game.


Former World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan and twice World Junior Champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan tied for the first spot here both tallying 9.5 points out of a possible 11 while Harikrishna scored nine points to figure in the 3-7 place.


Earlier in the event, Harikrishna had done well to win the Chess 960 Junior championship match against Arkadij Naiditsch of Germany and in the Finet Chess 960 open he had figured in top ten.