Khanty Mansiysk (Russia): Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand proved his critics wrong and won the Candidates Chess tournament after settling for a draw with Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the 13th and penultimate round in Khanty Mansiysk on Saturday.
The tournament victory gives Anand the winner’s cheque of 135,000 euros (a little over Rs 1 crore) and the right to a match against Magnus Carlsen of Norway who dethroned the Indian champion at Chennai in November last.
This rematch will take place in the last quarter of 2014.
The draw helped Anand reach eight points and he benefited from the biggest upset in the tournament when top seed Levon Aronian of Armenia lost to lowest ranked Dmitry Andreikin of Russia.
On a day that saw Vladimir Kramnik avenge his earlier loss in the tournament against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan played out a draw with Russian Peter Svidler to seal the fate in Anand’s favour irrespective of the results on Sunday. With Anand on eight points, Karjakin, Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Andreikin and Aronian are on 6.5 points.
