Peaking at the right time World No. 3 Vishwanathan Anand completed a hat-trick of victories in the Mainz Chess Classic, billed as 'battle of the sexes', by defeating Judit Polgar 5-3 in the eight-game series which concluded in Germany late Sunday night.
The victory was sweet for Anand, as it came the hard way. After being forced to catch up with the World No. 11, following defeats in the opening games on the first three days, Anand proved that when it really matters he delivers in the most prolific fashion.
With the scores level at 3-3 at the start of the final day, Anand got the better of the world's best woman player in both games to take the title for the third consecutive time.
Anand had earlier won the 2001 edition against World No. 2 Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, while last year World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine was on the receiving end.
Anand was in his element yesterday and Polgar proved no match. The Hungarian's game plan also withered towards the closing stages of the match that proved crucial. Under pressure to level scores after losing the seventh game, Polgar simply could not live up to expectations.
Requiring just a draw from the last game, the Indian went on the offensive to win with black pieces. There was not a single draw throughout the match and this one will certainly go down in history as one of the most hard-fought Rapid Chess contests.
Polgar was caught by suprise by the Indian's Ruy Lopez opening, a shift from the usual Sicilians that Anand had been playing in this match so far, in the final game.
Anand's second, Grandmaster Rustem Dautov of Germany, explained the strategy: "We thought playing Sicilian in the last game against Judit would be asking for trouble, and hence went for the Ruy Lopez."
It surely did yield high dividends as Polgar failed to embark on her customary attack against the king, though she did try the same after settling down.
Anand maintained the balance he was hoping for with thematic manoeuvres and improved his position on the queenside after getting a firm control. Sensing danger, Polgar went for the attack on the kingside after sacrificing two pawns but the Indian was alert enough to thwart all the threats.
The piece sacrifice by white on the 37th move was also declined as black continued his roller-coaster ride. Polgar resigned when she was faced with further loss of material, giving Anand his third victory on the trot.
"The final game was very pleasant and at some point it looked like a dream position. This will go down as the most tense rapid match I have played," said the champion.
Polgar confessed that she was nervous and played badly in the post match briefing.
Earlier in the seventh game, Anand secured the lead for the first time by accounting for Polgar from the white side of a Sicilian defence game.
This time there were no fireworks from either side. Anand employed the Classical setup that yielded him just a shade better position in the ensuing middle game.
The Indian's chances really took off after the trade of queens on the 25th move as Polgar was saddled with a perennially bad dark squared Bishop after that. Striding slowly yet decisively, Anand improved his position and eventually embarked on a kingside breakthrough after luring Polgar's rook to the queenside.
Soon after, Anand marched with his king to the sixth rank and obtained decisive passed pawns and won in 55 moves.
Also yesterday, Russian Peter Svidler grabbed the "Chess960 World Championship" beating Hungarian World No. 4 Peter Leko 4.5-3.5 in the 8-game series.
Chess960, an idea from former World Champion Bobby Fischer, is named so as the position of pieces on the board is randomly shuffled before the begining of the game and has 960 such possibilities.
Meanwhile, Alexander Grischuk of Russia won the Ordix Open, the strongest open rapid tournament on the calendar, which also ended in Mainz yesterday.
The moves
Viswanathan Anand v/s Judit Polgar:
Game 7:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Kh1 Nc6 10. Be3 Be6 11. Qd2 a5 12. Rfd1 a4 13. Nc1 Ra5 14. Bf3 a3 15. b3 Qc7 16. Nd3 Rc8 17. Rac1 h6 18. h3 Nd4 19. Bxd4 exd4 20. Ne2 d5 21. e5 Ne4 22. Qe1 Nc3 23. Nxc3 Qxc3 24. Bg4 Qxe1+ 25. Rxe1 Ra6 26. g3 Rac6 27. Re2 g6 28. Kg2 h5 29. Bxe6 fxe6 30. h4 Bd8 31. f4 Ba5 32. b4 Bd8 33. Kf2 Be7 34. Ke1 Rc4 35. Kd1 Kf7 36. Rb1 Rc3 37. Rb3 Ke8 38. Rd2 R8c4 39. b5 Bd8 40. Rg2 Ba5 41. Rxc3 dxc3 42. Ke2 Bb6 43. Kf3 Ra4 44. g4 hxg4+ 45. Kxg4 Ra5 46. Kg5 Kf7 47. Kh6 Rxb5 48. Rxg6 Be3 49. Rg7+ Ke8 50. Kg6 Rb1 51. h5 Rg1+ 52. Kf6 Rh1 53. Kxe6 Kd8 54. Kd6 Ke8 55. e6 black resigned.
Game 8:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d6 10. a3 Na5 11. Ba2 c5 12. Nbd2 Bc8 13. Nf1 Be6 14. Bb1 Nd7 15. Ne3 Nb6 16. Nf5 Bf6 17. Be3 Na4 18. g4 g6 19. Nh6+ Kh8 20. Qc1 Bg7 21. Ba2 Rc8 22. Bg5 Qd7 23. Bd5 Nc6 24. c3 Nb6 25. Bxc6 Qxc6 26. Kh2 f6 27. Be3 d5 28. b4 Na4 29. Bd2 c4 30. dxc4 dxe4 31. cxb5 axb5 32. Nh4 Nb6 33. a4 bxa4 34. b5 Qxb5 35. Rb1 Qc6 36. Rg1 Nc4 37. N6f5 Nxd2 38. Nxg7 Kxg7 39. Qxd2 Rfd8 40. Qe2 Bb3 41. Rg3 Qc4 42. Qe3 Rd3 43. Qb6 Rxg3 44. Kxg3 Qxc3+ 45. Kh2 Qc5 46. Qb7+ Rc7 47. Qxe4 Bc2 white resigned.
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