Viswanathan Anand won the 2013 edition of Grenke Classic in Baden-Baden. It’s been many years since he won his last closed tournament title. The long awaited first place is now a fact, and Vishy won it in style.
Anand started in his routine pace of secure play, signing draws in the first four games. A brilliant victory against Arkadij Naiditsch in round 5, just before the rest day, showed the Tiger from Madras is getting ready for a jump.
Exactly against the same player, the Tiger roared again, showing he is much better prepared in the opening phase, and has a superior understanding of the game. In the last round Anand smashed Naiditsch and took the sole first place.
Fabiano Caruana was the only player in the field to give real competition to Anand. The Italian started with a victory against Georg Meier in round 1 and later on in round 3 defeated Naiditsch to have a strong plus score in the first half. In round 8 Caruana won against Naiditsch again, and just when all looked good for the Italian, he lost with white against Michael Adams. Caruana fought hard in the last game against Fridman, but missed his winning chance, concluding the game as a draw and thus handed Anand the victory.
Georg Meier is the top German player of the competition. He finished with 5,0/10, a full point ahead of Naiditsch and 1,5 points ahead of Fridman.
Michael Adams finished with the same points as Georg Meier, sharing 3-4th position with him.
Replay all games with analysis
Grenke Baden-Baden reports
Round 1: Caruana defeats Meier
Round 2: Naiditsch joins Caruana in the lead
Round 3: Caruana defeats Naiditsch
Round 4: Anand and Caruana draw
Round 5: Anand beats Naiditsch
Round 6: Caruana still leads Grenke Classic
Round 7: Meier defeats Fridman
Round 8: Caruana increases the lead at Grenke Classic
Round 9: Anand catches up with Caruana in an exciting round
Round 10: Anand dismantles Naiditsch
Final standings
1. Viswanathan Anand 6,5/10
2. Fabiano Caruana 6,0/10
3-4. Michael Adams 5,0/10
3-4. Georg Meier 5,0/10
5. Arkadij Naiditsch 4,0/10
5. Daniel Fridman 3,5/10
Congratulations to World Champion Anand on his victory at Baden Baden! He won in rather a ‘Kramnik-like’ manner, without dominating the event, but a win’s a win, especially at this level! It seemed to this observer that his last game was his best in the tournament, which appears to speak volumes for his physical preparation, since he was the oldest player.
Caruana is obviously a bit disappointed, but when one considers that his form looked rocky all through and that he only played one consistently good game, (against Meier in the first round,) it’s not a bad result at all. Whatever afflicted him at Wijk aan Zee hadn’t completely cleared up, one supposes.
Meier looked better as it went on. Toward the end, he looked really formidable. Adams looked a little rusty, but at least got to be the tournament’s kingmaker by beating Caruana in the penultimate round.
Naiditsch deserves a special prize and a vote of thanks. He had eight decisive games out of ten. Only four decisive games in the event did not involve him. It would have been dead without Naiditsch. A pity that enriching a tournament like that still turned out to be a sporting non-success.
Fridman was never able to get started. Alas, that happens, sometimes.