The Champ

A worthy world champ
By David R. Sands
Washington Times
October 6, 2007

Indian GM Viswanathan Anand is the new chess champion of the world, scoring a convincing win in the FIDE title tournament, which wrapped up last weekend in Mexico City.

The affable Anand held an easy draw with Black in the 14th and final round against Hungary’s Peter Leko to secure a full-point victory over defending champion GM Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and surprise contender GM Boris Gelfand of Israel in the eight-grandmaster, double-round-robin event. Anand finished at an undefeated 9-5 and was only in any real trouble a couple of times in the grueling 2½-week event.

Under the funky settlement that helped unify the title, Kramnik automatically is entitled to a one-on-one matchup with Anand next year to try to reclaim his crown. Anand and Kramnik generally are acknowledged to be the world’s premier players since the retirement of Garry Kasparov, and it should be a very interesting bout.

The full scorecard: Anand 9-5; Gelfand, Kramnik 8-6; Leko 7-7; Peter Svidler (Russia) 6½-7½; Levon Aronian (Armenia), Alexander Morozevich (Russia) 6-8; Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 5½-8½.

Given the pre-tournament preparation and ingenuity of the players, such high-class events often serve as harbingers for major shifts in chess opening theory. Based on the play in Mexico City, the Queen’s Gambit Semi-Slav is about to be the “it” opening, while White faces major challenges getting anything more than a draw out of the Ruy Lopez Marshall Gambit or the dreaded Petroff’s.

And in a stunning shift in tastes, Anand’s critical Round 11 win over Morozevich was only the second Sicilian played in the tournament. The fighting defense favored by Kasparov and Bobby Fischer, once ubiquitous at the elite level, was played just four times in the 56 games of the event.

Here is the full article.