Dortmund, Germany, Aug 11: Vishwanathan Anand played out yet another quick draw in just 13 moves against Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan to finish tied for second in the Sparkassen Dortmund Chess Championships that came to an end last evening. But the spotlight was all on the tenacious Viktor Bologan who fought tooth and nail and drew his final round with black against the much fancied Vladimir Kramnik to win his first Super GM title.
For Bologan, this was indeed a great moment as he was playing in a Super GM event for the first time and he won convincingly by a full point. His only loss came in the seventh round, when he went down to Anand.
For the former world champion Anand, a tied second spot would be some consolation in an event where he went through a disastrous patch when he lost two successive games to Radjabov and Bologan in second and third rounds. But he picked up fast and after a draw with Kramnik in round four, he won the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds to come into contention once again.
Bologan came through a qualification process as he won the Aeroflot Open to qualify for the tournament. But with this win, he can well expect many more invitations to top notch events. It could come as soon as the Wijk Aan Zee and Linares next year. The Dortmund event is the last of three Super GM events each year. Anand won the first at Wijk.
Bologan finished with 6.5 points from ten rounds, while Anand and Kramnik tied for second with 5.5 each. Radjabov did well to finish fourth with five points, while Leko was a disappointment at fifth spot. Bureau Report