The Monarch Of Mainz!

21st August 2007 :

Keeping his tryst with history, Viswanathan Anand once again proved that he is indeed the 'Monarch of Mainz'.

The champion beat Levon Aronian, the challenger, 2.5-1.5 in the best-of-four-game final of the World rapid chess championship on Sunday.

Anand's 10th title at Mainz and seventh in succession at the German town after becoming the World champion in 2000 came in a commanding fashion.

After three comfortable draws, Anand won the fourth game where he turned his advanced pawn into a queen that eventually forced Aronian’s king into submission in 68 moves.

The victory with black pieces for Anand stretched his unconquered run in rapid play in Mainz and added Aronian to the list of his illustrious victims.

After taming Vladimir Kramnik 6.5-5.5 in the 'Duel of the Champions' in Mainz in 2001, Anand proved superior to Ruslan Ponomariov (4.5-3.5) in 2002, Judit Polgar (5-3) in 2003, Alexei Shirov (5-3) in 2004, Alexander Grischuk (5-3) in 2005 and Teimour Radjabov (5-3) in 2006 in eight-game matches.
Change of format

This year, the format was changed and included four players in a league-cum-final format. Anand and Aronian qualified for the final ahead of Ettenne Bacrot (France) and Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan).

Anand's victory also helped him avenge the loss he suffered in the Chess960 final last week.

The triumph is sure to give Anand a psychological edge over Aronian when they clash again in the eight-man World Chess Championship next month in Mexico City.

The first game, where Anand played white, ended in just 24 moves in an equal position in Ruy Lopez.

In the second game, Anand seemed to be holding an edge with an extra pawn.

Moreover, Anand had four minutes on his clock as compared to Aronian's 30 seconds.

When the truce was signed in 33 moves, much to the surprise of those watching, Aronian was close to getting back the pawn and force a draw.

In the third game, that lasted 31 moves, Anand and Aronian played safe.

The fourth game turned out to be decisive after Anand gradually succeeded in pushing his queenside pawn to the final rank. Aronian, with just 18 seconds on his clock as compared to nearly four minutes for Anand, accepted the inevitable and gave up after 68 moves.

Bacrot and Kasimdzhanov shared the third spot after a 2-2 result.

The tiebreak games were not played.

The scores:

World rapid championship: Game I: Viswanathan Anand drew with Levon Aronian (Arm) in 24 moves; Game II: Aronian drew with Anand in 33 moves; Game III: Anand drew with Aronian in 31 moves; Game IV: Aronian lost to Anand in 68 moves. (Article Courtesy - The Hindu)