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Anand on a winning spree

Vishwanathan Anand claimed his third title of the year, to move head and shoulders above all other contenders challenging Garri Kasparov for the title of world's best chess player.

In the final round of the seventh Torneo Magistral chess tournament in Madrid, Spain, Anand forced a 23-move draw on Russian grandmaster and world number nine Peter Svidler. Playing black, Anand adopted the Caro Kann and was in an advantageious position when he offered parity.'

With this, Anand secured 6.5 points in the nine round tournament with the aid of four wins and five draws, to top the table a clear one point ahead of his nearest challenger, Svidler himself.

With this, Anand has so far annexed, this year, three titles -- the Jubilee edition of the Hoogovens tournament in the Netherlands, followed by the Linares tournament in Spain and now the one in Madrid.

With this, he is exceedingly close to being the only player other than Kasparov to break the 2,800-point ELO ceiling.

It is expected that Anand will attain that laurel as well, next month, when he plays a virtual world championship, participating in a four-cornered struggle against Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Anatoly Karpov.

His outstanding performances these last two years earned Anand the coveted Chess Oscar -- the supreme title conferred on a chess player, and judged by a panel of 300 chess correspondents worldwide.

Interestingly, Anand snatched the Oscar from no less than Kasparov himself.