Anand wins World Chess Cup

Indian Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand beat Grandmaster Evegeny Bareev of Russia by 1.5-0.5 in the two game final to win the inaugural World Chess Cup in Shenyang, China on Wednesday.

The Grandmaster from Madras won $ 50,000 for the victory and he is expected to regain his second spot in the world rankings behind Garry Kasparov.

Anand looked confident throughout the game.

Bareev opened the game with the French Defence, shocking experts, as Anand has a 'French killer' reputation. World champion Alexander Khalifman has recently changed his defence from French to Sicilian after two comprehensive defeats by Anand. Bareev, knowing Anand's reputation, tried to find solace in the end game by exchanging the queens in the ninth move, and seemingly equalised with his phalanx of pawns in the centre.

However, Anand controlled the proceedings by clever deployment of pieces and soon forced weakness in the black camp forcing Bareev to resign.

This is a major psychological boost for Anand for the World chess championship to be held at New Delhi from November 25. He was accompanied by his trainer Ubilava, a veteran Grandmaster from Georgia.

In the women's section Xu Yuhua of China defeated Zhukova Natalia of Ukraine 1.5-0.5. Their first game was also drawn on Tuesday.

Final Game 2:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 c5 6. c3 cxd4 7. cxd4
f6 8. Nf4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Qb6 10. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 11. Qd2 Qxd2+ 12. Kxd2 Ke7
13. exf6+ gxf6 14. Re1 Nb6 15. Nf3 Nc6 16. Bb5 Bd7 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18.
Re2 Rae8 19. Rhe1 Kf7 20. Kc1 Nc4 21. Nd2 Nxd2 22. Kxd2 c5 23. dxc5 e5
24. Nxd5 Bb5 25. Kc3 Bxe2 26. Rxe2 Rc8 27. Kc4 Ke6 28. b4 Rhd8 29. Rd2
Rd7 30. f4 e4 31. Rd4 f5 32. g4 Rg7 33. Ne3 fxg4 34. Rd6+ Kf7 35. Nf5
e3 36. Nxg7 Re8 37. Nxe8 e2 38. Rf6+ 1-0

Final Game 1:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2
a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qc1 h6 13. Bxf6
Bxf6 14. Nc3 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 c6 16. e3 a5 17. h4 Na6 18. h5 Qe7 19. Rd1
Rfd8 20. Qc2 Nb4 21. Qb3 Rac8 22. Rac1 c5 23. dxc5 Rxd1+ 24. Qxd1 Rxc5
25. Ne4 Rc7 26. b3 b6 27. Be2 Rxc1 28. Qxc1 Qd8 29. Qc4 Be7 30. Qb5
Nd5 31. Bc4 Bb4 32. g4 Nf6 33. Nxf6+ 1/2-1/2