Anand Shares Dos Hermanas title

India's Vishwanathan Anand caught up with tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik in the ninth and final round of the Dos Bermanas Category 19 chess tournament now being played in that Spanish city.

In the final round, Anand pulled off a fine 72-move win over Judith Polgar, while Kramnik was held to a draw by Bulgaria's Vesselin Topalov.

Anand and Kramnik were the only players to finish without any losses in a field that included Valery Salov, Anatoly Karpov, Miguel Illescas and Boris Gelfand. Anand in earlier action beat Salov, and drew with Karpov.

Anand, playing white, began with his favourite opening move Nf3 and when Polgar countered with the King's Indian defence, he opened up the position with a pawn sacrifice, then played aggressively on the d-file passed pawn to force the win.

Anand, the highest ranked player in the tournament with an ELO rating of 2765 and a tournament rating of 2819, kept his seeding intact with wins over Salov, Shirov and Polgar. In fact, but for a rather careless draw against Miguel Illescas, Anand could have ended up winning the tournament solo, rather than having to share the trophy with Kramnik.