The King Salman World Rapid Championship concluded today in Riyadh with a thrilling finale in which Viswanathan Anand claimed the title after the blitz tie-break with Vladimir Fedoseev.
Entering the last round of the Open Rapid Championship, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen were tied on the first place with 10 points each.
Anand took a quick draw with black against Bu Xiangzhi, and Magnus Carlsen sensed the opportunity to play for a win. But Alexander Grischuk had his own plans and attacked ferociously to eventually defeat Carlsen and drag him down to 4th shared place in the overall standings.
Vladimir Fedoseev won the Russian derby against Vladislav Artemiev and Ian Nepomniachtchi scored against Wang Hao, to both catch Anand on the shared first place.
According to the Tournament Regulations, “if there is a tie for the 1st place, the top 2 players according to the first eligible tie break criterion will play a play-off.” Nepomniachtchi had the worst tie-break and therefore won the bronze medal.
Anand and Fedoseev proceeded to play two 3’+2” games to decide the Champion. Anand 1,5-0,5 and took the golden trophy.
Ju Wenjun of China continued the good run on the final day of the Women’s Rapid Championship and after scoring two wins and three draws emerged clear winner with 11,5/15 points. Ju modestly repeated her statement from the first day of the Championship, stating that “she was lucky”.
Her compatriot Lei Tingjie was in position to direct a tiebreak match, but she could not win with black against Nana Dzagnidze, therefore being awarded the silver medal. Elisabeth Paehtz claimed the bronze with 10,5 points.