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Anand, Svidler Winners in Mainz

Viswanathan Anand proved once again to be the best rapid player in the world, defeating challenger Alexander Grischuk 5-3 to win the Mainz Chess Classic title.

Anand took control of the match early, winning the first two games and never looking back. After a draw in the third game, Anand struck again in the fourth to take a 3.5-0.5 lead. Grischuk hung on for a while, drawing the fifth and winning the sixth game to keep his hopes for a draw alive.

Leading 4-2, Anand needed just a draw to clinch the eight game match. Up to the task, he won the seventh game to take an insurmountable lead. Grischuk could only make the score more respectable by winning the final game with the white pieces.

The Mainz Chess Classic is an annual event which features a variety of tournaments and matches. Along with the rapid match, Mainz hosted a match in Chess960 - or Fischer Random Chess - a variant in which each players back rank pieces are randomly placed before each game, and a celebratory rapid event to honor German grandmaster Wolfgang Unzicker's 80th birthday.

The Chess960 match pitted reigning champion Peter Svidler against Hungarian grandmaster Zoltan Almasi. Svidler started strong by winning the first game, and proceeded to win the match 5-3 without conceding a single game.

In the celebratory tournament for GM Unzicker, four legends of chess found themselves reunited one more time. The rapid tournament was a double round-robin between four of the biggest living chess legends: Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Spassky, and Unzicker - West Germany's strongest grandmaster for the middle part of the 20th century.

The tournament ended with a tie for first between Karpov and Korchnoi, each with 3.5 points. Spassky finished third with 3.0, with Unzicker in fourth at 2.0.

Here is Anand's clinching win in his match against Grischuk:

White: Anand, V (2788)
Black: Grischuk, A (2720)
Mainz Chess Classic, Game 7
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 Qb6 7. a4 Nc6 8. Nb3 Na5 9. Nxa5 Qxa5 10. Bd2 Qc7 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 e5 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Bd3 Qb6 15. Bc3 d5 16. a5 Qa7 17. b4 Rc8 18. Qd2 Rxc3 19. Qxc3 Bd6 20. Kf1 O-O 21. Re1 Rc8 22. Qd2 g6 23. Qf2 Qb8 24. Rb1 Qc7 25. g4 h5 26. h3 Bg3 27. Qd4 Be5 28. Qe3 Bf4 29. Qd4 Be5 30. Qe3 d4 31. Qe2 h4 32. Kg2 Bf4 33. Qf2 Qd8 34. Rhe1 Bg3 35. Qd2 Bxe1 36. Rxe1 Qd6 37. Qf2 Kg7 38. Qxh4 Qxb4 39. Rxe6 fxe6 40. Qg5 Qd6 41. Qxg6+ Kf8 42. Qf6+ Ke8 43. h4 Kd7 44. h5 Rf8 45. Qg7+ Kc6 46. Be4+ Kb5 47. h6 1-0