Five-time World Champion , and Chess legend Super GM Viswanathan Anand won the 2014 edition of the London Chess classics , his first London Classic title after defeating British Grand master Michael Adams in the fifth and final round on Monday.
Anand drew his first four games of the six-player round-robin tournament settling down gradually into the tournament and finished on a very bright note to give him a first place Podium finish.
The London classics triumph came two weeks after Anand lost a World championship match Challenge at sochi, Russia and a quick recovery by a 44 year old Anand goes to show that he remains one of the best Grand masters among the elites in chess history and that there is more to expect fromGM Viswanathan Anand in the coming year.
According to the Official website 'It speaks volumes for the character of the man that he was able to bounce back from the disappointment of Sochi a few weeks ago to take this prestigious title in London. And prestige is a two-way street: Vishy Anand’s name on the trophy adds lustre to the London Chess Classic and means that all three world champions active during the tournament’s existence have now won it.
Vishy’s win on tie-break is karmic compensation for losing out to Magnus Carlsen on tie-break in 2010 despite defeating him in the tournament. Given that the event has now been in existence for five years and six events, it might be timely to publish our roll of honour: 2009 and 2010 Magnus Carlsen; 2011 Vlad Kramnik; 2012 Magnus Carlsen; 2013 Hikaru Nakamura; and now, 2014, Vishy Anand. You’d be hard pushed to find another 21st century tournament with a list of winners as impressive as that.'
GM Viswanathan Anandwho became India's first grandmaster in 1988 in a recent interview with the Times of India when asked if his best is yet to come, Anand said: "I hope so. I try to be optimistic." a pointer to the fact that the Indian chess Legend is not planning to quit chess anytime soon and is looking forward to making an impact in the coming year after a decent performance in the year 2014 .Asked if he would like to go into coaching, the grand master said he has not thought about it as he was currently focused on playing. "Chess enables students to memorise and strategise better,"
"I will be playing more tournaments in general. My focus is really shifting to tournaments." according to Anand who has motivated scores of youngsters from India and around the world to become Chess greats "Chess enables students to memorise and strategise better,"
"It's very difficult to combine (coaching) with the playing career. And I am still not ready to give that (playing career) up. I am still looking forward for playing for several years. And after that, we can see," he said.
Results for final round: Michael Adams (England, 4) lost to V Anand (India, 7); Anish Giri (Netherland, 7) drew with Vladimir Kramnik (Russsia, 7); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 6) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Italy, 4).
