Viswanathan Anand retains world chess title

Thursday, 31 May 2012 01:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: World chess champion Viswanathan Anand defeated Israel’s Boris Gelfand in a tiebreaker in Moscow to retain his title on Wednesday.

Anand beat Gelfand in a four-round tie-breaker after the 12-match contest was tied at 6-6. Three of the four rapid chess games were drawn but the 42-year-old Indian edged out his challenger in the second game.

The popular Anand, world champion since 2007, won the junior title in 1989 and became India’s first Grand Master at the age of 16.

Anand became the first Asian to win the FIDE world chess championship after defeating Spain’s Alexei Shirov in Tehran in 2000. His title win on Wednesday was his fourth in a row -- he also won in 2007, 2008 and 2010.