Viswanathan Anand finishes 9th, Carlsen triumphs

Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Anish Giri of Holland to finish ninth in the London Classic won by Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Reigning world champion Carlsen also won the Grand Chess Tour on a lucky final day for him.

Anand ended the Classic on 3.5 points out of a possible nine, winning one, losing three and drawing the remaining five games in the 10-player round-robin tournament. In the Grand Chess Tour standings, Anand finished eighth overall with 14 points.

Carlsen beat Russian Alexander Grischuk in the final round with a little luck and then won the tiebreaker against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France to ensure the top spot.

Carlsen, Giri and Vachier-Lagrave tied for first place and according to the rules, the Norwegian qualified to the finals of the tiebreak directly by virtue of his tiebreak score. As it happened Vachier-Lagrave scored a come-from-behind victory against Giri in what could be called the semis while Carlsen scored an easy 1.5-0.5 victory in the final against the French Grandmaster.

Giri finished second in the overall Tour standings and the London Classic. But, Vachier-Lagrave’s attempt for another break were thwarted as Levon Aronian finished third and only the top three get a direct seeding in the GCT next year. Anand will be a part of it.