Neither age nor lack of tournament play could stop Viswanathan Anand from finishing runner-up at the Croatia Grand Chess Tour at Zagreb on Sunday.
Playing his first event in 16 months, the 51-year-old came up with a superb display against his much younger rivals to claim the second place in a strong field.
He scored 21 points -- from the rapid and blitz sections combined -- two behind the champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.On the final day, Anand played some fine chess, as he scored four wins in a row.
One of those was against his old rival Garry Kasparov, whom he had beaten on Saturday too. It turned out to be a horrible tournament for the 58-year-old Russian, who has rarely made an appearance before a chessboard after retiring in 2005.
Anand drew his first three games of the day, with Giri, Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland and Vachier-Lagrave before he ran into Kasparov, who has rarely made an appearance before a chessboard after retiring in 2005.
The standings
2. Viswanathan Anand 21; 3. Anish Giri (Ned) 20.5; 4-5. Ian Nepomniachtchi (Rus) and Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol) 20; 6. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze) 19; 7. Alexander Grischuk (Rus) 18; 8. Anton Korobov (Ukr) 15.5; 9. Garry Kasparov (Rus)/Ivan Saric (Cro) 12.5; 10. Jorden Van Foreest (Ned) 10.5. |