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Blindfold
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Rapid
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Ivanchuk 1/2 Bareev
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Bareev 1/2 Ivanchuk
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van Wely 1/2 Shirov
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Shirov 1-0 van Wely
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Ljubojevic 1/2 Kramnik
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Kramnik 1-0 Ljubojevic
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Morozevich 1/2 Almasi
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Almasi 0-1 Morozevich
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Anand 1-0 Topalov
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Topalov 1/2 Anand
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Gelfand 1/2 Leko
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Leko 1/2 Gelfand
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It was a brilliant, theoretically important game, that drew applause from the other grandmasters at the tournament. And it was played without looking at the board. Vishy Anand played this decisive game against Veselin Topalov, ane in their rapid chess game Anand equalised quickly with black to clinch overall victory at the 12th Amber Chess Tournament in Monaco.
Anand at the victory dinner
Radiant Aruna Anand, happy with the result
Main contender Peter Leko tried hard enough, but in a sea-saw blindfold game and a with a promising position in the rapid game against Boris Gelfand he had to concede two draws. Alexander Morozevich won one and drew one against Hungarian GM Zoltan Almasi to share second with Leko. Both had 13.5 points, with Anand finishing a full point ahead of them. It is remarkable that Morozevich only played three drawn games out of 22, which is surely some kind of a record.
Vladimir Kramnik drew his blindfold game against Ljubomir Ljubojevich to secure first place in that section. In his rapid chess game he had to fight hard to take the full point, chalking up his first win in this section. He shares 4-5 with Veselin Topalov. Evgeny Bareev drew both his games against Vassily Ivanchuk to take the rapid section.
Alexei Shirov was in a bit of trouble in his blindfold game against Loek van Wely but held the Dutchman to a draw. In their rapid game the Latvian GM showed what he means by "setting the board on fire".
Shirov – Van Wely, rapid game
This is how Shirov mated his opponent by driving the black king ot the first rank: 37.c5+ Kxc5 38.Dxc7+ Kxb5 39.Txe6 d3 40.Dc6+ Kb4 41.Te4+ Kb3 42.Dc3+ Ka2 43.Da3+ 1-0. Alexei Shirov ended in seventh place, behind Boris Gelfand of Israel.
