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Journalism of Courage
Viswanathan Anand ensured his victory in the 14th Amber chess tournament with a round to spare here at Monte Carlo Grand after drawing both the blindfold and rapid game against Russian Peter Svidler.
Taking his tally to an unassailable 14.5 points, Anand maintained his three points distance with Russian Alexander Morozevich and Hungarian Peter Leko with just one round or two games to come in this euro 193,250 prize money tournament being played on a round-robin basis.
Anand also made sure of his unshared blindfold title after the draw with Svidler.
As other results surfaced in this unique event that has one rapid and one blindfold game in each round, Anand was found to be 2 points ahead of his nearest rivals, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine, Svidler and Leko, with just one game to go.
In the rapid section, the Indian ace stretched his lead to a full point over Russian Alexander Morozevich and Leko and now just needs a half point to win on the final day to win this section also solely.
Anand just needed 20 moves in the blindfold to sign peace with Svidler who played the black side of a Sicilian Paulsen.
Just wanting to win this section first and the event with at least a round to spare, Anand made sure everything went right with his white pieces.
