WIJK AAN ZEE, JANUARY 30: IN A PHOTO-FINISH resembling a 100-metre dash at the end, Viswanathan Anand cashed in on a mistake by Boris Gelfand to catch up with Veselin Topalov and share first place and later and take the trophy on tie breaks at the Corus Grandmasters Chess tournament in Wijk Aan Zee.

Both Anand and Topalov had nine points each and it also meant Anand is now likely to cross 2800 elo points for the first time in his career.

For Anand, the NIIT Brand Ambassador, it was a record fifth title win and he said that made it very special and important to him. Both players felt it was a fair result reflecting that they played the best chess. Both said that they were happy about the competition between them that pushed each other to plus five each.

Anand acknowledged that Topalov's results last year made him number one but he was happy to be over 2800.

Anand’s only loss in the tournament was to Gata Kamsky and he won six games and drew another six. Topalov also won six, lost one and drew six. The duo finished 1.5 points clear of the next pair, Michael Adams and Vassily Ivanchuk, who scored 7.5 each

Playing with white against Gelfand, the Indian GM punished a serious opening inaccuracy by his opponent in the Sicilian Najdorf. 15…Rb8 was the mistake and Anand hit Gelfand with his prepared 16. Bc5 after Rb8. Anand sacrificed an exchange, leaving Boris’ King in the center, and pawns in ruins.

On move 22 Anand had the pleasant choice between what he played and trading Queens and taking the e5 pawn, which would have left him well on top also. To Gelfand’s credit, he defended mightily, but in the long run was helpless against Anand’s continuous improvement of the position. White’s passed pawns were simply too much to handle, and Gelfand accepted defeat on move 66.

Defending Champion Peter Leko only made 50% this year but at least he managed to hold the leader Topalov to a draw and that meant the Anand could catch Topalov in the final standings. Leko and Topalov played a Sicilian Najdorf and drew in 40 moves.

Gata Kamsky against Sergey Tiviakov was a hard fight in a Scandanavian. Tiviakov was better out of the opening but Kamsky seemed to get back into the game before going down to a loss in 43 moves.

Results of round 13: Adams drew with Mamedyarov; Ivanchuk beat Karjakin; Leko drew with Topalov; Aronian beat Sokolov; Kamsky lost to Tiviakov; Anand beat Gelfand; Bacrot drew with Van Wely

Final Standings: 1. Anand and Topalov 9.0 (Anand wins trophy on tie-breaks); 3. Adams and Ivanchuk 7.5; 5. Gelfand and Karjakin 7.0; 7. Tiviakov, Leko and Aronian 6.5; 10. Van Wely 6.0; 11. Bacrot 5.5; 12. Mamedyarov and Kamsky 4.5; 14. Sokolov 4.0