India's ranking world No 1 chess player Vishwanathan Anand became the game’s world champion today, winning the global tournament in Mexico. Anand, 37, replaced Vladimir Kramnik of Russia as champion, winning the tournament on points after tying a matchwith Hungarian Peter Leko on the 14th day of the contest, which he dominated from the start.The Israeli Boris Gelfand was meanwhile fighting it out to win second place over Kramnik, who saw the championship slip from his grasp yesterday after a tied match. Gelfand, 39, was looking to clinch second place through his match today with Alexander Morozevich of Russia.Eight of the world’s top chess brains had met in Mexico for the competition. Key players such as the world number two, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, did not make it through the championship’s complex qualification process.Anand came close to defeat yesterday but managed to tie his five-hour game with another Russian, Alexander Grischuk. He would have won the tournament immediately if he had beaten Grischuk.The Indian had previously won the world championship in 2000, but the achievement was valued less since at the time the chess world was split between two rival world titles.As champion he gets a prize of $390,000. It turned out to be a two-way tie for the second spot after Vladimir Kramnik of Russia scored a thumping victory over Levon Aronian of Armenia while Israeli Boris Gelfand failed to break the ice against Alexander Morozevich and had to settle for a draw. Kramnik’s tiebreak proved to be superior and he was duly rewarded with second place.With Gelfand finishing third on eight points, Leko ended up clear fourth on seven points and in a surprise finish Russian Peter Svidler defeated compatriot Alexander Grischuk to jump to fifth spot in overall rankings.Interestingly, Svidler had been trailing at the bottom for past many rounds and this was his first victory in the event. Aronian and Morozevich tied for the sixth spot on 6 points each while Alexander Grischuk was pushed to the bottom on 5.5 following his loss against Svidler.Final Standings: 1. Anand 9 pts; 2-3. Kramnik, Gelfand 8 pts each; 4. Leko 7 pts; 5. Svidler 6.5 pts; 6-7. Morozevich, Aronian 6 pts each. 8. Grischuk 5.5 pts.
