Anand wins Grenke Classic after thrilling last-round triumph

World champion Viswanathan Anand notched up his first title of the year when he scored an emphatic victory over German Arkadij Naiditsch to lift the Grenke Chess Classic trophy here.

In what turned out to be a nail-biting finish, Anand had to wait for Fabiano Caruana to go wrong once again as the Italian misplayed a highly promising position and drew with Daniel Fridman of Germany to give the Indian ace a clear victory.

"After Bilbao 2011 my big problem was getting interesting positions where I had chances. This year the new problem has been exploiting those chances...I've been gifting people half points," Anand said reflecting on his game at the post-tournament press conference.

"If it wasn't for that my results would be much better. Still, it's a hundred times better to have the second problem! I need to work on my technique," he added referring to the high number of draws that he has been playing out.

The other game of the final round between Michael Adams of England and Georg Meier of Germany also ended in a draw.

The much-needed tournament victory for Anand came after a long time and it could serve as a perfect prelude to the World Championship match he is slated to play later this year.
The Indian finished with 6.5 points in all and ended half a point ahead of Caruana.

Adams and Meier tied for the third spot with five points apiece while after another debacle, Naiditsch remained on four points for his fifth place finish. Despite playing solidly for the most part of the tournament, Fridman ended last on 3.5 points.