London: Viswanathan Anand finished fifth after drawing his game against Luke McShane in the 9th and final round of the London Chess Classic which concluded late Monday night at the Olympia Confernce Centre at London.
The World Champion later said that he would immediately start training for his World Championship Match against Boris Gelfand of Israel scheduled for May 2012.
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia drew his final encounter against Levon Aronian to emerge Champion with 16 points. Hikaru Nakamura of USA was a clear second with 15 points after defeating Michael Adams in a topsy- turvy game where fortunes fluctuated.
Kramnik maintained a clean slate and a clean sweep or a 4-0 rout against all the four Britishers in fray and drew against Anand, Carlsen ,Aronian and Nakamura.
The Category 20, nine player event was played under Classical time control where three points were awarded for a victory and one point for a draw.
Magnus Carlsen of Norway, the highest ranked player in the World tried all tricks to get the better of Nigel Short as a victory would have him tying for top place but the Englishman held onto his game stubbornly and the resultent draw left Carlsen with a tally of 14 points and a clear third place. Luke McShane was fourth with 13 points, Anand fifth with 9 points and Aronian sixth, with also 9 points.
Anand playing with the black pieces chose the CAro-Kann defence against McShane and the draw was signed by repetition of moves after 25 moves. A disappointed Anand later commented that his recent results were a disaster for which he ahd no explanation and commented "The whole season ...[starting with Bilbao] has been a disaster, no getting around it. I don't know why that is. I never got going." The NIIT MindChampion also showed his mindset and his focus on the upcoming World title clash by admitting that he would be wasting no time in starting his preparation.
Round nine
Round 9: Monday, December 12, 2011
Luke McShane½-½Vishy Anand
Hikaru Nakamura1-0Michael Adams
Nigel Short½-½Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik½-½Levon Aronian
David Howell (bye) – assisting commentary
