Moscow, June 24: World champion Viswanathan Anand ended his campaign with an easy draw against Sergey Karjaikin of Russia in the ninth and final round of Tal Memorial Chess tournament that concluded here.
Boris Gelfand of Israel, who had lost to Anand in the last World championship match, deservingly won the tournament after signing peace with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the final round.
Gelfand finished with six points in all and remained a half point ahead of World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway who ended on 5.5 points following a last round draw against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.
Mamedyarov and Dmitry Andreikin of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of Italy finished tied third on five points, a half point ahead of Hikaru Nakamura of United States who succumbed to his third straight loss in the tournament after losing the final game against Alexander Morozevich of Russia.
Karjakin finished seventh on four points while Anand and Morozevich are tied for the eighth spot on 3.5 points each. Kramnik ended a disappointing last on just three points.
The last round was devoid of much excitement for obvious reasons. Kramnik just wanted to finish the tournament and did not do much with white against Gelfand who secured an easy draw.
With black, Anand too did not have to sweat much against Karjakin out of a Sicilian Najdorf that was drawn early. (PTI)
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