The king of 64 squares- Viswanathan Anand reigns

Moscow - Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand, the Indian-born, five times world chess champion, retained his crown on Wednesday when he narrowly beat Boris Gelfand in a series of rapid-play games in Moscow.

The match was played at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow for the last three weeks. Anand lived up to his reputation as the best rapid player of his generation when he won against his challenger Gelfand of Israel by 2.5-1.5 in the four rapid tiebreaking games with the overall 8.5-7.5 win (including 12 classical games where the score was 6-6). Classical game is one where each player usually gets 3.5 hours per game. Anand used to finish classical games under an hour before he matured and took more time to think. "I simply hung on for dear life," said Anand. "It just comes down to nerves in the end. The only feeling I have right now is relief. I feel too tense to be happy", reported The Guardian. Speed has always been an effective tool for Anand against his challengers. Gelfand has had amazing results in the past tiebreaking games, but long deliberations against Anand, during this match, spoiled some of his promising positions. He was running out of time and made multiple mistakes. "It's difficult to find the best moves in time pressure. That was how I made the blunder in the second game (tiebreak)”, said Gelfand, reported The Times of India. Anand not only won the title but also Rs. 8.6 crore ($1.53 million) while Gelfand took home Rs 6.4 crore ($1.02 million). "I am relieved," Anand said soon after his victory. "The match was so even", he said, reported The Huffington Post. By winning the title, Viswanathan Anand automatically qualifies for the next year's World championship to be played in India. Winning world title has become routine for this man. His first came in 2000 (Tehran) and he went on to win in 2007 (Mexico), Bonn (2008) and Sofia (2010). He had won the World Junior title at the age of seventeen.