Monaco: Viswanathan Anand drew both games against Boris Gelfand of Israel, won the rapid section and finished second to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the combined standings of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament.

World champion Kramnik also played out two draws with Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain in the final round and registered an emphatic victory in the blindfold to claim the overall title with 15.5 points.

Anand finished second overall with 13.5, Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine (13) finished third.

Kramnik won the blindfold competition scoring 9 points out of a possible 11. Anand finished joint 7th with just 5 points.

Anand, assured of the title in the penultimate round, finished the rapid event with 8.5 points from 11 games. Two points behind in joint second place were Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Peter Leko of Hungary and Ivanchuk.

Combined standings: 1. Kramnik 15.5; 2. Anand 13.5; 3. Ivanchuk 13; 4= Svidler, Aronian 12 each; 6= Morozevich, Gelfand 11.5 each; 8= Carlsen, Leko 10.5 each; 10. Radjabov 9; 11= Vallejo Pons, Van Wely 6.5 each. (PTI)