Kramnik (above) and Morozevich finished with 14.5 points each

Monaco: Viswanathan Anand defeated Boris Gelfand of Israel 1.5-0.5 in the 11th and final round and finished third in overall standings in the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament that concluded on Thursday.

Russians Alexander Morozevich and Vladimir Kramnik emerged joint winners with 14.5 points registering identical 1.5-0.5 wins over Peter Svidler of Russia and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, respectively.

Anand finished clear third, one point behind the winners while Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine finished fourth on 13 points. Hungarian Peter Leko shared the fifth spot along with Evgeny Bareev of Russia on 12.5 points.

The Indian ace, known for his lightening speed, once again asserted his supremacy in the rapid version of the game with the comprehensive 7.5 points out of a possible 11. Anand lost only one game in this section when disaster struck him against Alexander Morozevich but that loss did not deter him from claiming the top prize. Finishing second behind Anand was Bareev, who was just half-a-point adrift of the champion, on 7 points while Kramnik was third on 6.5.

Morozevich won the blindfold solely after drawing the last game against Svidler. The Russian tallied a staggering 8.5 points in this section and was clearly the pick of the players with his never-say-die approach well complimented with fine attacking skills. Kramnik finished second on 8 points while Ivanchuk was a distant third on 7. Anand had to be content with a shared fifth place on 6 points.

Traditionally, the tournament has a history of close contests but this by far was the closest ever.

Both Kramnik and Morozevich were enjoying joint lead for past few rounds and though Anand was two points behind them with just two rounds remaining, the much needed victory over Gelfand in blindfold game of the last round put him within striking distance of the two leaders. At this stage Anand was just half point behind with one game to go.

Anand was a picture of confidence in defeating Gelfand who played black and employed the Petroff defence. Anand took only a slightly favourable middle game in his stride and exerted pressure on the queenside to forcibly win a pawn. In the rest of the game Gelfand tried hard for counterplay that remained illusive right till the very end. Anand wrapped the issue in 55 moves after winning another pawn.

However, in the rapid game Anand had to settle for the truce after Gelfand obtained a minuscule advantage in the endgame. The game lasted 29 moves.