Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand wins 13th Quenza Blitz Open title in France
For the second consecutive time, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand worked his magic to clinch the 13th Quenza Blitz Open title in Quenza, France.
This performance can be called completely flawless as Anand scored a perfect 9/9 in the tournament to finish 1.5 points ahead of his closest rivals, French GM Maxime Lagarde and Ukrainian GM Sergey Fedorchuk.
This triumph at Quenza came hardly a week after his victory at the 37th Leon Masters, which marked his tenth victory in this prestigious event. Anand's consecutive accomplishments highlight his continuous intellect and adaptability in the chess realm, thereby reaffirming his position as a living legend in this sport.
The 54-year-old took to his social media to express his happiness at the performance. Clearly, he was ecstatic about his flawless score in France. The Blitz Open had a strong field of players, but Anand's performance was entirely peerless.
Grandmasters Lagarde and Fedorchuk both finished on 7.5 out of 9, which earned them the second and third positions sequentially. Such was Viswanathan Anand's form in the tournament that the performance rating after this 5+3s Blitz was an astronomical 3123.
To top it off, one of the activities at the event was an exhibition game, which he won against all 20 opponents. The exhibition portrayed his multi-decade relationship with the Corsican Chess Club, with which he has a great bond and relishes visiting events like this.
Viswanathan Anand's achievements cement his place as India's premier chess grandmaster
One of the most influential chess players ever to play, Viswanathan Anand, has stunned the lookouts with his performances throughout his career.
One of his accomplishments is being the former five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a record two-time Chess World Cup Champion. Surprisingly, in 1988, he became India's first-ever grandmaster.
One can undoubtedly say that with this eighth-highest peak FIDE rating of all time, Anand has been much more than only a player on the chessboard. In 2022, he was elected a deputy president of FIDE, employed in the governance of the sport.