World chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India has retained his title, beating Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand 2.5-1.5 in a rapid tiebreaker round of four games Wednesday.
Tied at 6 after 12 regular games, the two played four rapid games with a shortened time limit of 25 minutes per player, with 10 seconds allowed for each move.
The first game was won by Anand. Then the players drew the next three.
Hundreds of chess fans watched in the engineering wing of the State Tretyakov Gallery. The winner takes home $1.5 million, while the loser is awarded $1 million. The award ceremony will take place Thursday.
Anand, 42, has been champion since 2007. He last successfully defended his title in 2010 against Bulgarian challenger Veselin Topalov.
Both players are chess veterans and first faced each other in 1989. Anand became India's first grandmaster in 1987, and he is one of only six players to break the 2,800 mark on chess body FIDE's rating list.
As champion, he will face the winner of the candidates tournament in the world chess championship next year.
Neither Anand nor Gelfand is ranked among the top three players in the world. Anand is No. 4; Gelfand is No. 22.
The world No.1, Norwegian 21-year-old Magnus Carlsen, pulled out of the candidate's tournament, which Gelfand won to gain the right to challenge Anand.
(AP, MT)
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