By IANS
Leon (Spain) : World No. 1 Viswanathan Anand underlined his superiority once again as he outplayed Bulgarian Veselin Topalov 3-1 in the final here to win the Magistral Ciudad de León title for a record seventh time.
Anand won the second and fourth games with white pieces Sunday and drew the other two to grab the title – his seventh in 12 years. The Indian has now twice won the Leon title three times in a row.
After his first triumph in 1996, Anand was champion from 1999 to 2001 and then again from 2005 to 2007.
The final game here Sunday was a masterpiece.
Topalov, trailing 1-2 after his loss in the second game, needed to win to take the match into the tiebreaker.
It was another Sicilian Najdorf but Anand sacrificed a piece to gain the advantage of three connected pawns. As the Indian played adventurously the Bulgarian looked like he had the positional edge.
When Anand's offer to exchange queens was refused by Topalov, the world number one regained the initiative.
The Chennai-born Anand's two connected passed pawns were now unstoppable and all was now lost for Topalov. Anand won in 29 moves.
The first game of the final was a Closed Ruy Lopez in which Topalov, playing white, launched a vicious-looking kingside attack, which was coolly rebuffed by Anand, who forced a draw after 49 moves.
In the second game, a Sicilian Najdorf, Anand slowly outplayed his opponent, forcing him resign on move 37.
After a good pawn sacrifice in the opening, Topalov lost his position and let Anand build a strong queenside pressure with his two knights. Anand then masterfully combined the queenside attack and kingside defence for the victory.
This put Anand a whole point ahead of Topalov, who launched another Closed Ruy with kingside aggressions in game three. But once again Anand kept his cool and settled for a draw in 38 moves.
The Cuidad de León tournament, now in its 20th edition, has been held in various formats, including a phase, from 1998 to 2002, when it was held as an "Advanced Chess" event with players using computers during games.