Viswanathan Anand receives the winner cheque of $5,000 from Mr Yerom Zebba of Zim on February 5, 2000. Right: Joint second prize winners Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler receive their prize.

By Arvind Aaron from Haifa

World No.2 ranked Vishy Anand recovered on the third day and won the 5th Wydra International Chess Tournament that concluded at the Haifa International Convention Centre on February 5, 2000. Anand scored 9.5/14 to retain his title he jointly won with Judit Polgar in November 1998.

Born December 11, 1969 at Chennai, Anand beat five opponents, Avrukh 2-0, Bareev, Gelfand, Huzman, Psakhis 1.5-0.5, drew Greenfeld 1-1 and lost to Svidler 0.5-1.5 before winning his title.
Peter Svidler who dominated the event lost out on the third day starting with a disastrous 0.5/3 score. He tied for the second place with Boris Gelfand. "I was feeling that I was playing very well from the second day onwards," said Anand who used white pieces fruitfully.

The tournament course was Svidler in lead from the fourth round until the tenth when Anand caught him up. After Gelfand beat Svidler it was an Anand-Gelfand race. Out of form Bareev victory over Gelfand ended that race and Anand took a draw in the 14th round against Bareev for the title. It was held from Feb 3-5 in Israel.

The Final Standings Cross Table
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1 Viswanathan Anand g IND 2769 ** =1 0= 1= =1 11 == 1=  9.5
2 Boris Gelfand     g ISR 2692 =0 ** =1 11 == 1= =1 10  9.0
3 Peter Svidler     g RUS 2672 1= =0 ** 10 == 11 1= 1=  9.0
4 Lev Psakhis       g ISR 2599 0= 00 01 ** 11 0= 01 11  7.0
5 Alexander Huzman  g ISR 2574 =0 == == 00 ** 1= == =1  6.5
6 Boris Avrukh      g ISR 2620 00 0= 00 1= 0= ** 11 01  5.5
7 Alon Greenfeld    g ISR 2563 == =0 0= 10 == 00 ** 10  5.0
8 Evgeny Bareev     g RUS 2709 0= 01 0= 00 =0 10 01 **  4.5
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Detailed report in Chess Mate print magazine, February 2000 issue.