American GM Hikaru Nakamura won the prestigious Zurich Chess Challenge 2016 for the second time on the trot. Despite scoring the same combined points as GM Viswanathan Anand, Nakamura’s better tie-break score enabled him to clinch the title.
Zurich Rapid
The Rapid event featured a unique time control of 40 mins + 10 seconds increment, which was dubbed as the ‘New Classical’ by the organizers. The scoring system was unique as well – 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and none for a loss. After 5 rounds of interesting chess, Nakamura and Anand emerged on the top with 7 points each. Kramnik finished a close second with 6 points.
Zurich Blitz
In the Blitz event, a threefold tie was witnessed for the top spot. Nakamura, Anand and Kramnik notched up 3.5 points each.
As a result, both Nakamura and Anand emerged with a total of 10.5 points. It was Nakamura’s better ‘Sonneborn-Berger’ score that helped him edge out Anand in the final standings. Interestingly, the same players had tied for the top spot in the 2015 edition as well.