VISWANATHAN ANAND was in no mood to relent after his 10th round loss to Russian Vladimir Kramnik a day before Diwali. The Indian Grandmaster mixed aggression with caution to eke out a draw and retain the World Championship title in the 11th game on Wednesday.

Anand required only half-a-point to clinch the title and win a purse of euro 150,000. He grabbed his chance with both hands the moment Kramnik offered him an opportunity.

The 38-year-old Indian thus moved to 6.5 points and retained the title he won in Mexico last year by topping a field of eight players that also included Kramnik. Kramnik tried to take the game on Wednesday through a maze of complicated moves, as that was the only way to put pressure on the Indian.

However, Anand fought bravely and negated all threats posed by his rival. He neutralised the complications and steered the game to a position from where Kramnik could see no chance of winning and thus decided to concede the match.

This was the third World Championship title for Anand, who had earlier bagged the title in 2000 at Delhi and Tehran by winning the FIDE knock-out tournament, and then regained it last year at Mexico. The title also made the Indian undisputed champion of the game.

He was already the world champion in ‘tournament and knockout formats’ but this ‘match-play’ victory has made him the all-round champion. Anand’s win is all the more significant considering that the chess bodies have unified.

Anand’s dilemma Anand was in a dilemma as to whether he should play it safe and allow his rival go for broke, or go for sharp, complicated lines that served him well in the first half of the match. Anand finally decided to play his usual aggressive game and reached a comfortable position midway through the game.

It became clear the Indian Grandmaster would be able to squeeze out at least a draw unless he made a mistake or Kramnik pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Anand surprised Kramnik by opening with the king pawn, his favourite first move with white that he had steadfastly avoided in this match thus far.

Anand had started by moving a pawn in front of his queen, which he had done rarely before this match and forced a bemused Kramnik into sharp, complicated lines that the Russian failed to handle properly. But on Wednesday, Kramnik was up for a battle and chose the Sicilian Najdorf, one of the sharpest openings and which he has not used many times.

Anand offered a pawn and Kramnik took it and created complications by launching an attack on the Indian Grandmaster’s king. However, Anand won back the pawn, exchanged pieces and traded off the queens to steer the game to a position where black had no choice but to draw.

As Kramnik offered his hand with a shake of his head, the crowd in the hall stood up to applaud Anand.

James Shields walked slowly off the mound and doffed his cap to a cheering crowd, looking a little surprised that he’d been taken out.

No sweat — rookie reliever David Price and the rest of the Tampa Bay Rays were ready to finish the job. Big Game James had already lived up to his nickname.

Shields stymied the slumping Philadelphia Phillies’ batters and Price got the final seven outs, pitching the plucky Rays to a 4-2 victory Thursday night that tied the World Series at 1-all.

“I didn’t feel too much pressure,” Shields said. “The guys in the clubhouse were real relaxed before the game.”

After dropping the opener to ace Cole Hamels and the Phillies, the young Rays rebounded from a rare home loss and earned their first World Series win with help from a squeeze play and a checked swing.

Tampa Bay never really got a huge hit, but neither did the Phillies as Jimmy Rollins and crew fell to 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position.

“That might be one of our sloppiest games all year,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “I’m concerned about us hitting with guys on base, because it looks like at times we might be trying a little too hard. But we can fix that.”

The series shifts to Philadelphia for Game 3 on Saturday night, though rain is in the forecast. ALCS MVP Matt Garza is scheduled to pitch for Tampa Bay against 45-year-old Jamie Moyer, making his World Series debut.

“We came in here knowing it’s going to be a tight series,” Rays outfielder B.J. Upton said. “Both clubs are a lot alike.”

Tampa Bay scored on Jason Bartlett’s safety squeeze and built another rally when Rocco Baldelli walked on a checked swing that seemed to confuse players and umpires alike.

Shields threw shutout ball into the sixth, outpitching Brett Myers and working out of trouble just as Hamels did for a 3-2 win Wednesday night.

So, how exactly did a pitcher with 32 major league wins come by that catchy monicker?

“It was kind of a joke at first,” Shields said. “I ended up pitching a couple of good games in the minor leagues and they say my whole organization is calling me ‘Big Game.’ They don’t call me by my first name anymore.”

The 23-year-old Price, called up in September after he was the top pick in last year’s draft, struck out slugger Ryan Howard with two on to end the seventh.

The hard-throwing lefty gave up a pinch-hit homer to Eric Bruntlett in the eighth, then stayed on to close it out against Philadelphia’s big boppers.

Carloz Ruiz led off the ninth with a double, and a pitch from Price appeared to graze Rollins’ jersey. But it was not called a hit batter, and a frustrated Rollins soon popped out.

Ruiz scored when third baseman Evan Longoria booted Jayson Werth’s grounder for an error, but Price fanned Chase Utley and got Howard on a game-ending grounder.

“I was nervous — very,” Price said. “I usually don’t even sweat out there and my hat looks like I went swimming with it.”

Tampa Bay is 5-3 at home in the postseason after going a major league-best 57-24 during the season.

Philadelphia’s lone hit with runners in scoring position was Shane Victorino’s infield single in the fourth, and that didn’t even produce a run.

“I don’t know if we’re pressing,” Victorino said. “Maybe it seems that way. We’re just not getting the job done. We came back, we had the tying run up. We needed to get one.”

Shields usually flourishes at home, where he was 9-2 with a 2.59 ERA during the season. All four of his postseason starts have come at Tropicana Field, including a win over the Chicago White Sox in Tampa Bay’s first playoff game and two tough losses to Boston in the ALCS.

“You feel pretty comfortable when he goes out there under those circumstances,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “It’s kind of a misconception. We’re starting to play our first big games now, and he’s pitching the same now as when the big game was trying to prevent somebody else from getting to the playoffs.”

A 14-game winner during the season, Shields was pulled in the sixth after 104 pitches. Dan Wheeler retired Pedro Feliz on an inning-ending grounder with runners at the corners.

Back from two seasons derailed by injuries and mitochondrial disorder, a condition that slows muscle recovery and causes extreme fatigue, Baldelli was involved in a confusing call in the second that helped Tampa Bay make it 3-0.

He checked his swing on a full-count pitch and plate umpire Kerwin Danley immediately raised his right arm as if to call strike three. But then Danley pointed to first base for an appeal, and umpire Fieldin Culbreth signaled safe.

“It was his intention to go to first base for help on a half-swing that he had as ball four,” said Mike Port, Major League Baseball’s vice president for umpiring. “He just gave a confusing mechanic. But he had called it a ball, and it was ruled no half-swing anyway. So it was just that particular mechanic that caused confusion.”

Myers and several Phillies infielders were puzzled, along with Manuel, who took a few steps out of the dugout but didn’t argue long.

“I thought he called the guy out,” Manuel said.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Upton hit an RBI single to right. Werth made a strong throw to cut down Baldelli, who crashed into Ruiz but couldn’t dislodge the ball.

Before the next inning started, Baldelli rested on one knee in right field.

Demoted to the minors in July, Myers gave up two runs in the first after an error by Werth. Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria had RBI groundouts.

Notes:@ Philadelphia’s 0-for-19 skid with runners in scoring position was the second-longest drought to start a World Series since the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers finished 0-for-22 against Baltimore, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

It’s a book called True Colours but the Indian cricketing fraternity is likely to dub it a pack of lies. Adam Gilchrist, Australia’s vice-captain during the turbulent events of Sydney early this year, has apparently done the unforgivable.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, he has accused Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar of being a “bad sport” and implied that he lied to protect Harbhajan Singh during the Monkeygate scandal. “Tendulkar, who’d said at the first hearing that he hadn’t been able to hear what Harbhajan had said - and he was a fair way away, up the other end, so I’m certain he was telling the truth - now supported Harbhajan’s version that he hadn’t called Symo a ‘monkey’ but instead a Hindi term of abuse that might sound like ‘monkey’ to Australian ears,” Gilchrist has written.

“The Indians got him off the hook when they, of all people, should have been treating the matter of racial vilification with the utmost seriousness.” SMH also reports that Gilchrist was upset by the final moments of the SCG Test when the celebrating Australians did not shake hands with the waiting Anil Kumble and young Ishant Sharma.

Gilchrist has written: “We went into the Indian changing room and shook hands. Not all their players could be found, which points to another subtle cultural difference.

“In the Australian mentality, we play it hard and are then quick to shake hands and leave it all on the field. Some of our opponents don’t do it that way.

Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, can be hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India. Harbhajan can also be hard to find.

” “I guess it’s a case of different strokes for different folks. But the criticism of us for not immediately shaking hands with Kumble and Sharma was unfair, and typified a moment when everything we did was wrong,” he wrote in his book.

Gilchrist, who slammed the BCCI for “holding the world to ransom” and both boards for mishandling the issue, would not find many takers for this version of events, given that the dramatic events of that final day of the second Test in Sydney were watched and widely reported. Anyone who saw the Sydney Test would remember the way the Australians celebrated at the end of a viciously fought match, and the sight of a dignified Kumble having an arm around young Ishant on the back as they waited in vain for the Australian team to greet them, before walking away.

Finally, the timing of the serialisation of the to-be-released book, bang in the middle of a high-voltage India-Australia series, is worth noting. Tensions can only increase.

Tom Bradley is Penn State’s head coach-in-waiting. Or maybe he’s not.

Although Joe Paterno might like to, he can’t coach forever. And after 30 years of loyal service and excellent work, Bradley would seem to make an obvious heir apparent to the winningest coach in major college football history.

But if anyone knows the future of Penn State football they’re not saying.

“I don’t worry about that,” the Penn State defensive coordinator said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Everybody tries to make a big deal.

“Coach will probably go forever. I like what I do. Everybody says, ‘You have to be a head coach.’ I’ve had such a great experience, great things have happened. The people that I’ve met, I wouldn’t trade for the world.”

Bradley’s Penn State roots go back more than three decades. He went from special teams captain to graduate assistant in 1979 and has been in Happy Valley ever since.

Bradley grew up in Johnstown, a western Pennsylvania mining town, as the second oldest of seven kids (three boys and four girls). His father, Jim, played basketball for Pittsburgh, but like many Irish Catholics the Bradleys’ football allegiances were to Notre Dame.

The Penn State connection started with his older brother, Jim, who played defensive back for Paterno from 1973-74. Tom played defensive back from ‘77-78, and his younger brother, Matt, was a linebacker from ‘79-81.

Tom Bradley was the typical overachiever.

“He wasn’t quite big enough and didn’t have the speed to be a great player,” Paterno said. “He always had leadership qualities.”

The 52-year-old Bradley coaches the way he played, intense, hard-nosed, tough, all the cliches that perfectly fit a guy nicknamed Scrap — as in scrap iron.

During games, he’s in constant motion. His arms are waving and wind-milling as he patrols the sideline. Right before the snap, Bradley sets up like a shortstop, legs spread wide and hands on knees, ready to spring.

“Oh yeah, that’s how he is all week,” Penn State safety Anthony Scirrotto said. “It builds up Monday through Saturday. He starts off calm, as the week gets on you can feel the tension, you feel it getting closer to kickoff, it builds up. He gets everyone excited, he’s a real big key in keeping everybody up-tempo and upbeat.”

He also gets results.

No. 3 Penn State (8-0) ranks eighth in the nation in total defense (263.2 yards), heading into its Big Ten showdown Saturday night against No. 10 Ohio State.

Bradley’s been in charge of the defense since 2000, when longtime coordinator Jerry Sandusky retired. Sandusky was thought to be next in line to the throne at Penn State, too, but Paterno outlasted him.

Paterno is now less than two months away from his 82nd birthday and he gives no hints about when he’ll call it quits. There are, however, signs pointing toward sooner rather than later. He doesn’t have a contract for next season, though both he and university president Graham Spanier have said Paterno could work without one.

In his 43rd season as head coach, Paterno’s been relegated to working from the press box the last three games because of a sore right hip and leg. He uses a golf cart to get around practice and doesn’t come to the locker room at halftime to address the team.

With Paterno away from the sideline, Bradley has taken the lead role among the assistants, dealing with officials and penalties and calling timeouts. He also took the lead when Paterno missed time with a broken leg two years ago.

But Bradley is quick to make this point clear: Paterno is still in charge.

“He’s right there on the headset,” Bradley said. “The only difference is that when he’s on the field and he wants to get you, he’s right there. When he’s in the box and he’s yelling, you can always pretend you didn’t here what he said. ‘Hey coach you’re breaking up.’

“But he is there. It would be better if he was on the field with us.”

Bradley describes Penn State as a family. His own family has gotten smaller. He lost his younger brother, mother and father during a span of about 20 months, starting in 2001. Matt Bradley was 43 when he died of heart failure.

“It was a rough time,” Bradley said.

He’s never married — he’s been dating a woman for about a year and a half — but brushes off the idea that he’s married to his job.

“I figure God has a plan for you,” he said. “Whenever it happens, it happens.”

He talks about how “blessed” he’s been, how lucky he is to work for Paterno.

“Never, ever in front of the players is he critical of you,” Bradley said. “(The assistant coaches) have a lot of autonomy with what we do.”

Bradley said he’s had chances to move on, even talked to Paterno about a couple of opportunities.

“I think you look and then you kind of have to follow your heart,” Bradley said, then quotes a psalm. “Search your own heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of your life.”

If Penn State were to pick Bradley as Paterno’s successor, it would be a hit with many in the Penn State family.

“No one knows the Penn State way better than Coach Bradley,” said former Nittany Lions linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the Buffalo Bills.

Paterno has said he wants his replacement to come from within. And what coach would want to come to Penn State and replace the legend, anyway?

Still, while Bradley is the emotional leader of the Nittany Lions, he’s far more Xs and Os than CEO. There are others on staff who might better fit that mold, such as linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden, who has head coaching experience.

Then there’s defensive line coach Larry Johnson, whose success recruiting the mid-Atlantic region helped Penn State rebound from three losing seasons from 2000-04.

Then again, maybe Paterno will outlast them all. Who knows?

“It’s not going to define me if I don’t get to be a head coach,” Bradley said. “Sometimes you’re in a pretty good situation.”