The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Topalov beats Kamsky; Anand in joint lead

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Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Sport

Sport - Chess

Topalov beats Kamsky; Anand in joint lead

NEW DELHI: World champion Veselin Topalov came up with his trademark rook sacrifice to halt leader Gata Kamsky's progress and in turn helped Viswanathan Anand move to the joint lead at the halfway stage of the 10-round Mtel Masters chess tournament in Sofia on Monday.

Topalov's first victory, that came after he traded his rook for a bishop on the 27th move to rip open Kamsky's kingside and win in 38 moves of Slav Defence, ended Kamsky's unbeaten run.

The triumph was Topalov's third in succession over Kamsky. Topalov had won the previous game at Wijk aan Zee in January and the one before that in Dos Hermanas in 1996.

Joining Kamsky at 3.5 points was Anand who played black and drew with Russia's Peter Svidler in 38 moves of their Ruy Lopez game. This was the first draw of the tournament for Anand. Topalov shares the third spot with Svidler at 2.5 points.

The action resumes on Wednesday after a day's rest.

The results (fifth round):

Peter Svidler (Rus, 2.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 3.5); Veselin Topalov (Bul, 3.5) bt Gata Kamsky (US, 3.5); Ruslan Ponomariov (Rus, 1.5) drew with Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 1.5).

Sixth round pairings: Anand-Bacrot; Kamsky-Ponomariov; Topalov-Svidler.

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