Anand jumps into lead

SOFIA:Viswanathan Anand played out a safe draw with former Russian champion Peter Svidler to move into joint lead after the fifth round of the Mtel Masters Chess tournament here.

On what turned out to be another exciting day in the category-20 super tournament, World Champion Veselin Topalov defeated overnight sole leader Gata Kamsky of United States in a highly instructive game.

 As a result of Topalov's victory, the draw by Anand was enough to propel him to the joint first spot as he was trailing Kamsky by just a half point.

The third game of the six-players double round-robin ended in a draw between former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and Etienne Bacrot of France.

 At the half way stage, both Kamsky and Anand have an identical 3.5 points now while Topalov and Svidler are next in line on 2.5 points apiece. The fifth spot is shared by Ponomariov and Bacrot on 1.5 points with five rounds still to come in the strongest tournament of the year.

Anand did not face any troubles with his black pieces against Svidler in the fashionable Ruy Lopez closed opening by the latter.

Coming out with a relatively new plan in the opening, Anand parted with his two Bishops for two white knights early in the middle game and posted his own knights in desirable squares to maintain the balance.