Anand slips to second spot

SOFIA, (Bulgaria): Viswanathan Anand struggled but finally managed a draw with Etienne Bacrot of France in the sixth round of the Mtel Masters chess tournament.

The result saw the Indian ace slip to second spot in the standing list once again as Russian turned American Gata Kamsky came back strongly to beat former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine.

But the highlight of the day was the shock defeat of World champion and local hero Veselin Topalov in the hands of Russian Peter Svidler and now a comeback seems extremely difficult for the Bulgarian.

Gata Kamsky was at best thought to be a fine player with great fighting spirit at the start of the event. However, as the things are now unfolding the lowest ranked player here seems good enough to win the title in the strongest tournament.

Following his fourth victory in the tournament, the American yet again seized the sole lead and is now on 4.5 points out of a possible 5. Anand on 4 points is placed second while Svidler is third on 3.5 points.

Though, it is most likely to be a three horse race from here onwards, Topalov who is on 2.5 points and fourth in the standings, could not be ruled out of the contention.

Bacrot stands fifth on 2 points. Ponomariov seems badly in need of some resurrection and is currently in the cellar with just 1.5 points. Only four more rounds remain in the category-20 super tournament being played on a double round robin basis between six players.