Viswanathan Anand had to be content with a draw in the 10th and final round, finishing third in the Mtel Masters chess tournament.
SOFIA (Bulgaria): Viswanathan Anand had to be content with a draw in the 10th and final round, finishing third in the Mtel Masters chess tournament, while Veselin Topalov clinched the title.
Former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov defended a clearly inferior position as white against the Indian ace.
Topalov came up with another masterpiece to beat Etienne Bacrot of France to lift the title for the second time running on home turf. Topalov finished with 6.5 points, bettering nearest contender Gata Kamsky of the US by a half point margin after the latter was in a drawn game against Russian Peter Svidler.
After a good start that fetched him two points from the first two games, Anand had to be satisfied with a solo third place finish and the Indian ace will now have to look forward to another opportunity to go beyond Topalov in the FIDE rating list and become the number one player of the world -- a feat that has eluded him.
Anand finished with 5.5 points winning three, drawing six and losing two games in the event. The victories for Anand came in the first half only when he beat Bacrot, Topalov and
Ponomariov while a loss against Gata Kamsky in the third round of the tournament and a subsequent loss of a point against Topalov in their return game proved too costly for the Indian.
The fourth position went to Svidler, who played solidly to end on a 50 per cent score, while Ponomariov and Bacrot finished joint fifth in the six-players double round robin event ending on an identical score of 3.5 points each.
Anand faced the queen pawn opening as black against Ponomariov in the final round of the event and did not take many risks in the Petrosian system of the Queen's Indian defence.
Ponomariov had a level position on board in the middle game that suddenly turned volatile when Anand activated his forces and soon the Ukrainian was on the defensive battling an inferior endgame. However white was never completely lost and propelled by some fine defensive method Ponomariov was able to convert to a drawn opposite colour Bishops endgame. The game lasted 53 moves.
Winning fifth of his last six games in the event, Topalov proved his mettle in a befitting style. On the receiving end in the final round was Bacrot.
Playing the white side of a Slav defence, Topalov made sure it was an unclear position on board after the opening and soon a perfect manoeuvre by the reigning world champion gave a substantial edge.
Bacrot traded the queens hopping to equalise but Topalov was in a relentless mood in the final game and went on rampaging black in spectacular fashion in the ensuing endgame.
Bacrot resigned on his 42nd turn when there was no hope of survival.
Kamksy and Svidler went on experimenting in the Ruy Lopez closed that appeared many times during this tournament.
Playing with white if Svidler thought he could do to Kamsky what Topalov did to him a couple of days back, he was in for a surprise as Kamsky came up with a befitting plan to equalize as black. After 33 moves the players agreed to split the point vide repetition of position.
Results: Final round
Veselin Topalov (Bul, 6.5) beat Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 3.5);
Peter Svidler (Rus, 5) drew with Gata Kamsky (USA, 6);
Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 3.5 ) drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 5.5).
Final standings
1. Topalov 6.5
2. Kamsky 6
3. Anand 5.5
4. Svidler 5
5-6. Bacrot, Ponomariov 3.5 each
The moves
Ruslan Ponomariov v/s V Anand
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Qc2 Nxc3 8. bxc3 c5 9. e4 Nc6 10. Be3 cxd4 11. cxd4 Rc8 12. Qa2 Bd6 13. Bd3 O-O 14. O-O Ne7 15. Rfc1 Ng6 16. g3 Qe7 17. a4 Bb4 18. h4 Rfd8 19. h5 Nf8 20. h6 gxh6 21. Rxc8 Rxc8 22. Rd1 h5 23. d5 exd5 24. exd5 Ng6 25. Ng5 Rd8 26. Bf5 Qf6 27. Bh3 Bc5 28. Bxc5 Qxg5 29. Be3 Qe5 30. Bg2 h4 31. a5 hxg3 32. axb6 axb6 33. Bxb6 Qh5 34. Rd3 Ra8 35. Ra3 Rxa3 36. Qxa3 Qd1+ 37. Bf1 xf2+ 38. Kxf2 Qxd5 39. Qe3 Qf5+ 40. Ke1 Be4 41. Bd4 Qe6 42. Kf2 f6 43. Qg3 Qf5+ 44. Ke1 Qa5+ 45. Qc3 Qxc3+ 46. Bxc3 Kg7 47. Be2 Ne5 48. Kf2 Kg6 49. Kg3 Nf7 50. Bc4 Nd6 51. Be6 Bf5 52. Bd5 Ne4+ 53. Bxe4 Bxe4 draw agreed.
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