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Topalov dents Anand?s hope
Viswanathan Anand?s hopes of winning the title took a beating when he was shocked by local star Veselin Topalov in the 6th round of the MTel Masters chess tournament here.
Viswanathan Anand’s hopes of winning the title took a beating when he was shocked by local star Veselin Topalov in the 6th round of the MTel Masters chess tournament here.
Ponomariov of Ukraine also scored an unexpected victory against Classical champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia while World’s top woman player Judit Polgar of Hungary recorded a win over Brit Michael Adams.
The tournament standings saw some major changes when all the three games ended decisively.
Ponomariov became the new leader with 3.5 points to his credit while Topalov, Kramnik, Adams and Polgar were right behind him with three points each.
The loss proved too costly for Anand as he was pushed to the last spot in this double round robin tournament being played under classical rules.
With just four rounds remaining in the event, the Indian was on 2.5 points after sixth round.
It is said that white holds some advantage in chess and the statement was further attested on Wednesday as all the games ended in favour of players who started with the favourable colour.
The last time both Anand and Kramnik had lost during a tournament was during the 12th round of the Corus meet at Wijk Ann Zee in 2004 when the Russian went down to Dutchman Ivan Sokolov while Topalov had proven to be the Indian’s nemesis.
In the sixth round here, Anand was the first to go down and it seems a certainty that this loss will haunt him for quite some time. Topalov had been reeling on just two points and it was expected of him to go for a completely uncompromising battle.
However, at the same time, few would have expected Anand to lose the contest the way he did. For once, even the famous defensive resources of Anand deserted him.
For the records, it was a Queen’s Indian defense that Anand employed with his black pieces and Topalov straight away went for wild complexities with a knight sacrifice as early as on move 14.
No matter what Anand tried thereafter, the Bulgarian had some perfect replies to match him and after another 14 moves, the trade of queens was the beginning of the end for Anand.
If Topalov handled the middle game like a great tactician, his technique in the final stages left little to chance and Anand, despite putting up a brave front, had to surrender on the 52nd move.
