ANAND TO MEET TOPALOV

PTI
Feb 22
Mexico

Sitting pretty with a half point lead after five rounds, World champion
Viswanathan Anand will take on former king of world chess Veselin
Topalov of Bulgaria in the sixth round of the Morelia-Linares chess
tournament here.

The going so far has been quite dramatic for Anand as he has won all
his black games in the event and in the sixth round, after the second
rest day, the Indian ace will have black pieces for the last time in
his Morelia stint of this category-21 event.

The double-round event among eight players has seen some really
exciting chess so far and the trend is likely to continue with everyone
out to give his best. Anand currently heads the standings on 3.5 points
from five games and is a half point clear of Levon Aronian of Armenia.

Alxei Shirov of Spain, Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Topalov share the
third spot on 3.5 points each while the remaining three contestants
— Peter Leko of Hungary, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Vassily
Ivanchuk of Ukraine — share the sixth spot with two points apiece.

Anand’s results with white might be a cause for worry for the stalwart,
but his results with black has left everyone stunned.

It has not quite happened in the recent past that in a Classical event
when Anand scored three wins on-the-trot with black pieces and if he
gets his remaining white’s right, he is likely to add another feather
to his already bulgy bulgy cap.