Anand, Topalov and Ponomariov to battle in M-Tel Masters

Sofia, Mar 8 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand will put his wit to test against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov and Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov in the six-Grandmaster M-Tel Masters Chess Championship to be held here in May.

The lovers of the ancient game will be able to see present World Champion Topalov battle it out with two former champions -- Anand and Ponomariov -- and three other participants -- Gata Kamsky (USA), Etienne Bacrot (FRA) and Peter Svidler (RUS).

''For the second consecutive year M-Tel Masters will be the strongest in the world and the average ELO of the participants is 2747 and the competition is category of 20 as per FIDE regulations,'' tournament director Silvio Danailov told UNI.

The tournament will be held from May 1-21 and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov is the Patron of the Championship.

The tournament will have two rounds with seven-hour control.

Each participant will play two games against the rest in exchanged colours. In case of a draw at the top, a tie-break will be played to decide the winner.

Like last year the new rule about the draws will be in place, and according to it, the players can't agree for a draw. This can be decided only by the chief referee of the tournament.

In the rest day of the competition, Topalov will give a simul in the National Theatre park, where M-Tel has donated 10 chess tables for the fans of the game.

UNI XC AY PDS PM0922