Anand in Sofia for M-Tel Masters, confident about Chess Olympiad

Sofia, May 10 (UNI) Playing in M-Tel Masters, arguably the toughest tournament, here and then rushing to Turin for Chess Olympiad maybe a worry for lesser mortals but Viswanathan Anand is not losing his sleep over the daunting prospect of playing back-to-back strong tournaments.

''No doubt, M-Tel Masters is a very strong tournament. But it is not the first time that I will be going from one strong tournament to another,'' the chess wizard told UNI here.

This yeear's M-Tel Master, a category 20 tournament, is being dubbed as the strongest chess competition on the planet, will see three world chess champions -- reigning world Champion Veselin Topalov, 2000 World Champion Viswanathan Anand and his 2001 successor Ruslan Ponomariov -- trying to outwit American Gata Kamsky, Russian Peter Svidler and French talent Etienne Bacrot over 10 rounds.

Last year, six of the world's top players arrived on May 9 for the first super chess tournament in Bulgaria and besides Anand, other participants were Veselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov, Michael Adams and Judith Polgar.

The event was a huge success here with start players gracing the tournament and the format not allowing them to ask for a draw.

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