Anand go down fighting to Topalov in marathon game

Sofia, May 18 (UNI) Viswanathan Anand's chances of winning the title suffered a major blow as he went down to reigning world Champion Veselin Topalov in a marathon seventh round game but still hangs on to second place in Mtel Masters Chess tournament here.

Playing with black, Topalov avenged his earlier loss in the competition against the Indian. Right from the beginning it was Topalov who kept on taking risks to force a win in the game played on the Sicilian Najdorf pattern. A loss would have put the Bulgarian Grandmaster out of contention for the title.

In the middle of the game Topalov sacrificed a pawn to improve his position and then went on the rampage against the Indian who failed to ward of the Bulgarian's attack and Anand surrendered after 61 moves.

Even after today's loss, Anand stays at second with four points, one point adrift from leader Gata Kamsky. Topalov is now at joint third with Peter Svidler with 3.5, one point ahead of Etienne Bacrot and Ruslan Ponomariov.

''I got in to a bad position in the opening and it was very unpleasant to defend,'' Anand told UNI after the loss.

A smiling Topalov was relieved after avenging his defeat and said he was happy that his risky moves paid dividends.

''It is quite a pleasure to win with black. Today I took a big risk because I went for a very sharp line in the opening play. Had I lost the game I would have been last in the tournament so I took the risk but it worked,'' Topalov told UNI immediately after the game.

In the second game of the day, Ruslan Ponomariov defeated Peter Svidler in a Sicilian Kan game. Svidler, who had scored a splendid victory against Topalov in the sixth Round, could not counter the challenge from the youngest ever World Champion Ponomariov.

The last game between Gata Kamsky played it safe drawing his game against Etienne Bacrot to remain on top of the points table. Both the players did not take any risk in their Queens Gambit Declined Slav variation game.

Kamsky is now one full point ahead of Anand and the two will clash again in the next round. Kamsky had beaten the Indian in their earlier meeting in the competition.

Result Round 7 Veselin Topalov beat Viswanathan Anand Ruslan Ponomariov beat Peter Svidler Etienne Bacrot drew with Gata Kamsky Standings after Round 7 Gata Kamsky 5 points Viswanathan Anand 4 points Peter Svidler, Veselin Topalov 3.5 points Etienne Bacrot, Ruslan Ponomariov 2.5 points Pairing for Round 8 Veselin Topalov vs Ruslan Ponomariov Peter Svidler vs Etienne Bacrot Gata Kamsky vs Viswanathan Anand UNI XC PM PDS SSC1517