Date:12/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/05/12/stories/2006051206842100.htm

Sport - Chess

Anand plays Bacrot

NEW DELHI: Viswanathan Anand opens his campaign in the Mtel Masters chess tournament against Frenchman Etienne Bacrot in Sofia, Bulgaria.

World and defending champion Veselin Topalov begins his title-defence against Russia's Peter Svidler. In the other match, 2001 World champion Ukraine's Ruslan Ponomariov takes on comeback man Gata Kamsky, representing the United States.

Topalov, the home favourite who won the title ahead of Anand by a point, received the 2005 chess Oscar in the inaugural function of this six-player double round-robin event on Wednesday.

With the average rating of the field at 2,747, this category-20 event is regarded as the most prestigious tournament after the Corus tournament, won jointly by Anand and Topalov in January this year.

The joint favourites will again clash twice over the next 11 days. On Friday, Anand plays black against Topalov and white in the return game on May 18. The classical time control means that each game can be played up to seven hours. Like last year, players cannot agree to a draw without the consent of the Chief Arbiter.

First round pairings: Peter Svidler (Rus, 2743) vs Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2804); Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 2738) vs Gata Kamsky (U.S.A., 2671).