Date:10/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/10/stories/2007051003112100.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Sasikiran faces tough field

NEW DELHI: In the absence of World No.1 Viswanathan Anand, country's second ranked player K. Sasikiran gets a chance to be part of the Mtel Masters chess tournament beginning in Sofia on Thursday.

In the six-player field headed by defending champion and home favourite Veselin Topalov, Sasikiran is the lowest ranked challenger. Notable contenders are twice World junior champion Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and 2000 World championship semifinalist England's Michael Adams.

Last year's runner-up Gata Kamsky, who helped USA to the medal bracket in the 2006 Olympiad in Turin, remains as unpredictable as ever, but his chances cannot be undermined.

The lone rest day of this 10-round double round-robin format will be on May 15. The average rating of the participants is 2727 that makes it a Category 20 event.

As per the rules of the event, the players should not talk during the games and additionally they should not offer draws directly to their opponents. Draw-offers will be allowed only through the Chief-Arbiter in three cases — a triple-repetition of the position, a perpetual check and in theoretically drawn positions.

The players: Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2772), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze, 2757), Michael Adams (Eng, 2734), Gata Kamsky (USA, 2705), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom, 2693), K. Sasikiran (Ind, 2690).