The Hindu : Sport / Chess : A point to prove for Anand, Topalov

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 17, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Chess

A point to prove for Anand, Topalov

NEW DELHI: World No. 2 Viswanathan Anand and top-ranked Veselin Topalov will come face to face in the elite eight-player Morelia-Linares-Morelia chess tournament beginning on Saturday.

This 14-round event is an opportunity for Anand to made amends for his less-than-impressive show at the Corus tournament last month and inch closer to the elusive World No. 1 spot.

On the other hand, Topalov will be under pressure following recent allegations of cheating and receiving help from his manager Silvio Danailov during the 2006 Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee.

The field, including six from the world's top-10 list, is the toughest all-play-all event of the year. With Azerbaijan's Teimour Radjabov pulling out at the last minute after burglary in his hotel room in Patzcuaro, in Mexico, on February 10, Ukraine's Vassily Ivanchuk has come in as a replacement. Ivanchuk's participation has raised the average rating of the players to a whopping 2745.

Like last year, the double round-robin event will take place at two venues.

Morelia, in Mexico, will witness the first seven rounds until February 25.

Thereafter, the action will shift to Linares, in Spain, for the second half from March 2 to 10.

The players (prefix denotes world rankings): 1-Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2783), 2-Viswanathan Anand (Ind, 2779), 5-Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 2750), 6-Peter Leko (Hun, 2749), 7-Levon Aronian (Arm, 2744), 8-Alexander Morozevich (Rus, 2741), 12-Peter Svidler (Rus, 2728) and 24-Magnus Carlsen (Nor, 2690).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport