Chess Satranç ajedrez échecs schaken Schach scacchi escacs xadrez şah шахматы šahmaty

A lip-smacking potential encounter between World Champion Anand and Veselin Topalov has been set up. Topalov beat Gata Kamsky 4.5-2.5 in the Challenger's match. Topalov today won the 7th game and sealed up the match one game before the scheduled end. Kamsky missed some promising continuations to even the match score and blundered heavily as he headed to the first time control. Topalov played enterprisingly and managed to keep up the pressure and won easily thereafter.

The match to decide who will face Vishy Anand will be played between Topalov and Kamsky at Sofia, Bulgaria. It will be held between February 16-28 and will be an 8 game affair. The winner has a great chance to become the next World Champion, provided Vishy loses. While Kamsky won the right to the Challenger match by winning the World Cup, Topalov got the opportunity since he was denied a Toiletgate rematch against Kramnik. Although Kamsky tried hard to get the match to the US and later to the Ukraine, he finally had to agree to play in Bulgaria, since he could not get the funds to stage the match at Ukraine. Danailov managed to get the match to his favorite location. We feel that Topalov is the firm favorite, but Kamsky is a cool customer and is especially tough even when under intense pressure. Lets hope he pulls out some old tricks to try and outclass Topalov

Vishwanathan Anand of India retained the World Championship title. He beat Vladimir Kramnik of Russia 6.5-4.5. Kramnik employed the Sicilian Najdorf variation when Anand opened the game with 1.e4. This was a bit unexpected since Kramnik usually chooses solid openings. His choice can be only understood when you consider the fact that he faced a must win situation to stay alive in the match. In the end, Anand who is known by the popular name Vishy, played a solid game and forced the exchange of Queens. After this the position did not hold any promise for Kramnik. The World Chess Championship cycle is a very complex one. For now, Anand can hold on to the Champion tag. But he actually awaits the winner of the Topalov-Kamsky match, which is in the doldrums right now. In case that match does take place and Anand manages to beat the winner, he then meets the winner of the World Cup! Final Match Score V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ Total - 6.5 Kramnik ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ Total - 4.5