Anand takes on Almasi after second rest day

The unique tournament features one blindfold and one rapid game in each round. Defending champion Alexander Morozevich of Russia and Israeli Grandmaster Boris Gelfand are close on Anand’s heels half-a-point behind but it seems unlikely that the two will catch up with the Indian ace.

Anand will face Russian Evgeny Bareev and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in the last two rounds and about four points from the last six games should be enough for Anand to reclaim the title.

Anand has an excellent score against Bareev, while Almasi should also be an easy picking for him given his stupendous form. The speed king, as Anand is known in chess circles, is leading the rapid section jointly with Bareev and their duel in the penultimate round should be the decider in this section.

In blindfold, however, Anand has not been in great touchand shares the fourth spot. Gelfand is in sole lead in this section with 6 points from 8 games played so far.

But Gelfand has a tall task on hand in the coming rounds. He is pitted against brain games champion Vladimir Kramnikof Russia in the next round while in the last two he will have to tackle the likes of Spaniard Alexei Shirov and Linares champion Peter Leko of Hungary.

Given his opposition, the Israeli, who has not been finding a place in top tournaments like Corus and Linares of late, might just be content with an even score. Morozevich has the same opposition as Anand in the remaining games and he is apparently the only big threat for Anand in the final standings.

The Russian started off quite badly with two losses in blindfold games but since then, has shown tremendous determination in scalping his opponents.