Kamsky holds Anand to tighten grip on title

Gata Kamsky proved once again to be a tough nut to crack for Viswanathan Anand as he held the Indian grandmaster to a draw and tightened his grip on the title in the Mtel masters chess tournament here.

Gata Kamsky proved once again to be a tough nut to crack for Viswanathan Anand as he held the Indian grandmaster to a draw and tightened his grip on the title in the Mtel masters chess tournament here.

The eighth round peace result did not help Anand’s cause to catch up with Kamksy as the Russia born American kept the Indian ace at a full point distance.

In other games of the day, Russia’s Peter Svidler was also held to a draw by Etienne Bacrot of France while in the clash of world champions, reigning world number one Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria beat former champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in the last game of the day. Kamsky’s super cruise in the elite event continued with the draw against Anand. With just two rounds remaining in the category-20 tournament, Kamksy took his tally to an enviable 5.5 points and a draw in the last two rounds should ensure a maiden victory on his comeback to competitive chess.

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In the next two rounds, Kamsky, ranked lowest here, has to meet two tough customers in Topalov and Svidler but given his form, and the cushion of a full point lead, the American is the top favourite for the title.

Topalov joined Anand on the second spot on 4.5 points after a tense victory over ponomariov who slipped to the last spot yet again with 2.5 points in his bag.

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