Viswanathan Anand played out a safe draw with former Russian champion Peter Svidler to move into joint lead after the fifth round of the Mtel Masters Chess tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
On what turned out to be another exciting day in the category-20 super tournament, world champion Veselin Topalov defeated overnight sole leader Gata Kamsky of United States in a highly instructive game.
As a result of Topalov's victory, the draw by Anand was enough to propel him to the joint first spot as he was trailing Kamsky by just a half point.
The third game of the six-players double round-robin ended in a draw between former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine and Etienne Bacrot of France.
At the half way stage, both Kamsky and Anand have an identical 3.5 points now while Topalov and Svidler are next in line on 2.5 points apiece.
The fifth spot is shared by Ponomariov and Bacrot on 1.5 points with five rounds still to come in the strongest tournament of the year.
Anand did not face any troubles with his black pieces against Svidler in the fashionable Ruy Lopez closed opening by the latter.
Coming out with a relatively new plan in the opening, Anand parted with his two Bishops for two white knights early in the middle game and posted his own knights in desirable squares to maintain the balance.
Svidler was forced to exchange another set of minor piece when Anand made some headway and thereafter it was a nearly impregnable position where Svidler repeated moves to call it truce after 38 moves.
After drawing three of his first four games and a lone loss against Anand in the second round of the event, Topalov was brilliance personified against Kamsky.
The Bulgarian defending champion knew if he had to retain chances to be in the title race he had to beat one of the direct rivals in Kamsky and he did that in great style.
The Bulgarian is known for his uncompromising play and Kamsky learned it the hard way just while he thought he had a reasonable position out of his Slav defense as black.
Topalov played the opening like a book retaining slight advantage after several manoeuvres while in the middle game the onlookers were treated to tactical magic when he sacrificed an exchange to get the king side attack rolling.
Resourceful as he is, Kamsky came up with some good defense but the position was just too difficult to salvage.
Tightening the noose, Topalov continued to exert pressure on the king side and in the end when he forcibly won Kamsky's queen the Russian-turned-American did not have any reason to continue the game. The first victory in the event for Topalov came after 42 moves.
Ponomariov opted for the Anti Marshall as white against Bacrot without much success. It was intense middle game in which Ponomariov was striving for some king side attack but the Frenchmen kept his guard on and even subtle exchange leading to some weaknesses in the Bacrot's position did not prove good enough. After the trading of both the rooks the players arrived at a queen and pawn endgame where the peace was signed vide repetition after 47 moves.
Results round 5: Veselin Topalov (Bul, 2.5) beat Gata Kamsky (Usa, 3.5); Peter Svidler (Rus, 2.5) drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind , 3.5); Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 1.5) drew with Etienne Bacrot (Fra, 1.5)
Standings after round 5: 1-2. Kamsky, Anand 3.5 each; 3-4. Topalov, Svidler 2.5 each; 5-6. Ponomariov, Bacrot 1.5 each.
