Viswanathan Anand favourite at Pearl Spring Chess tournament
Press Trust of India, Updated: October 20, 2010 13:30 IST
Nanjing, China: World champion Viswanathan Anand starts as the favourite to win his maiden Grand Slam of the year in the Pearl Spring Chess tournament that gets underway in China.
Following his decent performance in the recent Bilbao Final Masters that saw him regain the number one ranking in terms of ELO rating in the unofficial live rating list, the Indian ace will be hoping to win his first Grand Slam of the year ahead of Norwegian Magnus Carlsen who has been struggling for form.
Carlsen has lost more than 25 points from his last outings at the Chess Olympiad and Bilbao and is currently ranked second in the world.
The event will also see former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria vying for the top slot.
Topalov, who lost to Anand in the last World Championship in Bulgaria will be hoping for an improved performance against the Indian and given his uncompromising style, he is the other contender for the title besides the top two.
It will be played on a double round-robin basis between six players and each participant will get to play against the others twice.
The Sofia rules will be in place and the draw offers are not allowed. The draw can be agreed to in theoretically drawn positions only.
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Carlsen is the favorite.
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