Topalov Wrests Lead From Carlsen

By Arvind Aaron


Former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria wrested sole lead by defeating rising star Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the third round of the Grand Slam Finals Bilbao on Thursday in northern Spain.

Topalov, 33, leads with five points with this win leaving Carlsen in second place on four points. Anand, Radjabov and Ivanchuk are on three points with three draws each. Armenia's Levon Aronian is on two points. A win earns three points, draw one point and defeat zero.

Anand drew his third straight encounter, and for the first time with the black pieces against Aronian. In a Slav defence, Anand accepted the rook for bishop offer and later returned the material to make a comfortable draw.

Carlsen lost his centre pawn after the middlegame with white to lose without much fight against Topalov.

The results (round three): Levon Aronian (Arm) 2 drew with Viswanathan Anand (Ind) 3, Teimour Radjabov (Aze) 3 drew with Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr) 3, Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 4 lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul) 5.