Sofia: Viswanathan Anand had to be content with the third-place finish after being held to a draw by former world champion Ruslan Ponamariov in the 10th and final round while Veselin Topalov lived up to his top billing to clinch the MTEL Masters Chess title for second year in a row here (briefly reported in Monday’s Late City edition).

The Indian ace, who was hoping to displace Topalov from the world number one rank after a good start that fetched him two points from the first two games itself, will look forward to another opportunity to go beyond him in the fide rating list ? a feat that has thus far eluded him.

Anand finished with 5.5 points winning three, drawing six and losing two games in the event.

The victories for Anand came in the first-half only when he beat Etienne Bacrot, Topalov and Ponomariov of Russia while a loss against his Gata Kamsky in the third round and a subsequent loss of a point against Topalov in their return game proved too costly for the Indian. (PTI)