Grand master Vesselin Topalov of Bulgaria defeated Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine) in a crucial game at the M-Tel Masters International Chess Tournament in Sofia.

Topalov now takes the lead with 5,5 points in his basket in the ranking of the Sofia tournament. Ruslan Ponomariov and Judith Polgar follow him with 4.5 points. India's Viswanathan Anand and Russia's Vladimir Kramnik have 4 points. UK's Michael Adams has 3.5 points.

On Sunday, the last day of the chess tournament, the Bulgarian grand master will face Russia's Kramnik.

The first-ever Category-20 M-Tel Masters chess tournament in Bulgaria is attracting a lot of attention with the world's top six stars playing - barring Garry Kasparov who announced his retirement in March.

Adding to the highly charged atmosphere is the rule "no agreed draws" whereby players cannot offer their rivals draws or speak to them directly.

Apart from hefty prizes from the fund of EUR 300,000, the winner of the M-Tel Masters will get a copy of the famous painting "Entering Jerusalem" from the Nessebar School by famous Bulgarian icon painter Katya Bazhlekova.

The icon is painted on wood with a 23-carat gold cover. The 62 x 45 centimeters painting will be presented to the winner at the closing ceremony on Sunday.

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