LEON (Spain): World Champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria set up summitt clash with Indian ace Viswanathan Anand after dispatching Francisco Vallejo Pons of Spain 2.5-1.5 in the second semifinal of the Magistral Ciudad de Leon chess tournament here.
Topalov's victory came much faster than Anand's in semifinals as the Bulgarian quickly won two games and then drew the third to ensure his berth in the finals of the traditional event.
Pons did well to win the fourth game but it turned out enough only to give the score card a look of closely-fought battle then it actually was.
Defending champion Anand had to work very hard to beat Lazaro Bruzon of Cuba in the first semifinal that was stretched till the tiebreak blitz games on Friday.
The Anand-Topalov final to be played later on Sunday will be quite important for the World number two Indian and he will be under pressure after his recent lean patch.
Having struggled in the second half of Mtel Masters last month, followed by the Olympiad where Anand lost more than 19 Elo rating points, this is a good opportunity for him to set things right.
