India's Anand defends chess world championship title against Bulgarian challenger Topalov

May 13, 2010

, a chess grandmaster from India, has retained the world championship title after a match with Bulgarian challenger.

The match, consisting of a dozen games, was played in the Bulgarian capital Sofia over the last twenty days. Anand received the first-place prize of 1.2 million euro, whilst Topalov took 800,000 euro. The awards ceremony was attended yesterday by the Bulgarian prime minister,, and the international chess federation 's president.

Going into the last game, both sides had two wins apiece, and seven draws. However, the Bulgarian's manager, Silvio Danailov, told the that Topalov played the last game "rather nervously", saying: "A draw would have been a good result for him but he made a few mistakes and the Indian exploited them.

"We should concentrate on the positive sides of the match. This was a historic match for Bulgaria. The country was in the spotlight for millions of people worldwide who love the game. We should be happy and proud that we organised this event."