DORTMUND, Germany, July 22: Hungarian Peter Leko won the right to take on chess champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia for the independent world title Sunday when he beat Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov in the final of the challengers’ tournament here.

The two tied the last game in the four-game final to leave Leko, 22, the overall winnner with 2.5 points to his opponent’s 1.5.

Topalov, 27, was solidly beaten in the first two games but reduced the gap Saturday with a first victory over the Hungarian. He had to repeat the peformance Sunday to even the score and force a tiebreak.

But despite the disadvantage of playing black, Leko — eighth in the world rankings — beat off his opponent’s attacks and Topalov had to accept a tied game in the 61st move after five hours’ play.

Leko, who became the youngest ever grandmaster in chess history when he was 14, will meet 27 year-old world champion Kramnik next spring.

Leko’s victory was bad news for Kramnik, who was present here to study his future opponent’s form.

The Hungarian is the only chess player the Russian has never beaten. The score between them so far is two wins to Leko and 10 draws.—AFP