The world chess championship match (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship) is on between Vaselin Topalov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veselin_Topalov) and Vishy Anand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand)...they have played five games now (as on 30th april 2010), and Vishy leads 3-2.
The first game was a shocker as Vishy,playing black, lost without much resistance to Topalov in Grunfeld defence.People attributed this to the delay in Vishy's arrival to Sofia (where the match is being held) because of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.Also,there was this theory that he was 5 years older to Topalov,and that the age factor gave the latter an advantage.I do not disagree that age is an important factor,but modern chess has come a long way with players focussing on overall physical fitness.
Vishy bounced back strongly in the second with a convincing victory in Catalan,playing white.He had a strong passer on b7 by 41st move, and Topalov resigned in the 43rd.
The third was a draw in Slav,and the fourth was simply brilliant as Vishy sacrificed a knight to launch a strong kingside attack to seal a win.The fourth game was again Catalan,where Topalov tried hanging on to an extra pawn on his queenside and soon found himself in a bit of trouble when anand rang the warning bells with Ng4!
The fifth was Slav again,and the players repeated the 3rd game till the fifteenth move,where anand was the first to deviate with h5 instead of h6,which he played earlier.Certainly not a game for newbies thanks to its positional nature,this game reached a draw.
For those that are interested in following the games live:
http://www.anand-topalov.com/
http://www.chessnc.com/en/online
http://live.chessdom.com/anand-topalov-2010-g4.html
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ReplyDeleteThe sixth game was Catalan-the same opening system used thrice!Both the players are dynamic and are fathers of modern chess,and both were willing to explore these opening systems in detail!Anand deviated first,with Bg5 instead of Bd2 in the second.The game headed to a draw but neither refused to offer anything,and the game pulled on till the 58th move,where they signed the peace treaty.
ReplyDeleteGame 7 was again a Catalan!the game ended in a draw.
Game 8 was Slav,played for the third time in this championship.Incidentally,Slav is the name of a place in Russia.Anand was the first to deviateon the thirteenth move,with Rc8,played originally in 1999 Smyslov-Kremlin match.Topalov responded in his typical aggressive fashion with an immediate Bb5!Anand got a drawn position,but blundered unexpectedly and lost.He missed a winning move that is generally easy to see at GM level,and that indicated how tired he was.
Earlier in world championship matches,players used to draw if the position looked equal,in the earlier games to reserve energy for the last few...but Toplalov is different!he announced before the start of the tournament that he would never play for a draw,and he stays true to his word!!This type of play has got both players extremely tired already,and once the game goes to the second time control,they seem to lose some of their focus.
Game 9 was the celebrated Rubenstein variation of the Nimzo Indian Defence.This game lasted 83 moves,and i stopped listening to the comments as well as analyzing on my chess engine after the 52nd move.Following these games had got me real tired!
ReplyDeleteAnand again blundered in a won position by letting the black king slip from the 8th rank,and later played a bad move 64) Kg3 to draw the game!
Anand played for a draw in the 11th game.It was Grunfeld defence after the first game again,and Topalov tried avoiding a draw,but in vain.The match is now evenly poised 5-5,with two more to go.Anand plays white in 11th and topalov plays white in 12th.
you can also follow the match in:
ReplyDeletehttp://chessdailynews.com/
for susan polgar's live commentary!:)
The 11th game saw a different opening system,finally!Anand played c4,the english opening.this opening can transpose anytime to another,but Topalov chose the 4 knights variation in the opening system.In this reverse Sicilian system,Anand started a queenside expansion with a3 followed by b4.Topalov soon played an unconventional 11)...Qe8.Generally,11)...Qd7 is played,since there is a bishop on e6,the idea being the exchange of light square bishops on h3.Anand soon made a rook maneuver from f1-d1-d2-b2,and after 38)g5,the game became considerably sharp.soon,the chances of win for either one of them evaporated,when Anand came with a stunning pawn sacrifice!he gave away a pawn and topalov had a couple of passers on the queenside,but anand kept tension on the king side,weaving what looked like a mating net.at this juncture,i would like to quote Susan Polgar,"This is a very complicated position.Any slight inaccuracy can cost either player the game and possibly the world championship.If Anand wins,everyone will remember 49)Rd2.If he loses,people will say he is crazy for taking such a risk..." The game,however,ended in a draw after accurate play from both the sides.
ReplyDeleteThe 12th game was a rare line in Queens gambit declined.Anand chose the rare Lasker variation with his knight move.The line is safe,and the game was supposed to be calm.Anand probably wanted a draw playing black pieces so that the match would go into the tie break blitz round,where anand has great reputation.however,topalov played a rash game,and was totally lost after his move e4 as a response to anand's e5.anand played f5 to pry open the lines,and topalov accepted it boldly!anand followed with e4,and topalov blundered with the capture on e4.anand immediately played Qxe4,and the game was his from that point!anand went on to win the game.
ReplyDeletecongrats to world chess champion Anand!:)