01 Oct 05
Originally posted by dylIt's not so much the results so far but the way Topalov is playing. He should have beaten Anand the other day and is ready to take big risks. They've paid off so far.
You sound as if you've lost hope already. Cheer up, buckaroo.
As for the rest of the lot, Svidler played the Modern Defense again Kasim (ugh) and Polgar seems to be struggling out of the opening most of the time. And Anand doesn't seem up to his normal standard.
01 Oct 05
Originally posted by XanthosNZI'm yet to really look at the games, but you're right, Topalov seems to be going all out.
It's not so much the results so far but the way Topalov is playing. He should have beaten Anand the other day and is ready to take big risks. They've paid off so far.
As for the rest of the lot, Svidler played the Modern Defense again Kasim (ugh) and Polgar seems to be struggling out of the opening most of the time. And Anand doesn't seem up to his normal standard.
It's a longish tournament, though, and Anand will have time to hit his straps. Also, the fact that Topalov failed to win that won game is worrying (to me...).
01 Oct 05
3 edits
Originally posted by sonhousethe most important games of a player are often against their strongest competition....
BTW, does anyone know if Kasparov and Topalov have ever played
a match?
from wikipedia:
"The game Kasparov-Topalov, played at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee in 1999, features one of his (kasparov's) best combinations (moves given in algebraic chess notation):
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Bb7 10.a3 e5 11.0-0-0 Qe7 12.Kb1 a6 13.Nc1 0-0-0 14.Nb3 exd4 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Nb6 17.g3 Kb8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 d5 20.Qf4+ Ka7 21.Rhe1 d4 22.Nd5 Nbxd5 23.exd5 Qd6
(see diagram at right for this position)
24.Rxd4!! cxd4 25.Re7+! Kb6 [25...Qxe7 26.Qxd4+ Kb8 27.Qb6+ Bb7 28.Nc6+ Ka8 29.Qa7#] 26.Qxd4+ Kxa5 27.b4+ Ka4 28.Qc3 Qxd5 29.Ra7 Bb7 30.Rxb7 Qc4 31.Qxf6 Kxa3? [31...Rd1+ 32.Kb2 Ra8±] 32.Qxa6+ Kxb4 33.c3+! Kxc3 34.Qa1+ Kd2 35.Qb2+ Kd1 36.Bf1! Rd2 37.Rd7! Rxd7 38.Bxc4 bxc4 39.Qxh8 Rd3 40.Qa8 c3 41.Qa4+ Ke1 42.f4 f5 43.Kc1 Rd2 44.Qa7 1-0
When announcing his retirement, Kasparov commented that this was possibly the best of all his games. It is of some interest that his final professional game was a loss to the same Topalov he had defeated in this game.
Before Kasparov played the above game, he considered the following his "supreme creative achievement." The readers of Chess Informant voted it the best game in the first 64 issues of that periodical:
Karpov-Kasparov, 16th match game, World Championship 1985. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Nf6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.exd5 Nb4 11.Be2 Bc5 12.O-O O-O 13.Bf3 Bf5 14.Bg5 Re8 15.Qd2 b5 16.Rad1 Nd3 17.Nab1 h6 18.Bh4 b4 19.Na4 Bd6 20.Bg3 Rc8 21.b3 g5 22.Bxd6 Qxd6 23.g3 Nd7 24.Bg2 Qf6 25.a3 a5 26.axb4 axb4 27.Qa2 Bg6 28.d6 g4 29.Qd2 Kg7 30.f3 Qxd6 31.fxg4 Qd4+ 32.Kh1 Nf6 33.Rf4 Ne4 34.Qxd3 Nf2+ 35.Rxf2 Bxd3 36.Rfd2 Qe3 37.Rxd3 Rc1 38.Nb2 Qf2 39.Nd2 Rxd1+ 40.Nxd1 Re1+ 0-1"
01 Oct 05
3 edits
chess puzzles from topalov's games:
http://www.wtharvey.com/topa.html
something that strikes me as interesting in these games is ... that in his more recent games ... topalov's king is very rarely sheltered behind pawns on f2,g2 and h2.
he seems to often throw some k-side pawns forward ... and either castle k or q-side or not at all.