Topalov returns to top form
By Jack Peters, International Master
November 25, 2007
Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov won the Chess Champions League, a double round robin in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, by defeating his three closest rivals in the last three rounds. He finished with an impressive score of 7-3.
Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, the leader for eight rounds, took second prize at 5 1/2 -4 1/2 . Others: Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Romania) and Judit Polgar (Hungary), each 5-5; Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan), 4 1/2 -5 1/2 ; and Anatoly Karpov (Russia), 3-7.
Topalov had struggled since losing the world championship match to Vladimir Kramnik a year ago, dropping from a peak rating of 2813 (higher than anyone in history except Garry Kasparov) to 2769, fourth in the world. He should regain about 10 points with this performance.
Karpov competed in only his second serious tournament since 2004. The 56-year-old former world champion looked rusty and botched a winning position against Polgar. He lost four games, more than his yearly quota during his prime a quarter-century ago.
Local news
The 43rd American Open concludes today at the Renaissance Hotel, 9620 Airport Blvd. in Los Angeles. Chess fans may watch the games or attend free showings of chess movies.
Danil Fedunov, the third-highest-rated 9-year-old in the country, upset master Ike Miller to win the Crown City Open at the Pasadena Chess Club. Danil scored 3 1/2 – 1/2 in the 25-player tournament. Miller and Greg Hall were next at 3-1. Arnor Bieltvedt, Steve Conant and Jason McKeen tied for first place in the second section.
Here is the full article in the LA Times.
oooooo,
impressive corus is forthcoming
don’t have patience to wait for the corus’ start
When at his best, Topalov is arguably the best player out there.
Small correction.
Topalov gained 11 elo points.
Now he is on nice round 2780 ELO
third spot ,third place,becouse
Ivanchuk lost bunch of points due
to his bad performance on Tal memorial.
Nice to see former world champs playing occasionally even after their prime.
Karpov dominated his era more than Fischer dominated his earlier era.
Karpov was the second best player of all time.
Fisher and Kasparov were better than Karpov.