Anand scored a stunning win with Black in the final game, the first for either player in this match, to retain his World Championship title!
The final score is 6.5 – 5.5 for Anand!
Congratulations to Anand!
Here is one of the first articles to come out after the match:
Anand Retains World Chess Title in Bulgaria
May 11, 2010, Tuesday
India’s Viswanathan Anand has defeated Bulgaria star Veselin Topalov to retain his world chess title after winning the final 12th game in Sofia.
Topalov failed to take advantage of having the white pieces and the 40-year-old Anand defeated him on the 56th move, to take the FIDE World Championship title by the narrowest of margins 6:5 (to 5.5).
Anand thus became the first ever player to win the title 3 times, after his victories in 2005 and 2009, the first of which was again over Topalov.
Anand takes away the prize of EUR 1,2 M with Topalov having to be content with EUR 800 000 for his second place.
Source: http://www.novinite.com
Congrats Anand!!!
No more sofia rules!!
Congratulations Vishy!
Congrats Anand….This was an amazing match – amazing tournament.
Special thanks to Susan – I became a fan of yours too! Awesome commentary.
– Nabendu Sinha
http://nabendu.googlepages.com
twitter:nabendus
Great Game. You made all Indians proud. Congratulations!!!!
Dear Susan,
Thanks a lot for your analysis. I have followed it every match since game 5.
AJ,
Singapore
Great result, winning with black in the last game to retain title is amazing and Anand could not have asked for more. After exf5 Anand got a strong attack and he made full use of it. Congratulations.
PopAbooK
Congrats Anand!!
You deserve it. You are the only true champion after Kasparov.
Once again Topalov played hastily and optimistically in a critical position, and it cost him just as it did against Kramnik. If he could overcome that tendency he’d be dangerous.
Now Vishy can drive back watching Return of the King!
Let the upcoming players learn the sportsman spirit and the sober nature from this great player. Chess is a cool game . Players also need to maintain the same attitude.
Topalov unnecessarily earned the wrath of many by their Sofia rule. They should have remembered that Anand is no small player to get perturbed by such pin pricking comments!!
Congrats for Vishy Anand !! You are a true Champion. You made India proud both by your play and by your behavior!!
Thanks a lot for the comments on this match Susan! Without you I´d be killing myself to understand half of what Anand And Topalov played….
Huge Brazilian Fan of the Polgar family… keep working on this fantastic blog
big kisses
Felipe
susan,
Not only I could become your follower in facebook this match made me a fan of yours.
Your commentary was incredible . Move by move your assessment was sharp and accurate. I look forward for more from your blog in the coming days!.
Well done Susan !!
Yesss, i was extremely happy to find out that Vishy was allowed to have his last Black game in the decisive round!!!
Congrats to Anand and all that, but the first player ever to win the title three times?!? Epic fail at chess history.
Anand is not only a great world chess champion, he is also a great man — with good manners,good looks, fair towards all competitors, unassuming, gentle and cool. He is dignified in his victories and takes losses with fortitude. You have to go back a long way to find another WC with such qualities! Long live the age-old Indian tradition!!
Mathur
Congrats Vishy!
Susan, Your commentary is excellent and informative. Enjoyed it!!
I really enjoyed following this match by means of this blog. Thank you Susan for your great analysis and also of course for your impartiality and funny comments! 🙂
I’m pleased Anand won! He is starting to show his age, a couple of years ago I don’t think he’d of made some of the mistakes he made throughout this match, but in the end he was good enough. I’m not much of a Topalov fan but I like his attitude towards winning and think he played good chess and acted like a true sportsman! The Bulgarians did a really good job with this tournament. Very enjoyable! Thanks for the commentary Susan!
“Anand thus became the first ever player to win the title 3 times, after his victories in 2005 and 2009, the first of which was again over Topalov.”
I think the writer from novinite.com was too enthusiastic and forgot to do his/her homework 😀
Looking forward to World Chess Championship ANAND-CARLSEN in 2012.
P.S.
Topa, it’s finally time to dump Danailov…
As I have always been saying since the beginning of the championship, Anand (the dean) gave chess lessons to Topalov (the student)..!!
Oh, come on Danailov!
His chessdom-webpage has gone off-line since Anand won! – wonder how the website would have celebrated a Topalov victory instead.
Susan, you say the margin was 6:5 in y our closing statement.
Don’t you mean 6.5:5.5 ?
If this is a mistake I think you should issue a correction, as so many viewers get their results from your site.
In all fairness, the Sofia rule, or any rule that keeps players playing until a win appears has to be good for chess. It’s definately more exciting for followers of the game. I mean todays game just goes to prove that humans are always capable of misjudgements…
Susan thank you for your analysis that you provided FREE to the WWW. No other GM male or female have your character or your kindness. You truly are one of the special people in this game we all love.
The match was great and made even better with your tireless efforts that you put into your website!!!!!
Watching the players live via the webcam on anand-topalov.com, felt really bad for Topalov. He is a valiant warrior. His exf5 was probably a case of nerves.
At heart, I’m an Anand fan, but the truth is, it has to hurt bad to come so close and lose.. and this is Topalov’s second time in a closely fought world championship match.
Not to take anything away from Anand though.
On the Internet Chess Club, Jon Speelman was showing how Anand needed to play ., …c4 and several other moves to keep the bind, or Topalov could have his king march up via h4, g5 and join the fight with the knight and rook. Even after the blunder, Topalov fought hard… and he was such a sport when he put out his hand.
Hope he is able to shrug this off. Thanks to him and Anand, we chess fans got to enjoy some wonderful chess.
Congrats to Vishy Anand. He has cemented his place in chess history as an all time great. It’s just that he matured slowly like good wine. He withstood the pressure of losing the first game,withstood the pressure of playing in Sofia, and now is the absolutely true champion! At the same time I must commend Topalov for his fighting spirit and fair! play! Looking forward to the next candidates tournament where fireworks can be expected between Kramnik, Topalov,Carlsen and other chess greats. I prayed to the ‘Lord ‘may the best man win, and the ‘Lord’ answered me!
Amar
Anand accepted the challenge of playing a lion in its own den. What’s more he played and tamed the lion too. Terrific! The chess world is thrilled that Anand continues to be the World Chess Champion.
Based on Topalov’s interview it appears that he had a mindset of not going into tie-breaks and that brought his downfall. He wanted force a win when it is not there.
A great match. I am relieved I can concentrate on my work and other things now. Great work Vishy! You are the man, the myth, the legend!
Congratualations to both players!
the article needs a little correction, je, beiden.
both have semented their names for the rest of their lifes specially the tiger of madras!
now topalov is still in time to win the WCC before Carlsen will e the indescutible nummer ein.
if i would be anand (im not je), i would retire and give the throne to young carlesen in a WCC.
i woulnt want him to see him fall, after all none can beat time, isnt that the main reason gary retired?
i dont think he would of accepted being nummer zwei, drei ou hunderd,
fischer? he reetired world champion!!!!
good luck to all and congra to the chmapion., who were the seconds of both players can any one tell me please?
bye susan, good job!!!
jb.,
“Anand thus became the first ever player to win the title 3 times, after his victories in 2005 and 2009, the first of which was again over Topalov.”
Susan,
Topalov didn’t play the RR in 2005. Kramnik played as the WC. And including FIDE title it is the fourth WC title for Anand.
Now, though I didn’t like the Danailov-Topalov combination for the years, I appreciate their Sofia rule and many more contribution to the game. Surely they are better marketers than FIDE.
Without no draw rule by Topa these matches wouldn’t have been so much pleasing to watch. Amateurs and even many GMs learned a lot from it. He also has shown great fighting spirit. It was also aimed at Anand’s age which rewarded him in game9. But backfired in the decider.
Good commentaries especially when it is free by you. But difficult to belive with out your database. If true, please reenter competitive chess.
No, I do not use my database for commentary and most of the time I also do not have the engine running. I make comments based on what I see off the top of my head. I have a full time job so I usually multitask during the commentary. That is why I said to please check with your own engine at home in case if my rapid analysis is flawed.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
Because I do everything manually, I sometimes make mistakes typing in the moves while analyzing off the top of my head and on the phone with a student / parent at the same time 🙂
On top of this, I also have to read hundreds of comments on this blog as well as on Facebook and by email. There is only one of me so mistakes do happen from time to time.
Thanks to all those who help point out these mistakes for corrections.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
Susan, you have a great blog and great coverage. No idea how you muster up so much energy, but for us chess fans, it’s fun. Thanks!
Yancey, enjoyed your comments (and angst 🙂 ) during the games.
Dear Susan,
In your post-match wrap-up, could you give the winning line after your proposed move 36. …Qd8+ (game: 36. …g5+)? Malcolm Pein on TWIC also says this move leads to a cleaner win, but for the benefit of lesser mortals, could you explain how?
Thanks for your sensible, succinct commentary on a very interesting match.
Where is Topolov’s interview available? Anon mentioned it above!
Dear Susan,
Thank you for the comments. But didn’t mention about your come back as your beautiful little sister did.
Now what you say? will it not be really interesting to see who will be the next challenger? Topalov, Aronian, Kamsky, Kramnik, Carlson,Mamdeyarov/Gashimov/Radjabov???
Again now I feel challenger match can be 16 games instead of 12 also with a break(may be one month) to revive themselves and alter their game plan if warrants.
Also challenger should arise out of a match of 12 games instead of any other format.
Another big question whether Anand will participate in the forthcoming Olympiad. If then that wil be the happiest thing for an Indian chess fan like me.
Neil,
Here is the line I saw:
36. ….Qd8
37. f6 Rf7 (gf6?? 38. Nf5)
38. Qf1 hg4
39. Nc2 g3+
40. Kg3 Qd6
41. Rf4 Rd1
42. Qc4 Rg1
Other lines of defense look just as bad to me, but I might be missing the best defense for white.
Anand reinará dos años más
El indio causa un drama nacional en Bulgaria tras ganar a Topálov por 6,5-5,5
LEONTXO GARCÍA – Sofía – 11/05/2010
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La genialidad y entereza del indio Viswanathan Anand, de 40 años, residente en Collado Mediano (Madrid), se impusieron (6,5-5,5) a la fogosidad del búlgaro Véselin Topálov, de 35, vecino de Salamanca. Este, héroe nacional, perdió el control de los nervios en la última partida, que empezó con la ventaja de las piezas blancas y el marcador igualado. Su dramática derrota tiene el consuelo de 640.000 euros. Anand, campeón desde 2007, cobrará 960.000, una vez descontado el 20% de la Federación Internacional (FIDE).
La noticia en otros webs
* webs en español
* en otros idiomas
“La amenaza es más fuerte que su ejecución”, dejó dicho uno de los grandes sabios de la historia del ajedrez, Aaron Nimzóvich (1886-1935). Como Topálov reconoció en la conferencia de prensa posterior, la amenaza de tener que jugarse el título el jueves a partidas rápidas contra el genial Anand -probablemente el ajedrecista más rápido de todos los tiempos- hizo que el búlgaro adoptara una táctica suicida en la jugada 31, cuando aún disponía de defensas sólidas. El resto fue una ejecución despiadada.
En ese momento crítico, Aruna, la esposa de Anand, intentaba tapar sus nervios, con las manos cubriéndole la cara, en la oscuridad de la última fila del patio de butacas, asignada por la organización a las delegaciones de ambos finalistas para evitar cualquier contacto visual con los jugadores. Esta vez no ha habido sospechas de trampas con ayudas de computadoras porque el escenario estaba separado de los espectadores por una gigantesca cortina opaca, de modo que Anand y Topálov sólo veían oscuridad, pero sí podían ser observados por los aficionados.
La derrota de Topálov se mascaba, sus ayudantes habían desaparecido y entre el público reinaba la tristeza, en un silencio sepulcral. Tras unos cuantos movimientos desesperados, el búlgaro de Salamanca ofreció su mano a Anand en señal de rendición, y el silencio fue brutalmente roto por un grito estentóreo en alemán: “¡Ja! (¡Sí!)”. Era Hans-Walter Schmitt, jefe de la delegación del indio, que reflejaba en un monosílabo la enorme tensión de tres semanas de competición y varios meses de preparación.
“Ha sido el duelo más intenso que he disputado en mi vida”, reconoció Anand en cuanto tuvo un micrófono cerca. Y añadió: “Véselin es un luchador excepcional. De modo que esta mañana me he levantado con una mezcla de sensaciones opuestas. Podía ser el día más feliz de mi vida, o el más triste, o un simple aperitivo para el desempate de partidas rápidas del jueves. Lo que ha pasado es que mi rival no ha aguantado la tensión nerviosa en la última partida de un duelo agotador”.
Ciertamente, el nivel de combatividad y emoción ha sido uno de los más altos en la secular historia de los Campeonatos del Mundo, sin un solo empate aburrido. Anand perdió con un mal juego el asalto inaugural, probablemente por los nervios del primer día. Pero ganó al día siguiente, empató la tercera partida y triunfó con una obra de arte en la cuarta. Sin embargo, el cansancio le pasó factura después, y Topálov lo aprovechó en la octava para igualar el marcador. Después de tres tablas consecutivas, Topálov tenía la gran oportunidad con las piezas blancas en la última, pero esa ventaja fue un bumerán por la tensión nerviosa, en un país donde el ajedrez es muy popular.
“¡Todas las cadenas de televisión indias han interrumpido sus programas para dar la noticia!”, exclamó Aruna tras hablar con su familia por teléfono. Más de 15 siglos después de que, supuestamente, el ajedrez fuera inventado en India, un indio seguirá ocupando el trono a una edad, 40 años, supuestamente excesiva para tal honor.
Anish Giri gave (as always, I have noticed) a scintillating analysis of today’s game:
http://www.chessbase.com/news/2010/sofia/games/giri12.htm
His opinion is that Anand’s play was flawless after Topalov’s blunder. He even thinks g5 was the more elegant win than Qd8. I will simply withdraw my comments of the previous thread and let Giri have the last word in this matter.
3D games