Round 8 – Sunday the 21st
V. Topalov – V. Anand
T. Radjabov – L. Aronian
V. Kramnik – M. Carlsen
S. Karjakin – D. Navara
A. Motylev – P. Svidler
L. van Wely – R. Ponomariov
A. Shirov – S. Tiviakov
Please feel free to post updates and analysis for everyone. I am flying back to NY right now. So long England! Thanks for your hospitality!
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
A tough one for Magnus coming up 🙁
Are those chess pieces made of chocolate !?!
oh my god, oh my god , oh my god!
i think they are made out of choclets!—mmmm choclets(druel)
Topalov-Anand 1/2
Radjabov-Aronian 1-0
Kramnik-Carlsen 1-0
Karjakin-Navara 1/2
Motylev-Svidler 0-1
VAN Wely-Pono 0-1
Shirov-Tiviakov 1-0
Topalov-Anand 1/2
Radjabov-Aronian 1/2
Kramnik-Carlsen 1-0
Karjakin-Navara 1/2
Motylev-Svidler 1/2
VAN Wely-Pono 1/2
Shirov-Tiviakov 1-0
—-
i think we get all draws today
I’m following Magnus Carlsen with special interest (as he happens to be Norwegian…) Even a draw would be a confidence-booster after the performance so far, I’m hoping for that.
From what I see so far, Topalov – Anand will be a decisive game, no draw there. The thing is – not sure who’s going to win. I love Topalov’s style, GREAT for the fans. Crazy chess at this level is awesome to watch.
Do you think Topa has enough compensation for the sac ?
I personaly am not sure. It is the two pawns down that worries me.
Topalov has NOT sacrifised anything…
B+N for R+2P is the material that in most middlegames is favorable for the one with the minor pieces.. (provided they are reasonably coordinated)
In any case, the position is very double-edged.
Personally I put my bet on Topa’s position!
What do you think of Kramnik and Carlsen’s position? It seems almost even to me, but I’m not good at this…
But as someone said: Kramnik could possibly outplay Carlsen in the endgame, even if things are equal until then.
I slightly favour Topalovs position, as it is not easy to suggest a plan for Black. White can slightly improve his position and pressure Blacks weakness, the e6 pawn. the most important question is whether Whites advantage is big enough to create a second weakness, or conquer a pawn; then white should win. Otherwise the game will be drawn. Maybe Topalov is glancing to the Radjabow-Aronian game, where only Black can try to play for a win. (what a spectacular line, just to win a pawn. kudos to aronian!)
hmm. Vachier-Lagrave vs L’ami has finished to the French boy’s favor. I don’t get L’ami’s moves from 23-25.
Topalov Anand 1-0 official!!!!!
Topalov Anand 1-0 official!!!!!
But why???????
I sure don’t see anything which would suggest that Anand had to resign. That may not mean much, but neither does Rybka or Fritz. They both show a few tenth of a point advantage to Topalov, but that’s it. Anand got sick or something? Mystery to me. Any good chess player has an explanation?
Gabor
Well, what does the comp suggest after Kf4 for white in Topalov Anand? I don’t have a comp eval of the position but it seems that black doesn’t have much of a play so if somebody could analyze…
Topalov-Anand: Interesting game! I don’t see Topalov’s advantage as overwhelming (but then again, I’m not on quite the same level as Anand), so I asked Fritz. As he thought about it and the eons mounted, the evaluation went from -.05 to +0.19 to +0.65 to +0.73. Enough to win? I think Anand has much better positional understanding than Fritz, so I suppose it is enough… But it seems like there is plenty of game left and plenty of opportunity for Topalov to miss some little thing…
I’m hoping someone like Susan can help us on this one.
In the mean time, Nepomniachtchi is well on the way to win Group C.
What happened to Anand?
i think anand Qd8 ?! … now after Nd3 white next move would have been a5 (and it seems that black does not have anything to expect anymore, thay can not improve the position!) if after bxa4 , Qa5 just look good for white.
But I am sure that there still plenty moves to play before resigning.
Good game anyway for Topa, but , too bad that anad resign so early
I am almost sure that Anand got sick and had to walk away from the game.
There is no WIN in this situation. Susan may prove me wrong later, there may even be a win here, but not the kind which would make a world class player to resign. There must be some non-chess issue of some kind.
Gabor
Anand resignation about right as White has dominant position and Black no counterplay whatever.
I like Topalov’s style but you also have to say horrible game by the Indian.
In the meantime, it looks like Carlsen is holding up pretty well against Kramnik.
Radja is in a serious time trouble.
Anand tried an adventure with 14… Nd5 and felt in a weaker position that had no counterplay with two prisoned rooks behind his own crowded pawns. And for me Topalov’s exchange request 34.Qc5 was a very bad choice but Anand declined. I don’t understand why he declined this exchange and finally resigned in a questionable position. Topalov was very lucky yesterday and today Ponomariov and Anand did very bad!
And Kramnik-Carlsen it seems Kramnik does not have a overcoming advantage but as you said here he is better than Carlsen in endgame. Carlsen must play just in the right moves to keep balance if not Kramnik will outplay him surely. And at this point (game is in 28th Kramnik move) I guess 1-0
Kramnik – Carlsen ended with a draw. That’s a strong result by Carlsen – solid play in this game…
34… Qxc5 35.Rxc5 bxa4 36.Ra5
and Anand is losing. The last two Topalov’s wins were everything but luck…
Don’t count Radjabov out just yet.
Topalov wins over Anand
Carlsen draws Kramnik
Radjabov Aronian seems to have Aronian better. They just made the 40 move time limit.
Topalov is simply the best player ever !!!
We gotta trust Anand.
Karjakin is toast!
No overwhelming win in Topo-Anand, but Topo had all the play in the position and it looked like a long squeeze. In Kramnik-Carlsen, Kramnik could have possibly been better after 28 Bf4, but it looks as if the urge to draw is so overwhelming in him that he couldn’t resist trading Queens with 28 Qxb7. I wonder if he even considered 28 Bf4, when the opportunity to trade Queens presented itself.
Yes, kramnik did beat topalov last year, but great players sometimes lose. Still Topalov is absolutely amazing and the best player for me!!!
Yew. What is David Navara up to? Looks like Suicide in a winning position.
Yes, of course Topalov was clearly better, but there was work yet to be done. Anand might have found a swindle, or perhaps Topalov would have blundered.
I have to think Anand’s tournament position (with no possible way to win) had something to do with the resignation. Had he been in the lead, he wouldn’t have surrendered quite so easily.
@anonym 11.16 – with regard to the Kramnik – Carlsen game: no sane chessplayer would ever think about 28.Bf4? because after 28…Nf3+ white has to struggle for the draw …
in my opinion Kramnik’s 23.Ne4 was not the best move. clearly better seems to me 23.Nd5 Qf5 24.Nxe7+ Nxe7 25.exd4! b5 26.Qe2 Nd5 27.Re1 with a small, but lasting advantage for white.
with regards to the Topalov – Anand game: after Anands exchange sac he was cool counterattacked by Topalov (great tournament performance by the ex-world chess champion thus far!) and found himself “in bondage” after 35.Nd3 – i’m quite sure, Anand was disappointed and lost his fighting spirit recognizing, that 35…bxa4 would meet 35.Nf4! and after the quite forced line 35…Qe7 36.Qxe7 Rxe7 37.h5 Rce8 white has a nearly decisive material advantage, all the initiative and attack on the scattered black pawns. So he called it a day and resigned … imho
greetings
Radja just lost…
so Topa in the sole lead.
Aronian made it very difficult for himself but manage to convert the 2 pawn advantage to a win
Could someone who understands Navara’s play please explain it?
It seems here some friends believe Topalov to be the “best”. I respect you Topalov fans may be you like aggressive styles and “aggressive people” and so your choice is Topalov, but I am a calm person like Kramnik and I like Kramnik’s generally calm style. And for me Kramnik is stronger than Topalov. Here is my argument for this:
“Overall record: Vladimir Kramnik beat Veselin Topalov 24 to 13, with 41 draws”
That record is from chessgames.com database and including Elista games. So who is the better friends? It seems Kramnik is about doubling Topalov in the overall score 😀
“Kramnik is the most difficult player to beat”
A quotation from Garry Kasparov!
Hayri Kaya,
It takes aggressiveness, Chutzpah and balls to be World Champion. Topalov has all three. Kramnik may be a tough opponent for him just as Capablanca may have been for Alekhine but in my book Topalov is best. He is the successor to Kasparov that Chess fan deserves if chess is to survive a slow death of a thousand draws.
Thanx for comments. I too felt Anand resigned a bit too soon, but I agree his position seemed devoid of any counterplay and eventually something would crack, but still, I feel he should have played it out to that point and then resign. I love Topalov’s fighting spirit and games but I too agree Kramnik is the stronger player as proved by empirical data provided by hayri. I mean, like it or not, he defeated Kasparov and Topalov in match play and is deservedly the World Champion at the moment and since defeating Kasparov. I do not consider any of the FIDE so called champions anything at all but tournament victors.
Hi.
Coming into T – K discussion with tennis comparison. There are base line players and serve&volley players.
K seems to be base line player T serve&volley. It is their style of playing but it is not joined with the level of understanding the game. Are the base line players better in understanding tennis ? Of course not.
It is the same with T and K.
Regards
P.
For those of you with broadband connection, there is a very nice video of Topalov analyzing his win over Anand up at http://www.chessvibes.com/?p=506#more-506
One of the things I got from it, is that all of black’s counter-attacking ideas have been effectively shut down after 35. Nd3. There are no tricks left for Anand, and maybe he found this so demoralizing that he couldn’t make himself go on.
Highly recommended video, regardless of whether you’re a Kramnik or Topalov fan.
To polo_mateo. I am saying that Kramnik and Topalov has different styles and you can choose one of them for favorite one. People always choose favorites whom they see near to their soul and game style. I feel Kramnik is near to me, because I think he is really a nice person (calm and gentelman) and beside this I think he is one of the strongest players of chess history.
My attention on Kramnik did not start with his championship or tournament results. When I started to care about chess (I think I was 14) I (as every chess fan) first met with great Kasparov through chess books or magazines. And some years did not see any young opponent against him.
But later saw that a young man (Kramnik) was able to beat Kasparov many times and thought that he will be further champion. And after a big complexity in the chess world finally he is now unified champion.
Coming to Topalov, I am sure he has lots of agressiveness (as polo_mateo said here) and lots of desire to be WCC. That is very normal because he was only FIDE’s champion and noone saw him as a real chess champion! To proof that he was only champion he faced Kramnik and lost, he did not only loose a match he lost lots of support in chessworld. You may play agressive and brilliant chess on the board, but when you start to accuse opponent in loosing situations, and when you start to be “restpectless” so I only say Kramnik is better for me say if he decreases to 1600 ELO!
>> I only say Kramnik is better for me say if he decreases to 1600 ELO!
Yeah, and the patzers with 100 ELO are best for me, only because I think so.