Briliant Endgame

Here is a game from Corustoernooi 2007, Ruslan Ponomariov - Veselin Topalov

Topalov was at his best this day, beating Ponomariov in a wild and very imbalanced game. Actually Pono was better after the opening, but hesitant play (21.Nb1?!) got him nowhere. He tried to sacrifice a pawn, perhaps dubiously, and his follow up of 25.Nc3? was wrong - he should have opted for 25.Nc4, in which case he would have maintained some compensation. Veselin then fearlessly grabbed a second pawn , and while Pono kept the game going for quite some moves, the result was never in doubt.

---