Previewing The Sinquefield Cup (5): Can Topalov Beat Carlsen?

In a previous article Previewing The Sinquefield Cup (4): Can Nakamura Beat Carlsen?, I discussed the likelyhood of Nakamura beating Carlsen during the upcoming Sinquefield Cup. In this follow-up I want to take a look at the number five on the starting list, Veselin Topalov.

Statistics

In the database I found 17 encounters in classical chess between Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov. In the overall head to head Topalov is the underdog, sofar he scores only 35,3%. He has however beaten Carlsen in a classical game three times, whereas Carlsen has beaten Topalov  eight times. They drew 6 times.

Last Encounter

The last encounter in a classical game between the two was during the Norway Chess tournament earlier this year. I will annotate the game below.

Considering their head to head count and the way their last encounter went, I don’t think it is likely that the Bulgarian is going to be a serious threat yet to Carlsen during the Sinquefield Cup.

To be continued…

Waldemar Moes
Chess Trainer, Lecturer & Blogger
www.betteryourchess.com
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