Bilbao R3: Topalov beats Carlsen, takes lead
Veselin Topalov defeated Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao and in doing so, the Bulgarian took over the lead from his opponent. Aronian-Anand and Radjabov-Ivanchuk were drawn.It was only the second decisive game of the tournament, and yet it was another win for the black pieces. Topalov reacted very well to an interesting pawn sacrifice by Carlsen, and after the Norwegian decided to win it back immediately, instead of going for active play, he soon was a pawn down again but this time it meant a lost ending.Carlsen had looked at various possible plans after his 15.b4 ("a very interesting move" - Topalov) but after the game he said 16.Bc7 was probably not the best. "But I wanted to play it safely. My 21.Nd2 was a blunder - I missed 24...Bd8."
Topalov played a solid game to score the second win of the tournamentAfter a Slav turned into a Queen's Gambit Accepted, Aronian and Anand soon left the theoretical waters. Anand's 19...Bb4 was based on 21.Bd6 when Black will sacrifice an exchange, but after 21.Bxa7! it was White who could bring a promising exchange sac. It wasn't enough to get real winning chances, though.
Many spectators at just three meters from the boardIn yet another Queen's Gambit Accepted Radjabov gained the initiative with White, but Ivanchuk defended accurately. In timetrouble there suddenly appeared a move repetition on the board.
"Final Chess Masters" must have been the result of a bad translation...
The tent, covering the glass cube, at the Plaza Nueva
Quite a lot of spectators every day, watching the players - it does feel a bit like a zoo sometimes
The journalists sitting right next to it (left: Macauley Peterson; right: GM Javier Moreno, who is also the Technical Assistent to the arbiters)
The fathers: Radjabov's (left) and Carlsen's (right)Links:
- Official website
- Photos by John Henderson (ICC): round 1, round 2, round 3
- Games in PGN
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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