Topalov-Kamsky: third game drawn

The third game in the Challenger's Match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky has ended in a draw. Against Kamsky's Gr?ºnfeld, Topalov went for the Russian Variation (4.Qb3) this time, but again the American grandmaster had no trouble reaching a comfortable position out of the opening.

The Kamsky-Topalov World Championship Semi-Final Match takes place February 16th to 28th in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Challenger’s Match consists of eight games and possible tie-breaks and has a prize find of US $250,000 which will be shared equally by the players. The winner qualifies for a World Championship Match against Viswanathan Anand.

Game 3 In what was probably his first 4.Qb3 ever, Topalov went for the topical 7.Be2 move-order (letting the knight on g1 for a while), as was played in a number of recent top games, the latest being Carlsen-Dominguez, Wijk aan Zee 2009. Kamsky's 7...a6 is relatively new there, but the idea isn't, of course.

After the queens went off the board, the position became a tactical slugfest where every move contained a threat, but this time Kamsky had enough time on the clock to calculate accurately, and so he easily found his way in all the variations. In the resulting ending Topalov tried it for a while, but soon he had to admit that it was a dead draw.



On the official website, below the photos, each day a video of the press conference is posted. Probably (partly) because of the arrival of American journalist (and occasional ChessVibes editor) Macauley Peterson, who will report on the match for ICC until the end, it's now done in English as well.

But beware - it's still quite disappointing to watch, although at the same time also fascinating. The thing is: the players don't want to say anything. Really. Asked to describe the game, Topalov simply answered: "Very complicated, but after some time we reached an equal ending so it was a normal result." To which Kamsky added: "The ending was very interesting but the endgame was equal."

Macauley asked the question whether there were any draw offers prior to the end of the game and indeed, at the start of the repetition of moves, Kamsky offered a draw, but Topalov made two more moves before offering his hand anyway.

Then, Macauley again: "In the previous game we have seen the importance of clock management. Did you make some adjustments on the rest day?" Kamsky's answer: "Yes, some adjustments."

On the question by (probably a Bulgarian journalist) how he feels after three games in Bulgaria, Kamsky smiled and said: "I feel great." The journalist then made clear that he didn't understand why Kamsky kept on answering so briefly. "They're logical answers, they just happen to be very short."

Name	Nat.	Rtg	G01 17/2	G02 18/2	G03 20/2	G04 21/2	G05 23/2	G06 24/2	G07 26/2	G08 27/2	Score
Kamsky	USA	2725	¬?	0	¬?						1
Topalov	BUL	2796	¬?	1	¬?						2

Photo © Ivan Stoimenov - courtesy of the official website

Links:

• More background info
• Report of game 1
• Report of game 2
• Official website
• Games in PGN
• Chess.FM blog