Topalov Takes The Lead

In game 2 of the 'World Chess Challenge', the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (pictured) defeated his American opponent Gata Kamsky with the black pieces.

Topalov surprised Kamsky yet again in the opening and caused him to fall dangerously behind on the clock.  The first time control is at move 40 and the players have 2 hours for their moves, but after just 10 moves Kamsky had already used around 90 minutes of his allotted time whereas Topalov had used barely a minute.

As in the first game, Kamsky responded well to Topalov's opening, but his poor time management cost him dear later on as Topalov continued to play quickly to pressurise his opponent into errors.  By the end of the game Kamsky had less than a minute left, but even if he had managed to make his remaining moves before the time control, his position was lost.

So Topalov leads by 1.5-0.5 in this short 8-game match and the underdog Kamsky now faces an uphill struggle.  Thursday is a rest day, so game 3 will take place on Friday and Topalov will have the White pieces.