Topalov Triumphant In Pearl Springs

Veselin Topalov turned on the style in the second half of the 1st Pearl Springs super-tournament in Nanjing, China to wrap up an overall victory with a round to spare.  After 9 of the 10 rounds, Topalov leads by an unassailable 1.5 points from his nearest rival, Bu Xiangzhi and is therefore assured of the €80,000 first prize.

Round 6 was a crucial turning point, with Topa beating a badly out-of-sorts Ivanchuk and Bu losing to Peter Svidler.  Topalov then sealed victory by completing the double over Peter Svidler in the only decisive game of round 9.  An extremely impressive performance from the world's #1 ranked player, who is back over 2800 Elo on the live rating list.

The standings with one round to go:

Movsesian and Ivanchuk fight out an entertaining draw in round 9
Pic from http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews