Topalov wins in Vitoria

His four games in Crete, for the Bulgarian team at the European Team Championship, proved to be a good warm-up for Veselin Topalov. At the "Liga de Campeones" or Champions League, that saw its last round yesterday in the Basque town of Vitoria, he proved that his small absence from tournament play hasn't affected his chess that much. He won the tournament convincingly. By beating Judit Polgar with Black in the last round, Topalov finished with the fine score of 7 out of 10 (gaining 6 rating points), one and a half point clear of no. 2 Ponomariov.

In our earlier report we explained already that this double round-robin is a special tournament: a benefit event to raise funds for a hospital in Mbuji-Mayi, one of the poorest regions in Congo.

Here a small selection of games. First, a great game by Karpov (who finished last) that shows he hasn't lost all of his greatness. Then, some amazing stuff in Topalov-Nisipeanu, revealed by the computer, and lastly, the decisive game Polgar-Topalov played yesterday.



Final standings:



Part of Hotel Lakua de Vitoria

Commentator Leontxo Garcia before the glass cabin

Veselin Topalov

Ruslan Ponomariov

Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Judit Polgar

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

Anatoli Karpov

Judit Polgar & Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu

Rustam Kasimdzhanov & Anatoli Karpov

Veselin Topalov & Ruslan Ponomariov

This is just a small selection of the wonderful photos shot by David Llada, who put a big set at Flickr. To be recommended!