WCh G8: Topalov beats Anand, levels score
Schedule
April 24 – 17.00 EEST (16:00 CET) - Game 1 April 25 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 2 April 26 – Rest Day April 27 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 3 April 28 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 4 April 29 – Rest Day April 30 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 5 May 1 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 6 May 2 – Rest Day May 3 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 7 | May 4 – 15.00 EEST (12.00 UTC) - Game 8 May 5 – Rest Day May 6 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 9 May 7 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 10 May 8 – Rest Day May 9 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 11 May 10 – Rest Day May 11 – 15:00 EEST (14:00 CET) - Game 12 May 12 – Rest Day May 13 – Tie breaks |
Score
Anand, V |
2787
| 0
| 1
| ½
| 1
| ½
| ½
| ½
| 0
| 4 |
||||
Topalov,V |
2805
| 1
| 0
| ½
| 0
| ½
| ½
| ½
| 1
| 4
|
Videos
If you can't see all videos in the player above: this is a cache problem of the browser. We've contacted blip.tv about the problem. Please remove your cache files and try again. Here's the last video separately:Game 8
It was a bit of a quiet day, today, with much less cameras and photographers in the playing hall than on previous days, when someone like Karpov or Mundell was around. The weather is still great, though a bit humid today. For some reason before the game I had the feeling Topalov would level the score today, and in the end he did.So far the match, or at least the white games of Topalov, was a bit similar to the famous Kasparov-Kramnik match in London in 2000, where the challenger kept on playing the passive but solid Berlin Defence, and didn't allow Kasparov to come with improvements because he kept on coming with different versions.In this match Anand keeps on coming with new versions of the Slav ending and one could wonder whether Topalov wasn't making the same mistake as Kasparov was ten years ago: stubbornly trying to create a win again and again, and failing till the very end, instead of chosing a completely different variation altogether.However, what Kasparov couldn't do, Topalov could, today. In a difficult, opposite-coloured bishop ending which was probably still a draw, Anand blundered on move 54 and could resign just two moves later. At the press conference Anand wasn't sure if he could hold the ending even if he hadn't blundered, and was critical about his play much earlier in the game. However, analysis shows the draw was actually in reach.And so Topalov got finally rewarded for his fighting spirit. He kept on trying to find was to break through the Slav ending, and he kept on pressing in today's bishop ending.Tomorrow is another rest day and then we're back for an even shorter World Championship match: one of four games. Game viewer by ChessTempoTopalov's third attempt to break down Anand's Slav wall...
...succeeded after Anand blundered in the ending
Links (we keep updating this!)
- Official website
- Games in PGN via TWIC
- Rules & regulations (PDF)
- The Week in Chess with analysis by IM Malcolm Pein and reports by Mark Crowther
- Anish Giri annotating for Chessbase
- Europe-Echecs, also reporting from Sofia
- GM Ian Rogers blogging for the USCF
- Rogers' articles for Crikey (all together)
- GM Kevin Spragget blogging
- GM Susan Polgar with live commentary
- Chessdom (also live commentary)
- Crestbook (GM Sergey Shipov, live commentary in Russian)
- GM Dejan Bojkov analysing the games
- Die Zeit's coverage
- Schwatt und Weiss (Georgios Souleidis blogging for Der Westen)
- Entwicklungsvorsprung (Georgios Souleidis' blog)
- Schach Welt (live audio commentary & chat with GM Jörg Hickl and IM Ilja Schneider)