Topalov,V (2813) - Kramnik,V (2743) [D18] WCh Playoffs Elista RUS (1), 13.10.2006 [Mihail Marin]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3 Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 13...cxd5 14.Qe3. Topalov switches back to the classical main line of the Slav, which brought him close to what could have easily been his best achievement in the whole match (see the tragically ended second game). 14...Re8 15.Ne1 Rc8 16.f4 Bxe1 17.Rxe1 Bg6 18.Bf1 Rc2 19.b3 Qa5 20.Bb5 Rd8 21.Re2 Rcc8 22.Bd2 Qb6 23.Rf2 a6 24.Bf1 Rc6. Each player has his own trumps. White has the pair of bishops and an advantage of space, while Black controls the only open file and has a fantastic bishop. 25.b4 Rc2 26.b5 a5 27.Bc3 Rxf2 28.Qxf2 Qa7 29.Qd2 Ra8 30.Rc1 Nb6 31.Bb2 Nxa4 32.Ba3 h6 33.h3 Be4 34.Kh2 Nb6 35.Bc5 a4 36.Ra1. 36...Nc4!? The start of an interesting tactical phase, leading to complete simplification and an inevitable draw. 37.Bxc4 b6 38.Qe3 Rc8 39.Bf1 bxc5 40.dxc5 Qxc5 41.Qxc5 Rxc5 42.b6 Rc6 43.b7 Rb6 44.Ba6 d4 45.Rxa4 Bxb7 46.Bxb7 Rxb7 47.Rxd4 1/2-1/2. Kramnik,V (2743) - Topalov,V (2813) [D45] WCh Playoffs Elista RUS (2), 13.10.2006 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3. This looks like Kramnik's little surprise weapon for rapid events. He has never played this system of development in normal games, but used it twice during his blitz match against Kasparov, back in 1998, obtaining 1.5 points with it. 7...0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Bb2 Re8 11.Rad1 Qe7 12.Rfe1. 12...Rac8. A rare move. After 12...Rad8 we would reach one of the main line of the whole variation. 13.Bd3!? Moving for the second time with the bishop along the f1-d3 diagonal looks like a loss of time, but it will be compensated by the fact that Black's queen's rook will soon have to be transferred to d8 anyway. 13...e5 14.e4 dxc4 15.Bxc4 b5 16.Bf1 g6 17.Qd2 Rcd8 18.Qg5 a6 19.h3 exd4 20.Nxd4 Qe5 21.Qxe5 Nxe5 22.Nc2. White's pawn advantage in the centre offers him the better chances. In the next phase of the game Black will try to obtain active play, while White will simply regroup in accordance with the newly created weaknesses from the enemy camp. 22...g5 23.Bc1 h6 24.Be3 c5 25.f3 Bf8 26.Bf2 Bc8 27.Ne3 Be6 28.Ned5 Bxd5 29.exd5 Ned7?! This voluntary retreat from the centre is hard to understand. 29...Bd6 ,blocking the dangerous pawn was better, with reasonable chances to defend.] 30.Rxe8 Rxe8 31.a4 b4? But this is equivalent with complete strategic surrendering. Black should have fought against the blockade on dark squares with 31...c4. 32.Ne4 Nxe4 33.fxe4 Nf6 34.d6 Nxe4 35.d7 Rd8 36.Bxa6 f5 37.a5 Bg7 38.Bc4+ Kf8 39.a6 Nxf2 40.Kxf2 Bd4+. Allowing an elegant finish. 41.Rxd4! cxd4 42.a7 Ke7 43.Bd5 Kxd7 44.a8Q Rxa8 45.Bxa8 1-0 Topalov,V (2813) - Kramnik,V (2743) [D12] WCh Playoffs Elista RUS (3), 13.10.2006 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Be2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Bd6 9.g3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nb6 11.Be2 0-0 12.Nxg6 hxg6 13.e4 e5 14.f4 exd4 15.Qxd4. A typical structure for the Slav Defence. White has the pair of bishops and a strong kingside majority. Black's main hopes for maintaining the balance even are connected with the counterplay along the d-file and the relative weakness of the dark squares from White's camp. From the matches for the World title, the situation is similar to that from the 12th game of the first match between Botvinik and Smyslov. The former carried out a systematic and very dangerous attack based on the massive advance of the pawns and eventually won. To a certain extent, the present game had a similar course. 15...Qe7 16.Kg2 Bc5 17.Qd3 Rad8 18.Qc2 Bd4 19.e5 Nfd5 20.Rf3 Nxc3 21.bxc3 Bc5 22.Bd2 Rd7 23.Re1 Rfd8 24.Bd3 Qe6 25.Bc1 f5. The only way to prevent the advance of the white f-pawn and restrict the white light-squared bishop at the same time. However, it will only slow down White's attack and not really parrying it. 26.Qe2 Kf8 27.Rd1 Qe7 28.h4 Rd5 29.Qc2 Nc4 30.Rh1 Na3 31.Qe2 Qd7 32.Rd1 b5 33.g4 fxg4 34.Rg3 Ke7 35.f5 gxf5 36.Bg5+ Ke8 37.e6 Qd6. 38.Bxf5! Rxd1 39.Bg6+ Kf8 40.e7+ Qxe7 41.Bxe7+ Bxe7 42.Bd3 Ra1 43.Qb2 Rd1 44.Qe2 Ra1 45.Qxg4 Rxa2+ 46.Kh3 Bf6 47.Qe6 Rd2 48.Bg6 R2d7 49.Rf3 b4 50.h5 1-0 Kramnik,V (2743) - Topalov,V (2813) [D47] WCh Playoffs Elista RUS (4), 13.10.2006 [Mihail Marin] 1.d4. If I remember correctly, this is the only classic World Title match where all the games started with the same move. There has only been one match (Botvinnik-Petrosian 1963) when 1.e4 has not been played at all, but White occasionally deviated with 1.c4. 1...d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 5...Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Be2 Bb7 9.0-0 Be7. The experimental 9...b4 worked out well in the 8th game, but Topalov apparently decided not to push his luck too much. 10.e4 10...b4 11.e5 11...bxc3 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.bxc3 c5 14.dxc5 Nxc5 15.Bb5+ Kf8 16.Qxd8+ Rxd8 17.Ba3 Rc8 18.Nd4. White's advance in development is an adequate compensation for Black's better structure. Unlike the 8th game, where he let his initiative vanish, Kramnik will eventually manage to convert it in an extra-pawn. 18...Be7 19.Rfd1 a6 20.Bf1 Na4 21.Rab1 Be4 22.Rb3 Bxa3 23.Rxa3 Nc5 24.Nb3 Ke7 25.Rd4 Bg6 26.c4 Rc6 27.Nxc5 Rxc5 28.Rxa6 Rb8 29.Rd1 Rb2 30.Ra7+ Kf6 31.Ra1 Rf5 32.f3 Re5. Planning ...Re3-c3-c2 or even ...Bb1. 33.Ra3! Preventing both threats and stablizing the situation to White's favour. 33...Rc2 34.Rb3 Ra5 35.a4 Ke7 36.Rb5 Ra7 37.a5 Kd6 38.a6 Kc7 39.c5 Rc3 40.Raa5 Rc1 41.Rb3 Kc6 42.Rb6+ Kc7 43.Kf2 Rc2+ 44.Ke3. White has made obvious progress over the past ten moves, but it is hard to evaluate how realistic his winning chances would be after 44...e5 followed by the transfer of the bishop to e6. 44...Rxc5?? The last of a surprisingly long series of mistakes in this match. As it frequently happens, the player who commits the last-but-one error emerges as glorious winner. 45.Rb7+ and finally, after 13 long years, the Chess World has one sole Champion. 1-0 13.10.2006 World Chess Champion Vladimir KRAMNIK: `Now I have to relax ' Immediately after Topalov extended his hand in a sign of resigning the 4th tiebreak game, the crowd became ecstatic. There were shouts, applause, friendly slaps and handshakes Kramnik got off the table, threw his fists in the sky, just like in Moscow 1994 after his sensational victory over Kasparov, and got into tight embrace of his manager Hensel. Other team members were also there Illescas, Rublevsky, Motylev, Krylov, Rösch, and even the cook In a few minutes the new `absolute' FIDE world champion moved to the press conference hall, where he was warmly met by dozens of journalists. In a situation that was similar to yours Mikhail Tal said `My head is filled with sun!' What were your first words after the match ended? I was very concentrated on the play, and even after I won the last game, I was still in a fighting mood. The moment after Veselin played 44 Rc5 was very emotional for me I felt very happy. The joy passed after I replied 45.Rb7+. I need time to realize what happened. This was a very tough match, and I think I did a good job, considering the odds given to the opponent. Maybe it was the first case in the history of the world championship matches when one of the players had extra point and extra White. I am glad I managed to win under such circumstances. What can you tell to your Russian supporters? I am very glad that the crown stays in Russia. Personally for me this achievement is comparable to the victory against Kasparov. There aren't many three-time world champions in the history, and I hope I will not stop there Considering the atmosphere around the match and behavior of the opposing team, winning the match was a matter of principle. This match will now be extensively discussed within the chess community. Can you tell which tendencies of chess development it revealed? First of all, this was extremely tense match. Chess changes for instance, nobody paid attention that there was not a single serious time trouble in 12 games. It is a significant step forward. People play faster and more practical, and the crisis occurs at fourth or fifth hour of play. This match signified certain tendencies of modern chess, which are still to be found. And the main conclusion, I repeat, is exceptionally high level of tension. There were no short draws at all. I think all chess fans are happy about it! Maybe not everybody is happy about my victory, though I got a feeling that chess fans' delights were caused by the fact that the title was determined at a rapid pace. Maybe we should talk about speeding the play up? My opinion on time controls did not change. There are three controls in chess: classical, rapid and blitz. All three have the right to exist. They should supplement each other, like in tennis, where the games consist of three or five sets, depending on significance of the competition. I adhere to the opinion that the most important events must be held under classical time control; however, I am not against seeing many rapid tournaments. They are spectacular and attract the crowd. But classical chess must stay, at least for such matches. Classical chess has many supporters, and it is not out of place to say it has more than a century of history. Do you consider symbolic that both players won games in their styles? Topalov won a tactical battle, and you converted two calm endings! Do you think you won the title because showed more versatility than Veselin? I am not sure about versatility, but I am objectively stronger in such positions as occurred in 2nd and 4th games i.e., slightly better endings. I was somewhat lucky to get them. I handle them very well, I can say it without false modesty, while Veselin is not that good in them. I squeezed two wins out of nothing, so to speak, and he won an attacking `all-or-nothing' game: g4, f5 In this regard the tiebreak was a litmus paper, revealing styles of the players. I am very glad that in the end I won one game more than Veselin. Vladimir Belov, official match commentator, said that the tiebreak games turned nearly the most flawless in the match. What do you think about it? Flawless? I wouldn't say that just recall Topalov's blunder in the Game 4 (albeit in a lost position), or my play in the Game 3 In principle, 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move is sufficient amount of time to avoid bad mistakes. The struggle was nervous and tough, and I think the level of play is high enough for such circumstances. Vladimir, after you won on the board, will you continue the duel in Arbitration Court in Lausanne? Let us not talk about sad things. I'd rather enjoy the moment of triumph and tell more about the games I won! I am not thinking about future right now, except for the match against the computer. I was so concentrated on the WCC match that I am not going to start making plans any soon. Today I have to relax and drink with my team and people who supported me in Elista. And only then we'll start thinking Could you tell more about the match against Fritz10? Are you going to be the last man standing? I'm afraid it will be a very difficult match. Playing against computer is generally hard. Every year a tournament 3 vs. 3 is organized in Spain: three computer programs play against three top grandmasters. Last year there were Topalov, Ponomariov And every human win there is seen as a great gift! I realize that I am not a favorite in that match. However, I really want winning it not because of the money, but because this may be one of the last chances to beat the machine! I'll do the best I can. After all, I have some experience playing against computer. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have much time for preparation, but it can't be helped. I am a professional. How could you evaluate your team's work at the match? I am highly satisfied with it. For some reason newspapers wrote that I implied about my dissatisfaction, but this is not true. If I said I got a worse position in the opening, it doesn't mean that I am unhappy with anything. I am the only person responsible for the loss in the Game 9 Black had no problems, but I found them I am very pleased about both atmosphere in the team and boys' determination What are your feelings now, as you leave Kalmykia? I feel deeply tired. But of course, Elista will become a memorable place for me such events do not occur often. It was a very hard test even harder than I expected but the winner's joy outweighs everything negative. Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! 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