[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Corus, Round 9: Topalov wins brilliantly over Kramnik, Carlsen loses too

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Corus, Round 9: Topalov wins brilliantly over Kramnik, Carlsen loses too
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1201064034.shtml


   In the no-handshake game du jour (video [1]here), Veselin Topalov
   exploded a three year old novelty bomb wholly prepared by his sometime
   second (and fellow [2]non-handshaker) Ivan Cheparinov. Fortunately for
   Vladimir Kramnik, he didn't walk into this in their Elista world
   championship match, but it was still a magnificent and decisive
   victory for Topalov against an elite (and hated) opponent.
   [waz2008_topalov_kramnik.jpg]
   In this very popular position from the Anti-Moscow Gambit in the
   Semi-Slav, White generally plays 12.Nxd7 - a move we've already seen
   three times in this tournament (Radjabov - Anand, Radjabov - van Wely,
   and Kramnik - Aronian). Here, Topalov detonated a new and most
   unpleasant move: 12.Nxf7!?/!! As far as I can tell, White has at least
   sufficient compensation for the sacrificed piece, and that's just
   speaking objectively. From the practical standpoint, Kramnik was in a
   hopeless situation. Maybe he had considered this in passing at some
   point in his general home preparation, but Cheparinov's analysis went
   to move 40 in some variations. Kramnik was unable to pull a
   Capablanca*, and was quickly lost. Topalov blundered a valuable pawn
   on move 34, but his play was otherwise clean and even the blunder
   wasn't enough to rescue Kramnik. (For those who are interested, videos
   of Topalov presenting the game to the press can be found [3]here. In
   my game file, linked below, I've included all of his analysis and
   added some of my own.)
   Topalov's win brought him back to 50% and put Kramnik in danger of
   falling further behind tournament leader Magnus Carlsen. As it turned
   out, he too lost his first game of the event, to the hitherto winless
   Peter Leko. Leko enjoyed an edge on the White side of the Breyer
   Defense (closed Ruy), but it wasn't obvious that this would translate
   into a full point. Then Carlsen blundered a piece, and that was the
   anticlimactic end.
   The other decisive game was Adams - van Wely, which saw Fischer's
   6.Bc4 against the Najdorf. The game was well-played and balanced for a
   long time, but on move 32 van Wely blundered a pawn to a subtle
   tactical trick. The rest of the game was fairly easy for Adams, who
   won his first game after eight consecutive draws and moved into a
   third place tie with Kramnik, Anand, and Radjabov.
   Speaking of draws, the four remaining games all ended peacefully,
   three of them extremely quickly. The most important of the draws was
   Aronian-Eljanov. I thought this game would give Aronian an excellent
   chance to take the lead, with White against a tail-ender. I was right,
   but not the way I thought: he drew in 20 moves, but Carlsen and
   Kramnik going down it was enough to move into a first-place tie.
   Radjabov continued his crazy flirtation with the Schliemann, but
   Polgar chose a line with a lame reputation. This game did nothing to
   rehabilitate it, but it was still good enough for an easy draw.
   Gelfand-Anand was a reprise of their second game from Mexico City. In
   an Open Catalan, Anand used the rare 10...Bd6 to achieve easy equality
   in the earlier game, and it worked the second time around as well.
   He's now tied for third with Kramnik, Adams, and Radjabov, half a
   point behind the leaders. The fourth draw, Ivanchuk-Mamedyarov, was
   unlike the other three. It went all the way to move 41 (the others
   were drawn in 25 moves or fewer), and wasn't a nice, neat, tidily
   balanced game. Ivanchuk was better, even winning, but let his young
   opponent off the hook in time trouble.
   Results for Round 9:
   Adams - van Wely 1-0
   Aronian - Eljanov 1/2-1/2
   Ivanchuk - Mamedyarov 1/2-1/2
   Polgar - Radjabov 1/2-1/2
   Topalov - Kramnik 1-0
   Gelfand - Anand 1/2-1/2
   Leko - Carlsen 1-0
   Standings after Round 9:
   What had been a stratified leaderboard has turned into a horse race,
   and it looks like a photo-finish will be necessary. Ten players are
   within a point of first!
   1-2. Aronian, Carlsen 5.5
   3-6. Kramnik, Adams, Radjabov, Anand 5
   7-10. Ivanchuk, Mamedyarov, Leko, Topalov 4.5
   11-12. van Wely, Polgar 4
   13-14. Gelfand, Eljanov 3
   Pairings for Round 10:
   van Wely - Carlsen
   Anand - Leko
   Kramnik - Gelfand
   Radjabov - Topalov
   Mamedyarov - Polgar
   Eljanov - Ivanchuk
   Adams - Aronian
   Suddenly, just about every game is important for the standings, and
   that's the way we like it! Let's hope the players feel inspired and
   rise to the occasion.
   The round 9 games can be replayed, with my comments, [4]here. Now on
   to a brief summary of what's happening with the other groups.
   Leading Standings for Group B:
   1. Movsesian 6.5
   2. Bacrot 6
   3. Short 5.5
   Leading Standings for Group C:
   1. Caruana 7(!)
   2. Reinderman 6.5
   3-4. Negi, Nijboer 5.5
   Sadly, Braun has lost his third straight game, and unless he gets
   really hot the last four rounds he'll have to wait until his next
   tournament to achieve his final GM norm.
   Honorary Group:
   A repeat of the last round, really: two draws: one perfunctory
   (Timman-Portisch, 1/2-1/2, 18), one - Korchnoi's, of course
   (Ljubojevic-Korchnoi, 1/2-1/2, 31) - full of excitement. Korchnoi and
   Timman still share the lead at 2-1, Ljubo and Portisch are 1-2.
   *Referring to the Cuban's brilliant on-sight refutation of the
   Marshall's big-league Marshall Gambit debut from New York 1918.

References

   1. http://www.chessvibes.com/tournaments/corus-2008-topalov-kramnik-no-handshake/langswitch_lang/en/
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1200852288.shtml
   3. http://www.chessvibes.com/videos/corus-2008-press-conference-topalov/langswitch_lang/en/
   4. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/waz2008_rd9.htm