Anand strikes back brilliantly against Topalov

World chess champion Viswanathan Anand struck back brilliantly against Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov to take the lead in their world championship match, following an unsatisfactory performance in game one.  The score now stands at 2.5 points to 1.5 points in favour of Anand.

The 12-game match is being played in Sofia, which is Topalov’s hometown, and the place where he has massive crowd support. Anand, however, seems to be unfazed by this as he demonstrated when he ripped through his opponent’s home preparation in games two and four. The first person to score 6.5 points wins the match.

So far, the match has been causing quite a stir in the media because there have been no dull and boring draws, unlike some games which were played in previous world championship matches.

The two competitors have been going for the jugular in each of their encounters. Anand’s strategy seems to be becoming clear.  In two games the champion has exchanged queens, the most dangerous piece on the chess board.

Topalov, one of the modern era’s finest attacking grandmasters, has been forced into a manoeuvring game where he has so far failed to trouble Anand.

In local news, the Kei-Shar/ FIDE Qualifying Chess Tournament begins on Wednesday, May 5 at the Kei-Shar’s Sports Club. The top six finishers in this tournament will qualify to play in the upcoming FIDE- rated tournament.

The six local players will join four foreign players in a round-robin tournament for international ratings.

After the round-robin tournament, the six local competitors will be given official FIDE ratings. In the said Kei-Shar’s tournament, juniors and seniors will compete together in one category, so as to give all participants an opportunity to qualify for the FIDE chess tournament which is scheduled to be held in Guyana in June-July.

Topalov v Anand

The FIDE world championship match between Vishy Anand and Veselin Topalov is underway in Sofia, Bulgaria. The first game was a ‘blitzkrieg’ by Topalov, who ran over his opponent in impressive fashion. Topalov had the white pieces and Anand played the Grünfeld Defence. The game was the quickest and most decisive one in world championship history.

Topalov, V (2805) – Anand, V (2787) WCh Sofia BUL (1), 24.4.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Na5 11.Bd3 b6 12.Qd2 e5 13.Bh6 cxd4 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.cxd4 exd4 16.Rac1 Qd6 17.f4 f6 18.f5 Qe5 19.Nf4 g5 20.Nh5+ Kg8 21.h4 h6 22.hxg5 hxg5 23.Rf3. Everything was looking dangerous, but basically okay for Black. The only defence looked like 23…Bd7 followed by Rg3 and then maybe Kf7. However Anand blunders with 23…Kf7??

This loses immediately to 24.Nxf6! Now the game ends very quickly: 24…Kxf6 25.Rh3 Rg8 26.Rh6+ Kf7 27.Rh7+ Ke8 28.Rcc7 Kd8 29.Bb5 Qxe4 30.Rxc8+ Black Resigns ! 1-0.