CHESS #577

First blood goes to Veselin Topalov in the “Candidates Final” match versus Gata Kamsky. Playing at home in Sofia, the Bulgarian GM delighted his fans with a polished and energetic display in Game Two, winning with black inside 40 moves. What is more, he did it from a “drawing system”, the Spanish Berlin Defence.

This is an eight game match with tiebreaks if necessary. In short matches, the guy who strikes first usually dominates though Kamsky has a history of astonishing comebacks, not least against Anand in SanghiNagar where he was down 2-0.

On the evidence of the first two games, Topalov is definitely better prepared though that is no surprise.

He’s come up with new ideas in both games. Kamsky fended off the first novelty defending the Grunfeld but ran himself out of time in the second game. The US-based GM was down to 8 minutes for his last 24 moves when Topalov went into top gear.

Both these two would be difficult opponents for Anand. Topalov is superbly prepared and very sharp tactically.

A Topalov-Anand match would either mean a hand-to-hand fight in every game or else, Anand would have to find ways to calm things down and lead into situations where Topalov is less comfortable.

Kamsky isn’t known for his preparation. He tries to get calm positions where slow manoeuvres give him the edge. He is also a nerveless and obdurate defender. Anand lost that Sanghinagar match and subsequently thrashed Kamsky in a match in Las Palmas.

But all that happened 15 years ago. Kamsky 2.0 has beaten Anand a couple of times since his comeback, which suggests he is still a dangerous opponent.

The Linares tournament starts on Friday and that’s the world champion’s first outing since the Kramnik match.

It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a “hangover”. Anand is the defending champion at Linares and he will have a lot of preparation left over from the Kramnik Match. On the other hand, he may wish to switch back to his favourite 1.e4. A field consisting of Carlsen, Ivanchuk, Aronian, Radjabov, Grischuk, Wang Yue and Leinier Dominguez is pretty strong.

The DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY (Kamsky Vs Topalov, Sofia Match Game 2) illustrates the Bulgarian’s best qualities. White looks solidly on top after the “forced” 21.-Re7 22.Bb4. However, black played 21.-Rc7!! and white declined to head into the maze with 22. Nxc8 Raxc8 23. Rxe6 Rxc2 where black is fine after 24. Bb4 Rxb2 but white can fight.

Instead Kamsky, who was down to his last 4 minutes played 22.c4? dxc3 23.Bxc3 d4 24.Bb4 Bd7 25.Rf2 a5 26.Ba3 b5 27.b3 b4 28.Bb2 Ra6 29.Ne4 Rac6 30.Kg1 Rc2 31.g3 d3 32.Rd1 f5. (0-1).