Topalov, Veselin - Ivanchuk, Vassily
Mtel Masters 2008
Round 2
Sofia
by GM Dimitrov
After the uncompromising fight witnessed in the 1st round (not a single draw!) today we'll follow the encounter of two of the provisional leaders. Topalov unlike other years started victorious and defeated the other great favorite Aronian as Black. An important accomplishment, having in mind that he lost in their previous 3 games having the same colors. Ivanchuk on his part did a fine job against Radjabov who, nevertheless being a bit tired an out of form lately, is still a formidable opponent. Both Vassily and Veselin like to play creatively and their games attract a lot of audience. That and the shortened time control (1.30h for 40 moves + 1h till end each) make me to expect a good show. Having in mind the vast repertoire of the Ukrainian it is hard to predict the opening in such game. It is even hard to tell would Topalov open with 1.e4 or 1.d4. The sure thing is that we are to witness another intriguing chess battle.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Considered to be most ambitious. (3.Nd2) has its supporters as well while the other options are harmless at best.
3... Nf6 (3... Bb4) is the Winawer variation leading to extremely complicated positions. The Ukrainian prefers a more academic approach.
4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 Ivanchuk used this line of French Defense on several occasions. This opening was neglected for some time but gains in popularity thanks to the efforts of young Russian players such as Morozievich.
8.a3 Avoiding the mainstream (8.Qd2) Topalov seems to have managed to surprise his opponent as Black is considering his answer for almost 15 minutes.
8... cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 Beginning of a typical fight for control over the 'd4' square. 7...cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 leads to similar position without a3&a6 included. Ivanchuk's change of plan makes sense as this difference seems to be in his favor.
10.Be2 With a2-a3 played, the usual plan involving Qd2, O-O-O and h4 is a bit too slow. (10.Nce2 intending to strengthen control over 'd4' leaves Black to much freedom and he may go even for 10... g5) Now Black has to decide should he contest the 'd4' square after 10...Qb6 11.Na4 Qa5+ or prepare the f7-f6 breakthrough castling kingside.
10... O-O 11.Qd2 Qc7 (11... Ndxe5 12.Nxc6 Bxe3 13.Nxd8 Bxd2+ 14.Kxd2 Ng6 15.Nxf7 Rxf7 16.g3 leaves White with some advantage.)
12.Bf3 Keeping both options to castle available.
12... Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Nb6 A natural plan. Bd7 and Rc8 are to follow and the position seems to be of dynamic equality.
14.Ne2 Perhaps this is the right moment for f7-f6. (14.Ne2 f6 15.exf6 (15.Qc3 Na4) 15... Nc4 16.Qc3 Bxd4 17.Nxd4 Qxf4 18.fxg7 Qe5+) (14.Ne2 Bd7 is of course playable as well. Meanwhile Ivanchuk is consuming a lot of time.)
14... Bxd4 15.Qxd4 (15.Nxd4 f6 lets Black create direct threats.)
15... Bd7 Going for the safest approach - mobilization of all pieces keeping f6 in reserve.
16.b3 Veselin didn't get opening advantage but there is a large gap on the clock - 0.55 - 0.30.
16... Bb5 Intending never to let a Knight block the 'd5' pawn.
17.Nc3 (17.Qc3 Qxc3+ 18.Nxc3 Rfc8 19.Kd2 Rc5 20.Rac1 Rac8 is easy to play even in time trouble so Topalov keeps the Queens.)
17... Rfc8 18.Nxb5 axb5 Next step in Ivancuk's plan could be improving the position of his Knight. Even weird routes like Nb6-d7-b8-c6-e7 come to mind.
19.Be2 Nd7 ( b5 is protected tactically - 19... Nd7 20.Bxb5 Qa5+)
20.Ra2 Sad necessity. With fine positional play Vassily came to advantage but now the clock readings will be very important as well - 0.30 0.13
20... Nb8 21.O-O Nc6 Veselin finally took his King away from the center but will face difficulties defending the dark squares.
22.Qd2 (22.Qc5 Qa5 23.Qxb5 Qxb5 24.Bxb5 Nb4 25.Rb2 Rxa3 is far from attractive.)
22... Qb6+ Driving the King further away in view of eventual endings.
23.Kh1 Qa5 The foreseen time trouble approaches: 0.09 0.08
24.Qxa5 Rxa5 25.Raa1 Defending from Nc6-b4 but Nc6-d4 wins a pawn. (25.Raa1 Nd4 26.Bd3 Rca8)
25... Rca8 Time: 0.07 0.04
26.Rad1 Rxa3 27.Bxb5 Nb4 28.c4 R8a5 0.05 0.02
29.f5 exf5 30.g4 Rxb3 31.gxf5 Re3 32.Rb1 Nd3 33.e6 d4 34.Be8 Nc5 35.Bxf7+ Kf8 36.f6 gxf6 37.Rxf6 Ke7 The last 10 moves were played in blitz tempo.The arbiter was recording in the frantic scramble. They've made it to the time control, the exact moves are still awaited.
38.Rh6 d3 39.Rxh7 d2 40.Rg1 ( Decisive error. 40.Kg2 was to be preferred.)
40... Re1 41.Bh5+ Kxe6 42.Rhg7 White is completely lost. After 42...Ne4 or 42...Nd3 no chances to save the game are to be found.
42... Ne4 43.R7g6+ Ke5 White resigned. A good game by Ivanchuk. He outplayed his opponent then in the mutual time trouble commited some errors but nevertheless managed to win after Topalov blundered on move 40.
0-1
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