Anand - Topalov World Championship Match (2010)

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Anand vs Topalov, 2010
Sofia, Bulgaria

After defeating Gata Kamsky in the eight-game challenger match, Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov once again found himself preparing for a World Championship title match. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from April 24 to May 13, 2010. The title match was mostly following the format of Anand-Kramnik 2008 and Kramnik-Topalov 2006 in that 12 games would be played, with a series of successively faster tiebreak rounds if needed. Topalov demanded that the match be played in silence, in the style of the "Sofia Rules" which require draws to be mitigated by an arbiter.

Vishy Topalov 2010
Anand defends his title in enemy territory.

According to FIDE regulations, reigning champion Viswanathan Anand had the right to refuse Sofia as a suitable location, as that would give Topalov the "home field" advantage. However, Anand raised no objections. The match was delayed due to air travel disruptions caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull, which offset the entire schedule by one day.^[1]

The match was grueling and dynamic, with five decisive games, and some unexpected surprises in the openings. Topalov got off to a great start, demolishing Anand's Grunfeld in the first game in only 30 moves. Anand struck back in game two demonstrating his mastery of the Catalan opening, and in game four took the lead, but the ever-aggressive Topalov seemed to have a psychological edge even while trailing. Tied 5.5 apiece, Anand chose the drawish Lasker Defense of the Queen's Gambit for the last game, and quickly equalized. In an effort to create winning chances, Topalov captured the pawn offered by Anand. Topalov soon found himself defending against a sharp attack and lost, thereby ending the match without the need for tiebreaks.

"Vishy" once again defended his title. In a post-match interview Anand mentioned that in addition to his normal team of seconds, he also received help in preparation from Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.

click on a game number to replay game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Anand 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1

Topalov 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0

FINAL SCORE: Anand 6½; Topalov 5½
Reference: game collection FIDE World Chess Championship, Sofia, 2010

NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]

    · Game #4     Anand vs Topalov, 2010     1-0
    · Game #12     Topalov vs Anand, 2010     0-1
    · Game #1     Topalov vs Anand, 2010     1-0

FOOTNOTES

Wikipedia article World Chess Championship 2010

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 2 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-01-11		rapidcitychess: Great match. I'm looking forward to Anand-Kramnik 2012.

Feb-03-11		crazybird: <London withdraws 2012 World Chess Championship Bid - Bid Withdrawn: IM Malcolm Pein has released a statement on ... http://bit.ly/i4nyOU >

Feb-03-11		crazybird: For some reason the press release on London's withdrawl from hosting 2012 WCC match is no longer accessible at TWIC site. Here's an excerpt from another site. <IM Malcolm Pein has released a statement on behalf of Chess Promotions Ltd of which he his CEO announcing that they could not arrive at an agreement with the International Chess Federation FIDE to host the World Chess Championships in London in 2012. After lengthy negotiations with FIDE they put a proposal to the organisation and a final deadline of Saturday 29th January 2011. Once that deadline passed without agreement they had to withdraw from the process as they felt there was too little time left to organise the event properly.>

Feb-04-11		crazybird: Some additional interesting comments by IM Malcolm Pein about London's withdrawl as WCC host <Just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words about the London Chess Classic. As ever on a message board there is a lot of uninformed speculation even if some of it is plausible. Kristian Pade Frederiksen�s remarks about the reasons we didn�t reach agreement with FIDE are based on reasonable assumptions and some hard facts, I have certainly said some harsh things about K I but Kristian Pade�s conclusion is wrong. I had a note from the man himself just before the deadline but it wasn�t his signature on the contract, so that was it, offer expired. They were still keen to do the match in London but the time for talking and negotiating was over. Whatever they think about I have written, the chunky sanctioning fee and the opportunity to be running this event in the shadow of the Olympics whose recognition they desperately crave, was more than enough incentive for them. Judging from the horrified reaction, they were not expecting a withdrawal but some people mean what they say. I gave them a deadline and they didn�t meet it. Cheers Malcolm Pein > http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/l...

Mar-02-11		Ogma: <It makes sense to make the World Champion have to qualify for the Title match.> Yes, it makes a kind of sense. It makes sense also that the World Champion doesn't have to. It sits right with me, and it's what a lot of chess fans prefer. It puts a high value on the title, which is good. If the World Champion no longer deserves the title, then they will be beatable, but I want to see a proper match. What is the point of a long match between two players neither of whom are defending the title. The World Championship match has the prestige and the romance (which isn't incidental) and captavates the fans. Of course there should be a level playing field for the challenge, which seems to be a problem, but not really one caused by the players themselves.

Mar-20-11		jullios paras: That's a champ's behavior! No excuses! Regardless of the time and place!

Jun-11-11		positionalgenius: I think its amusing that Kasparov, Kramnik and carslen all helped anand prepare for this match

Jun-29-11		Jacob50: topalov is idiot, id be happy to tie champ, then im cochamp!

Jun-30-11		Petrosianic: If the match had ended with the 6-6 tie, you'd be right. And if he became co-champ in that case.

Aug-24-11		ProjectR: I agree with carlsen here as far as playing for the championship goes.. In football last year spain won the world cup..In 2014 when the world cup's held again,spain like the other qualifiers will have to play against 6 other teams before reaching the final to again be worthy enough to challenge for the trophy..Its the same with most other sport,be it tennis,rugby,or darts !! Only seeding should be taken into question in my opinion

Sep-14-11		fischer2009: @ ProjectR :Please,either you do not know of the legacy,power and rights that is associated with a WORLDCHAMPION in chess,which had been there from the time a WORLDCHAMPION existed in chess or you are out of your mind.There are some things that you shouldnt compare and CHESS n FOOTBALL is certainly one of them.Carlsen didnt want to play and he didnt play and so he managed to find the dumbest excuses for doing so.

Sep-28-11		Hesam7: Looking back after 1.5 years I have a very different impression from the match. Back then the match seemed very close match. Now it seems that Anand was simply better. Beside the 3 games he won he had winning positions in games 7 & 9 (the first one is specially impressive given that the opening went perfectly for Topalov). In game 11 instead of a draw Anand went for a very sharp endgame with a pawn sacrifice a decision many would not go for I think.

Nov-03-11		Badmojo: What is up with these wimp 12 game matches? 24 games is the historic number and 24 games is what it should be. This is ridiculous.

Nov-03-11		Badmojo: Fischer209, that is a great reply and you're right. Compare chess to boxing. Does the heavyweight champion of the world need to qualify to defend his title? No, it's his until someone comes and takes it away from him or he gives it up.

Nov-03-11		rapidcitychess: No, please do not compare chess to boxing. >.<

Dec-22-11		talisman: <Hesam7> you said it right.

May-18-12		Edeltalent: <notyetagm: Great match. Looking forward to Anand-Aronian London 2012.> <rapidcitychess: Great match. I'm looking forward to Anand-Kramnik 2012.> And then along came Gelfy!

Apr-02-13		Caissanist: Besides the factors mentioned by <Hesam7>, it is also worth remembering that Anand's arrival was delayed by more than one day--I'm sure he asked for more than one day's postponement after an exhausting trip across the continent, I believe they had to drive rather than fly. The organizers only agreed to one however, and he was probably not physically or psychologically prepared for the first game.

Apr-02-13		Caissanist: One factor that obviously favored Anand, though, was the rapid tiebreaker, since he is a much better rapid player than Topalov. Anand did not seem to be in as good physical condition as Topalov, as evidenced by his failures in the game 7 and 9 endgames; in a longer match Topalov might have been able to wear him down, but instead he took some big risks in game 12 to try to win without playing fast games.

Apr-12-16		The Kings Domain: Anand should have retired after the match. It would have been the most perfect exit to cap a great career.

Apr-12-16		SetNoEscapeOn: Vishy doesn't give a damn about his "legacy" or what patzers think about him. He should play as long as he enjoys playing, like Karpov, Korchnoi, and Smyslov before him. And certainly I respect him a lot more for not running just because a new kid showed up on the block.

Mar-25-18		tgyuid: just take the bishop

Mar-25-18		tgyuid: then its gone d'you know what I mean

Mar-25-18		tgyuid: oh, the guilt

Mar-26-18		Petrosianic: <SetNoEscapeOn: Vishy doesn't give a damn about his "legacy" or what patzers think about him. He should play as long as he enjoys playing,> I've heard a half dozen calls for Aronian to retire too. In a live chat, it's amazing the things you hear from people who supposedly like chess. They want everybody to retire, can't bear to watch a game go on even one move after they've decided how it will end, and constantly whine how boring the game is, when the eval is roughly even.

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