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Veselin Topalov vs Alexander Morozevich
14th Amber Tournament: Rapid (2005)  ·  Queen's Gambit Declined: Albin Countergambit. Normal Line (D08)  ·  0-1
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Given 23 times; par: 65 [what's this?]

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sac: 21...Nxe3 PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Kibitzer's Corner
Mar-26-05  Hidden Skillz: albin once again does it ^^
Mar-26-05  azaris: More like Moro again hypnotizing his opponents to blunder in the endgame. 29. Rxa2 Rxe5 appears to hold.
Mar-26-05  iron maiden: Indeed, looks like Topalov missed the opportunity to establish opposite-colored bishops. It's to be expected, I guess, since he was virtually out of time at that point.
Mar-27-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: Topalov could have had a win after Morozevich castled into a weakened castled position with 17...0-0-0? 18. Ba7! Qg4 (better is 18...Rxd3!? 19. Qxd3 ) <19. Na4!.>

However, Topalov strayed with a less than best move in <19. e4,> and missed the winning followup 19.Na4! Rxd3 20.Nb6+ Kd8 21.Qxd3+ Nd6 22. Bb8! . Without the time pressure of a rapid game, I suspect Topalov would have found this winning line.

Mar-27-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  patzer2: Black's <21...Nxe3!> turns out to be a strong defensive move, turning the game from a White advantage to at least equality for Black. The alternative 21...Qg4? 22.Be2 Nxe3 23.Bxg4 Nxc2 24.Nxe6 fxe6 25.Bxe6 allows White to win.

It appears White would have held after <27.Nc6!> Bc4 28.Bd3 Bd5 29.f6 gxf6 30.Bf5+ Be6 31.Be4 Bc4 32.Ra1 Bc5+ 33.Kg2 Re8 34.Bf5+ Kb7 35.Nxa5+ bxa5 36.Bxc5 Re5 37.Bxh7 Rxc5 38.Rxa5 Bxb5 39.Be4+ Kb6 40.Ra2= (=0.13 @ 15 depth move-by-move with Fritz 8).

I'm not sure <azaris> if <29. Rxa2!?> holds. It looks promising, and is White's best try in the position, but when I played it out with Fritz 8 White won. This possibility makes me suspicious that 29. Rxa2!? may be just a bit too late to hold the draw:

29.Rxa2!? Rxe5 30.f6 gxf6 31.Bxh7 Kb7 32.Bxb6 Kxb6 33.Bd3 f5 34.Kg2 Re3 35.Bf1 Ra3 36.Rxa3 Bxa3 37.Bc4 a4 38.Kf3 Kc5 39.Bxf7 Kxb5 40.Kf4 c5 41.Ba2 c4 42.Ke3 Kb4 43.Kd2 Bb2 44.Bb1 Bd4 45.Kc2 a3 46.Ba2 Bg1 47.h4 Bf2 48.h5 Bxg3 49.h6 Be5–+ (-10.31 based on a move-by-move with Fritz 8 @ 16 depth)

However, I wouldn't be surprised if there is not an improvement in here to hold the draw with 29. Rxa2!? for White.

Dec-22-05  Whitehat1963: Crazy game.
Dec-31-05  azaris: Maybe instead of 36.Rxa3 White can avoid the exchange of rooks, keep his rook on the 2nd rank, put his bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal to keep the black king at bay, and use the king to protect his pawns. Worth investigating.
Sep-22-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  kellmano: What an excellent game, for 16 moves, Topa has an extra bishop, though it may as well not be on the board.
Mar-03-07  shintaro go: I didn't know Albin Countergambit is still played at top level chess. I'm glad to see that it still works despite its relative anonymity with other openings. Albin provides entertaining chess no doubt.
Jan-01-08  arnaud1959: One of those crazy openings where either side says:"Take my pawn" "No thanks, take mine" "No,No take mine".... Something that you can expect in a Topalov-Morozevich game.
Mar-29-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  sallom89: < arnaud1959: One of those crazy openings where either side says:"Take my pawn" "No thanks, take mine" "No,No take mine".... Something that you can expect in a Topalov-Morozevich game.>

i hate those kinds of openings :p

Aug-29-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  sreeskamp: Power to the bishops
Aug-29-09  WhiteRook48: well there's also King's Gambit Declined with Falkbeer: 1 e4 e5 2 f4 d5...
Apr-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  hoodrobin: <sallom89: i hate those kinds of openings :p> So you don' participate in The Albin thematic challenge, do you?
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