| Jun-10-06 | | hellopolgar: this is what you call GM BLUNDER. |
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Jun-10-06
 | | KingG: He must have been in severe time trouble. |
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Jun-10-06
 | | notyetagm: <KingG: He must have been in severe time trouble.> Yes, ICC shows that after the howler 34  h4?? Topalov had 3:58 left on his clock while Vallejo had only 14 seconds. But still Vallejo had a 10 second increment added each move so you would expect a top GM to see the knight fork resulting after 34 h4?? (34 ...  f3+ and 35 ... x) within that added time. Nakamura would not have played 34 h4?? in an ICC 1 0 bullet game. Just goes to show you that the faster the time control, the stronger knights become. |
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| Jun-10-06 | | SneechLatke: Vallejo misses a great opportunity on move 32. Instead of 32.Nh6+?!, he could have tried 32.Ne7+! Qxe7 (if not, white simply takes the exchange with 33.Nxc8) 33.Rxg6+! fxg6 34.Qxe7 picking up the queen and obtaining what seems to be a decisive material advantage. |
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Jun-11-06
| | notyetagm: <SneechLatke: ... he could have tried 32.Ne7+! Qxe7 (if not, white simply takes the exchange with 33.Nxc8)> If White takes the Black c8-rook with 33 x , Black does not play 33 ... x?, losing the exchange. Instead Black replies with the <zwischenzug> 33 ... xe4!, forking the White f6-rook and g5-queen, winning back the rook with an extra pawn to boot. Since the White f6-rook is then lost, it becomes a <desperado>. White can use it to regain his pawn with the sequence 34 xg6+! hxg6 35 x x 36 b6. Material is then even but Black (Topalov) would then have a small advantage in the endgame since he will be able to easily make an outside passed pawn on the queenside with his a,b-pawns versus the White b-pawn. |
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| Jun-11-06 | | SneechLatke: <notyetagm> Yes, I overlooked 33...Nxe4, although I think you'll find that white is not forced to play 34.Rxg6?!, when, as you point out, he gets at best equal play. Instead, 34.Qxe5! looks like a good response. After (A) 34...Qxf6 35.Qxf6 Nxf6 36.Nd6 the black rook is overloaded and white wins a pawn. If (B) 34...Nxf6, then 35.Nd6! again looks like it gives white the advantage, as it is (1)threatening to take on b7, (2)keeping the black rook stuck defending f7, (3) keeping the queen stuck defending the f6 knight, which is (4) passive as it is pinned to the king. It also prepares Rd1 when the black queen comes under fire on the d-file. So it would appear that 33...Nxe4"!" only drags out the game a bit, though it is admittedly better than 33...Qxc8? |
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| Jun-11-06 | | sheaf: 33 Nxc8 Nf3+ 34. Rxf3 Qxg5 winning the exchange |
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| Jun-11-06 | | sheaf: Instead I think 33 Qxe5 is a serious threat and black has some serious problems. though I dont know whether that is sufficient to win for white |
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