Oct-21-10
 | | tamar: Topalov is garnering advantages, but letting them dissipate. This half point might be the difference, as Bacrot looks to the target in this grouping. 25...Nxe6 is too conservative, eliminating the passed pawn, but also wasting the opportunity to run pawns on both sides of the board, which would have impossible to cover. (25... hxg4! 26. e7 Rf7 27. Rxf4 Rxf4 28. Qxf4 gxh3 29. g3 Nd3 30. Qf6 Qxf6 31. Bxf6 Ne5 32. Bxe5 dxe5 33. Re1 exd4 34. Rxe4 dxc3 35. c5 Kf7 36. Re3 Rxe7 37. Rxc3 Ke6 38. cxb6 axb6 39. g4 Rh7 40. Kh2 Ke5 {Rybka Aquarium (0:12:19) -1.22|d21 {Black has the upper hand) 
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| Oct-21-10 | | Eyal: From chessvibes:
<“I get to play against a strong novelty again,” Bacrot lamented after his lucky escape against Topalov. The move Qe7 in the opening [instead of 14...Qf6, as played recently in D Jakovenko vs Bologan, 2010 ] was “very difficult to play over the board”. He couldn’t calculate it till the end, but Bacrot decided to go for 19.e4 anyway, and his gut feeling was right. But 22.fxg4? was a big mistake and while Topalov was thinking after 25.Bh4 the Frenchman suddenly saw why, but Topalov didn’t. “With White under pressure immediately, it’s difficult,” said Bacrot. He didn’t suffer from a jet lag: “A theory lag, maybe.”> 
click for larger view<25...Nxe6?
A big "phew" for the Frenchman. While Topalov was pondering over his 25th move, Bacrot suddenly saw that after the planned 25... hxg4 26. e7 Rf7 27. Rxf4 Rxf4 28. Qxf4 gxh3 29. g3 Black has the strong move 29... Nd3! because after 30. Qe3 Ne5 Black threatens 31...h2+ and 32...Ng4+. He considered this to be lost. The computer goes 31. Qf4 Ng4 32. Nf3 Qf5 33. Qxf5 Bxf5 34. a5 Be4 35. Nh2 Ne5 36. axb6 axb6 37. g4 and White might still hold but it's very difficult.> [In this 25...hxg4 line, in case of 30.Qe3 (instead of Rybka's recommendation of 30.Qf6, mentioned by <tamar>), the computer suggests 30...c5! as even stronger than ...Ne5, and after 31.Nf3 (in case of any other retreat, 31...Ne5 is crushing) there's 31...Rxe7! since 32.Bxe7 Qxg3+ leads to immediate mate.] |
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| Oct-21-10 | | Eyal: Some comments by Anish Giri on Topalov's play before move 25: <14...Qe7! Novelty! I was very much afraid that I would not be able to find the deep point of the move, but in fact it turned out to be simple. [after the main move 14...Qf6 White usually goes 15.f3 and now Black has to take on g3, since taking on d3 is bad – which is not the case with queen on e7! 15...Nxg3 (15...Nxd3? 16.fxe4 Nc5 17.e5! and Black will be crushed.) 16.hxg3 ] 18...Qh7! Beautiful defensive move. Now it's clear that the e6 pawn is in danger, and that means that White is in strategical danger as well. 21...g4!? Good move, in Topalov style. He doesn't want to play it slow, he just goes for it! [I am curious what would have been played by Bacrot after the automatic 21...a5!? for example 22.Qa2 Qg6 with advantage for Black]> (http://www.chessbase.com/news/2010/...) With regard to 21...a5, according to chessvibes Bacrot planned 22.Rfe1 Nxe6 23.Nxe6 Rxe6 24.Qb3 followed by 25.c5 and White will be able to attack Black's pawn structure. |
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| Oct-21-10 | | messachess: This game was probably somewhat of a moral victory for Bacrot, who, by the way, can surely play: Bacrot vs Aronian, 2009 |
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| Oct-31-10 | | ReikiMaster: 16.fxe4 Nc5 17.e5 dxe5 18.Nxe6 Nxe6 19.Rxf5 looks good for white. Granted, after 14...Qe7 this is not as forcing as it would be with Q on f6. Now black got the upper hand after 22...Bxe4 but was 22.fxg4 forced? |
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| Oct-31-10 | | Eyal: <16.fxe4 Nc5 17.e5 dxe5 18.Nxe6 Nxe6 19.Rxf5 looks good for white.> True, but 17...dxe5? in this line is a mistake - Black should play 17...0-0! instead (in case of dxe6 there's ...Be4 before recapturing, of course). And no, 22.fxg4 isn't forced, but White is already under pressure anyway - e.g., if he continues the Q-side play by 22.a5, he has to deal with 22...gxf3 23.gxf3 Nxe4! |
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Kibitzing
