Oct-28-10
 | | Sularus: Topa was probably hoping to do another knight sac like this one: see 12. Nxf7
Topalov vs Kramnik, 2008
It's good that Anand not just neutralized his home cooking but "almost" won the game as well. |
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Oct-28-10
| | Sularus: Is 17. Be3 really the best move for white? |
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| Oct-28-10 | | jussu: It took some time for me to realise that 30. Rd2?? loses to 30...c3. |
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| Oct-28-10 | | znsprdx: I think Anand just had a good laugh at Topalov...with h3 inviting the sac - in effect saying "hit me with your best shot" and you've got nothing <Sularus:> re: Topa-Kram 12.Nxf7
was refuted the next day
I suspect this sac will be refuted shortly - or it will become the "fried kidney" variation...:) |
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Oct-28-10
 | | Marmot PFL: The sac looks like good opening preparation by the Bulgarian team. Take away that and Topalov would be about 2650. |
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| Oct-28-10 | | rapidcitychess: Good Evening: Aha! The Kinghunt attack! Found by the legendary <Kinghunt>! It has already been refuted, but not without deep computer analysis! |
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Oct-28-10
 | | plang: In Carlsen's blog he referred to Topalov using a "known knight sacrifice" so I suspect that the sacrifice was not "opening preparation". |
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Oct-28-10
 | | parmetd: whats the refutation znsprdx? Cause it won game of the year and novelty of the year and to this day is still played in correspondence all of which leads me to believe Nxf7 still isn't refuted (and CERTAINLY wasn't refuted 'the next day'). Though of course many improvements have been found (including the next day). |
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Oct-28-10
 | | badest: <parmetd: whats the refutation znsprdx? Cause it won game of the year and novelty of the year and to this day is still played in correspondence all of which leads me to believe Nxf7 still isn't refuted (and CERTAINLY wasn't refuted 'the next day'). Though of course many improvements have been found (including the next day).> Maybe he is referring to a game by two 2500 GMs the next day or so, in which the sac lost. But that was a game with numerous other errors if I recall correctly. So I am also very curious about the "real" refutation... |
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Oct-28-10
| | percyblakeney: <The sac looks like good opening preparation by the Bulgarian team. Take away that and Topalov would be about 2650.> He did win Linares this year less than two months before the title match, and I doubt that the Bulgarian team spent too much time on other things than the match back then. |
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Oct-28-10
 | | Eyal: The 12.Nxf7 sac was repeated the next day after the Topalov-Kramnik game in the "geriatric" section of Corus: Timman vs Ljubojevic, 2008, but White played there very poorly - so the game is mostly a curiosity without much theoretical importance one way or the other. The sac has been played several times since, including Shirov vs Karjakin, 2008 (but of course it doesn't have anymore the surprise value that it had for Topalov, which was quite big even regardless of its objective value). Interestingly, as was pointed out on the main page of the tournament, the 15...Nxf2 sac of this game has been analyzed about a month ago in
User: Kinghunt as a
possible response by Black in the ongoing correspondence game vs. Pogonina. |
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Oct-28-10
| | parmetd: I do believe the 17... Rhg8 was an improvement discussed during the postmortem by Kramnik and Timman and Ljubojevic so it was funny that Timman went for it the next day after having participated in a postmortem with his opponent on this very line. |
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Oct-28-10
| | Eyal: Ah yes, Ljubo did improve on Kramnik's play, Timman though didn't play well. Maybe he wasn't paying enough attention during the postmortem... |
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| Oct-28-10 | | s4life: <Marmot PFL: The sac looks like good opening preparation by the Bulgarian team. Take away that and Topalov would be about 2650> What a stupid comment |
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| Oct-28-10 | | Everett: Certainly a "victory" for black, in that he put heat on white and forced a draw. |
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Oct-29-10
| | Eyal: Position after 23...bxc4:
click for larger viewHere Anand could have played more ambitiously for the win with <24.Qd4> - the difference from 24.Qd6 being that after 24...Qf5+ White can play 25.Kg2 and hold on to the K-side pawns: 25...Bb7+ (25...Re8 26.Rd2) 26.Kh2 and the white queen covers the f2 square, as well as defending against a lethal ...Qe4. Engines are quite optimistic about White's chances, but from the human point of view it's unpleasant to go on playing with such an exposed king, especially in a line such as 24...Qe6 25.g4 c3!? followed by 26...Qxe2+ if White takes on c3. |
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Oct-29-10
| | Eyal: ...Well, I've just seen footage from the press conference where Anand says he probably should have played 24.Qd4, and that when he played Qd6 he missed something, thinking his king could eventually escape the checks. |
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Kibitzing