Garech: Congrats to Martin Huber, a great win and one he will surely always remember!As a player of the KID, I have to say that this was painful to watch. Topalov, naturally, knows a lot more about chess than me, but he plays a series of moves here that I've come to realise are very dangerous in KID setups.
Firstly, 9...Nd7 - despite having the benefit of hindering white's c5 push, I have found that Ne8 is better because it doesn't block in the light squared bishop and keeps an eye on the c7 pawn/square, which is often more of an issue than white's c5 push (for example after b4, c5, cxd6 Rc1 and Nb5).
Secondly, 11...Kh8 - I assume this is to allow Ng8 and a subsequent rerouting of the knight, but as <superstoned> pointed out, 11...f4, instead, would have prevented white from getting his dark squared bishop to the g1-h7 diagonal so quickly, which is the ideal posting for the bishop in this line, especially on f2 (as white showed) where it plays both an attacking and defensive role.
Thirdly, 16...a6 - black just *cannot* afford to make this weakening on his queenside; if nothing else it allows a later Nb6, winning black's light squared bishop, which, as we all know, if a crucial component of black's kingside attack.
The ideal set up for black is Ne8, f5, Rf7-g7/h7 - keeping c7 under lock and key, and then the standard kingside pawnstorm in conjunction with Ng6 Qg5 and sacking the light squared bishop - wins every time!!
Cheers,
-Garech
Kibitzing
