Veselin Topalov vs Alexander Morozevich (2013)

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Veselin Topalov vs Alexander Morozevich
FIDE Grand Prix Beijing (2013), Beijing CHN, rd 11, Jul-16
Philidor Defense: General (C41) · 1-0

Move:

Last:

Given 6 times; par: 72 [what's this?]

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Jul-16-13		Pomario: Clutch win by Topalov. It moved him up to =3rd in the Beijing tournament standings. More importantly, the last round victory was worth an extra 30 Grand Prix points (as compared to if Topalov had drawn his last round game), and he earns 100 grand Prix points from his finish in Beijing. That is just good enough to give him a total of 410 Grand Prix points. In turn, 410 points is enough to clinch 1st Place in the Grand Prix, and so win one of the spots in the Candidates' event. Topalov had a very uneven tournament, but he ultimately accomplished what he set out to do. Moro played the same line of the Philidor Defense that Giri had tried against Wang Hao. Topalov, wisely, opted not to play the Bxf7+ tactic. Instead, he just squeezed Morozevich for space. It just was a very poor effort by Moro, and it will probably cost somebody a slot in the Candidates....

Jul-16-13		FairyPromotion: <Pomario> Spot on! It just doesn't get more clutch than this. Topa was in a semi must win situation, and he delivered. Btw, I love the position after <31. Qd1>: click for larger view Alekhine's Sniper!! :D

Jul-16-13		JohnBoy: Not quite, <Pomario>. Giri swapped on d4. This difference is critical.

Jul-16-13		Gilmoy: Even more startling about Topa's Gun is that he gets there with a <fork 30.Qf3> sniping at Moro's weak Q-side. Topalov's clear thinking is instructive in its farsightedness. <17.Re2> avoids the Bh4 skewer, freeing the <18.f4> thrust. <19.Nf5> cedes b3, knowing he'll eventually get d6 + d for it. <7.a4 29.Nb5> blocks the Q from a4, and later blocks the Rb8 from b2. <22.h4> is "outnumbered" 2-3, but has hidden support from tactics centering on the pawn storm + weak d6: 22..Nxh4 23.Nxe7 Qxe7 24.f5 22..Bxh4 23.Nxh4 Nxh4 24.f5 and Black can't answer all of 25.Bg5, 25.f6, 25.Rxd6. Or: 22..Bxh4 23.Nxh4 Qxh4 24.Qxh4 Nxh4 25.f5 <no escape> and 26.g3 wins the N.

Jul-16-13		notyetagm: Topalov vs Morozevich, 2013 Game Collection: TOPALOV'S BEST GAMES A clutch win for Topa that wins the 2012-13 Grand Prix series

Jul-16-13		csmath: Only Morozevich can play Philidor on this level with a poker face and get his ... kicked while keeping that poker face. :-)

Jul-16-13		Pomario: Not quite, <Pomario>. Giri swapped on d4. This difference is critical. True, the position is slightly different, and even slight differences can be "critical".... But the Bxf7+ is playable in both of these (related) lines. Wang Hao took up the challenge and played Bxf7+. Wang ended up with a position where he had a slight disadvantage--before Giri started making serious blunders. The circumstance of the Bxf7+ (& Ng5) sacrifice in the Topalov--Moro game is such that Topalov could have sacced the Bishop, and achieved a position that is about equal, or perhaps slightly disadvantageous. The resulting position for White should be no worse than the slight disadvantage that Wang Hao achieved. The difference is that Topalov, quite reasonably, feared Moro's preparation. Without any surprise value, the upside merits of the bishop sacrifice are rather limited. Topalov decided to play normal lines, pragmatically, and start off with the normal, rather pleasant, White advantage in the Philidor. I suspect that Moro wanted to have a tactical tilt, but did not mentally prepare for a long, grinding defense. It was a weird game... Topalov played well, but Moro was strangely compliant with his fate.

Jul-16-13		notyetagm: Topalov vs Morozevich, 2013 And Topa wins the Grand Prix in style, by wiping his archenemy Moro off the board. In case you don't know it, Topalov and Moro hate each other.

Jul-16-13		Pomario: "In case you don't know it, Topalov and Moro hate each other." I didn't know that. I knew about Topalov's hatred of Kramnik, and frosty relations with Anand, and the handshake business with Nigel Short.... Why are Topalov and Morozevich on bad terms? (Of course, Topalov is probably not friends with anybody on the elite chess circuit.

Jul-16-13		plang: I have never heard anyone say that Topalov and Anand are on bad terms.

Jul-16-13		csmath: <Why are Topalov and Morozevich on bad terms?> It goes back to San Luis where Moro made some allusions about Topalov cheating through the tournament. That was really unfortunate as Topalov had throughout his career better results than Morozevich. So the bad blood stays. I don't think Anand has bad relations with anybody. He has too much of a class for that. Anand has not made bad comments about anybody even when he had good reasons to do that. Anand is absolutely the biggest gentleman in the chess today and one of the classiest players that ever played the game.

Jul-16-13		notyetagm: <csmath: <Why are Topalov and Morozevich on bad terms?> It goes back to San Luis where Moro made some allusions about Topalov cheating through the tournament. That was really unfortunate as Topalov had throughout his career better results than Morozevich. So the bad blood stays.> For Topalov the only thing better than beating Moro to win the Grand Prix would be to beat Kramnik to become the challenger. :-)

Jul-16-13		notyetagm: <plang: I have never heard anyone say that Topalov and Anand are on bad terms.> That's news to me.

Jul-17-13		Monoceros: I've experimented with setups like this as Black, getting into them much as Morozevich as here with 1...d6 and 2...Nf6, and, well, it's ambitious but rubbish, isn't it? The d6 Pawn easily becomes weak, just as it does here, and White can easily pile up against it.

Jul-17-13		FairyPromotion: <Pomario: "In case you don't know it, Topalov and Moro hate each other." I didn't know that. I knew about Topalov's hatred of Kramnik, and frosty relations with Anand, and the handshake business with Nigel Short.... Why are Topalov and Morozevich on bad terms? (Of course, Topalov is probably not friends with anybody on the elite chess circuit.> I think it dates to even before the Elista match. When asked in 2005 about who are the candidates to win the Chess Oscar Morozevich replied: "1. Rybka, 2. Hydra, 3. Danailov". Some people took it as an accusation that Topalov was cheating. In their first game after the Kramnik-Topalov match, in Linares 2007 round 7, Topalov offered a handshake, and Morozevich refused. I think they don't ever talk, or shake hands since. In none of the 3 games during the Grand Prix series (all won by Topalov) Morozevich didn't join the press conferences (even though it is mandatory for both players to be there), and only today did he appear after Topalov finished, and didn't give any comments about the game, except for some general thanks to organizers and FIDE. See: http://beijing2013.fide.com

Jul-17-13		HowDoesTheHorsieMove: notyetagm:<In case you don't know it, Topalov and Moro hate each other.> Which is why, I think, there were two press conferences for that game. One for Topalov and one for Morozevich.

Jul-17-13		Pomario: "I think they don't ever talk, or shake hands since. In none of the 3 games during the Grand Prix series (all won by Topalov)" Thanks for the background info. It appears that Topalov manages to feed off of the hate, while Morozevich is perhaps perturbed by the underlying tensions. In any case, Moro seems somehow adversely affected, as his results vs. Toplalov are rather worse than would be predicted by ELO

Jul-17-13		GrandMaesterPycelle: For me, all this intrigue makes Topalov all the more likeable :) That and his witch-like voice.

Jul-17-13		MeatGrinder: There is bad blood between Topa and Moro because it was Moro who started the cheating allegations against Topa after San Luis. They seem to shake hands now though, from Zug - http://www.chessbase.com/Portals/4/...

Jul-17-13		notyetagm: <GrandMaesterPycelle: For me, all this intrigue makes Topalov all the more likeable :) That and his witch-like voice.> Yes, neither Topalov nor his chess are dull. And like I said before, Topalov is not afraid of losing. He lost this terrible game and then came right back next round to crush Moro and win the Grand Prix. If you want someone who is afraid of losing, then Leko is your man.

Jul-17-13		notyetagm: Topalov vs Morozevich, 2013 22 ? click for larger view 22 h3-h4! click for larger view (VARIATION) 22 ... ♗e7xh4 23 ♘f5x♗h4 click for larger view 23 ... ♕d8x♘h4 24 ♕g3x♕h4 ♘g6x♕h4 click for larger view 25 f4-f5! <denial: g6-sq> click for larger view http://www.chessvibes.com/mamedyaro... <22... Bxh4 23. Nxh4 Qxh4 24. Qxh4 Nxh4 25. f5 Topalov>

Jul-17-13		csmath: Topalov has proven thoughout his career that he is better than Moro so any conflict between the two goes as "credit" to Morozevich, I'd say. When somebody beats you fair and square and makes no noise about that you should be quiet too. :-)

Jul-17-13		notyetagm: <csmath: ... When somebody beats you fair and square and makes no noise about that you should be quiet too. :-)> LOL

Oct-04-13		Guitar1352: Can someone please tell me why, at move 15, black did not play c5? I mean, it stops the discovered attack on the knight on b6, so there would be no Nxe6, right? Am I right when I say that the reason he didn't play 15... c5 was because he would be giving up most of the centre as none of his(black's)pieces are working on that central d4 square whereon the white knight stands?

Sep-11-14		wordfunph: "Here, two moves after the time control, my opponent walked around watching the remaining games for about 10 minutes and then signed the scoresheet without shaking hands. Nor did he show up at the press conference after the game, just as after his loss against me in Zug." - Veselin Topalov Source: NIC Magazine 2013 #6

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A *clutch* win for Topa that wins the 2012-13 Grand Prix series
from TOPALOV'S BEST GAMES by notyetagm