Magnus Carlsen vs Veselin Topalov (2008)

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Magnus Carlsen vs Veselin Topalov
Morelia-Linares (2008), Linares ESP, rd 12, Mar-04
English Opening: King's English. Four Knights Variation Flexible Line (A28) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 53 times; par: 67 [what's this?]

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Mar-05-08		hitman84: Topalov is not the only one who can create complications. Carlsen is playing this half very aggressively. Checkout his games against Ivanchuk, Shirov, Leko and Topalov. He pushed each one of them to the brink! I feel he simply should have gone for the draw against Leko. I'm glad to see more 1.e4 games from him.

Mar-05-08		Jimfromprovidence: I still like for black to try 33...Qd7 instead of 33...Kxg7. What follows is 34 Bh6 Nc6, below. click for larger view It's probably still a draw but black has a tiny edge to try to get a win.

Mar-05-08		Alex Patkowski: Carlsen is doing really well.

Mar-05-08		hitman84: I think its drawn. Here is a nice line(feel free to point out errors) 35.h3 Qf7 36.Be2 (threat Bf3 and Bxc6) c3 37.bxc3 Qe7 38.Qf2 Bf7 39.Bb5 Nd4 40.Bc4 b6<stopping Qc5> 41. Bf7+ Qf7 42.Qh4 Nc6 43.Qa4 Qd7 44.Qa3 Qe7 45.Qb3+ Qf7 46.Qa3 = White's Queen is very active. Black has to control the a3-f8 diagonal and the f-file. If black removes the Knight then white can take the a7 pawn leaving black to defend the 8th rank. I'd love to play as white in the position.

Mar-05-08		Eyal: <Eyal: Perhaps it was possible to retain more winning chances with 30...Bh8.> <acirce: Well, it would have retained considerable losing chances as well. I think the game continuation was the best> I should mention that according to Henrik Carlsen's blog, Magnus is also of the opinion that Topalov should have played Bh8 instead of c4+... (not that it proves anything by itself, of course). Carlsen's father also writes: <Magnus spent nearly 30 minutes investigating the alternatives Bh6, Bd8 and Qf2 and decided to play Bd8 with the combined threats of mate and attack against the knight on a5, thinking this would provide significant chances for a mistake by black. Interestingly Magnus got the impression that Topalov already considered his position lost at this moment and he fairly quickly responded Nc6??> (http://blog.magnuschess.com/1204717...) If Magnus' impression is right and Topalov actually noticed that he's mated after 34...Nc6, but failed to see that after 34...Qd5 White has nothing better than forcing draw by perpetual - then what happened at the end of this game really bears an uncanny resemblance to what happened last year at Linares, where Toplaov resigned in a drawn position in which the drawing resource also involved the move Qd5.

Mar-05-08		Eyal: <hitman84: [33...Qd7 34 Bh6 Nc6] 35.h3 Qf7 36.Be2 (threat Bf3 and Bxc6) c3 37.bxc3 Qe7 38.Qf2 Bf7 39.Bb5 Nd4 40.Bc4 b6<stopping Qc5> 41. Bf7+ Qf7 42.Qh4 Nc6 43.Qa4 Qd7 44.Qa3 Qe7 45.Qb3+ Qf7 46.Qa3 => 39...Nd4 doesn't make sense in this line because White simply plays 40.cxd4, but in any case 35...Nd8 - with the idea of bringing the knight to f7 - seems to give Black an advantage. In order to maintain the balance, White should probably play either 35.Bxc4+ or 35.Be2 immediately - where Black doesn't have time for 35...Nd8 because of 36.Bg4 followed by 37.Qxd8+! in case the queen retreats.

Mar-05-08		hitman84: uhh yes got the lines mixed up. Yes 35..Nd8 offers resistance but I don't know if its winning. White can just keep the knight pinned. I thought of Be2 but my main idea was to exchange the c6 knight. Black can play actively with.. 35.Be2 Qf5 36.h3 e4 or else white can again transpose with 36.Bc4+ Yes I feel Bxc4 is the best move. 35.Bc4+ Bc4 36.Qc4 Qf7 37.Qc1

Mar-05-08		Mendrys: This is a perfect example of one making their own luck. Carlsen's brilliant eye for tactics and the vigor in which he played gave Topolav plenty of room to go wrong. Carlsen is a half point behind Anand because he is a great player and is playing very solid chess, not because he is lucky.

Mar-05-08		geobel: I really dont know what happened with topa - he played very well and his position was really better.

Mar-05-08		hitman84: It was better, but more importantly bitter.

Mar-05-08		ajile: Carlsen will be world champion someday.

Mar-05-08		Ulhumbrus: <Eyal: <Ulhumbrus: One alternative is 27...Qb8, keeping the e5 pawn under attack, so that on 28 f5 Black has the move 28...Qxe5. Another possibility is 27...Qb6 at once in which case after 28 f5 fxe5 White cannot play f6 as he does not have a B on g5 yet.> 27...Qb8? is bad because it allows 28.Bxc5 - and unlike the game (with the black queen on d8), after 28...fxe5 White has time for 29.Bxf8, since his queen at h4 isn't under threat. 27...Qb6, on the other hand, might have been a better option for Black - though after 28.f5 fxe5 29.fxg6 Rxf1 30.Bxf1 hxg6 31.Qe7 White still seems to have strong initiative for the sacrificed pawns, and Black has to defend very carefully.> 31...Nc6 offers to return one of the pawns in order to remove the Queens as well as getting ready for ...Nd4 eg 32 Qxc5 Qxc5 33 Bxc5 a6

Mar-05-08		Ulhumbrus: After 30...Bh8 instead of 30...c4 one possibility is 31 Nc3 getting ready for Ne4 followed by f7+ and then Nf6+. On 31...Nc6 32 Bc4+ is possible.

Mar-05-08		Xaurus: <Carlsen is a half point behind Anand because he is a great player and is playing very solid chess, not because he is lucky.> I agree. He brings out the worst in an opponent. That takes skill and talent.

Mar-06-08		notyetagm: <Xaurus: <Carlsen is a half point behind Anand because he is a great player and is playing very solid chess, not because he is lucky.> I agree. He brings out the worst in an opponent. That takes skill and talent.> True, but it sure makes your life easy when your opponent's play 79 ... ♔f6-e5?? and 34 ... ♘a5-c6??, turning draws into losses. Those two draws-oops??-losses by Shirov and Topalov are the difference between Carlsen being +2 and +0.

Mar-06-08		notyetagm: Sometimes I am just completely amazed that someone who makes as many ??-blunders as Topalov could break the 2800-elo barrier. You -never- see the other top players like Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Aronian, etc. blunder like Topalov. I would almost dare say that Topalov makes as many ??-blunders as the rest of the top 10 -combined-.

Mar-06-08		Discerning King: 23.Rd4 Cunning!!... like it

Mar-06-08		Kaspablanca: hmmm. Is clear that carlsen won mainly because of terrible blunders by Shirov(he blocked his bishop that allowed carlsen promote to queen9 and Topalov( he had a better position but made a terrible blunder). Given these examples we can say carlsen is very lucky in this tournament.

Mar-07-08		notyetagm: <Kaspablanca: hmmm. Is clear that carlsen won mainly because of terrible blunders by Shirov(he blocked his bishop that allowed carlsen promote to queen9 and Topalov( he had a better position but made a terrible blunder). Given these examples we can say carlsen is very lucky in this tournament.> That is why the chess saying is that the player who played the best chess in the tournament is the player who finished -second-, implying that the person who finished first got the lucky breaks. I am just astonished at how many times this year that Carlsen has won from bad/lost/drawn positions. This drawn game against Topalov, the Van Wely game from Corus in which VW blew Magnus off the board and ended up losing, etc.

Mar-07-08		luzhin: "The good player is always lucky". Capablanca

Mar-07-08		notyetagm: <luzhin: "The good player is always lucky". Capablanca> True, but this is getting kind of ridiculous: Shirov's 79 ... ♔f6-e5?? Topalov's 34 ... ♘a5-c6?? the VW game at Corus What the hell?!

Mar-07-08		Xaurus: <notyetagm> What about Shirov giving the point away to Radjabov yesterday? I don't see you complain about that.

Mar-07-08		percyblakeney: It's not as if Carlsen never loses points on mistakes himself :-) He blundered when he lost against Radjabov and Leko in Linares, as against Anand and Leko (again) in Corus. Not as big mistakes of course, but when you get pressed into positions as the one Shirov had against Carlsen, where Shirov thought he was lost also without the final blunder, it's easier to make mistakes.

Mar-07-08		MrWhite: I think Topalov needs to be aggressive in order to use it as a kind of defense, if the opponent is the aggressor his play usually collapses. Pity but true.

Mar-07-08		notyetagm: <Xaurus: <notyetagm> What about Shirov giving the point away to Radjabov yesterday? I don't see you complain about that.> Blunders are going to happen, no doubt about it. It's just that it seems like every other day is Christmas for GM Carlsen recently.

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