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Veselin Topalov vs Levon Aronian
"Take a Pawn Hard Rook at That" (game of the day Jan-31-2006)
Corus Group A (2006), Wijk aan Zee NED, rd 10, Jan-25
Queen's Indian Defense: Fianchetto. Check Variation Intermezzo Line (E15)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 19 OF 19 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-10-09  mistreaver: can someone explain why black plays 5... Bb4+ just to withdraw the bishop a move later?it makes no sense to me
Mar-10-09  blacksburg: the idea is to force the bishop to d2, which is not the best square for it. of course, black loses a tempo, but white is going to lose a tempo eventually moving that bishop again. white can play Nbd2 to block the check, but that knight really wants to go to c3 instead.

so basically, the point of the check is to force white to put a piece on d2, which is not necessarily what he wants to do.

Mar-15-09  FiLiPiNoV: Topalov only shows how chess is full of exciting..
Aug-10-09  WhiteRook48: two bishops beat two rooks!!!
Oct-03-09  Agent Orange: Great chess lesson by Topalov.
Dec-15-09  sezori: <FiLiPiNoV> Topalov only shows how chess is full of exciting...**cough** exciting what? ^_^
Sep-03-10  Marmot PFL: This game is strange.Why can't black just play 30...Qxf6?
Sep-03-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eric Schiller: Queen on g4 cannot move to f6, of course. It is not a knight.
Sep-03-10  goldenbear: Obviously he meant 31.Qxf6. And the answer is that the endgame is obviously lost. The center pawns are too strong.
Dec-01-10  LIFE Master AJ: GeoCities went bust. The new page for this game (My former "Game of The Month" website.); would be:

http://www.ajschess.com/thegotmman/....

Dec-01-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Great game by Veselin Topalov.
Mar-15-12  pawnofdeath: what a game by topalov!!!! whoa amazing.
Oct-01-12  Tigranny: Never seen a game before where two bishops beat two rooks. Amazing by Topalov!
Oct-01-12  Jim Bartle: How about Granda-Zuniga vs Judit Polgar, 1992?
Apr-08-14  Mating Net: I get nostalgic for the Topalov of yester years when I see this game. What a performance. From a chess perspective, it's too bad he couldn't play anywhere close to this at the Candidates.
Nov-07-14  kia0708: "Take a Pawn Hard Rook at That"
INDEED :-)

ps.
the two White bishops are great

Jul-30-17  leroquentin: 31. Bc1!!
Jul-30-17  ChessHigherCat: <leroquentin: 31. Bc1!!>

I don't understand that move. Is the idea Qxf6 32. Qf6 gxf6 33. Kf2?

Aug-06-17  leroquentin: I think 31.Bc1 keeps the trade of the queens under white's control, taking the e3 square. And if ...Qxf6 32.Qxf6, them white just push the passed pawns.
Aug-06-17  ChessHigherCat: <leroquentin> Oh, I see: At first 31. d5 looks much better, but the problem is 31...Be4!. The point of Bc1 is that it forces the Q off the g file to escape from the pin.
Sep-20-17  jinkinson: Not often you see two Rxe4 exchange sacs in the same game. Amazing win by Topalov
Jun-07-20  paradoxicalenigma: 2020 and this game is still lit AF!
Jun-07-20  Ron: I had Stockfish 11 analyze after Black's 17th move. Would Stockfish play the exchange sacrifice like Topalov?

For the first split second Stockfish 11's first choice was Topalov's move 18. RxN. Then it favored Bb2, then favored Ne5, then favored Qc1

18. Qc1 Bf6
+ (0.29--) Depth=37/59 0:04:54 324 MN

I plugged in Topalov's 18. RxN and played the moves, for both sides, given by Stockfish:

18. Rxe4 dxe4 19. Ne5 Qd5 20. Qe1 Bf5 21. f3 e3 22. g4 f6 23. Nxc6 Qxc6 24. gxf5 Rfe8 25. b4 Qd7 26. Qe2 Qxf5 27. Rd1 Rbd8 28. Rd3 Bf8 29. Rxe3 Kf7 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. Qd2 Rd8 32. Bf1 a6 33. a4 bxa4 34. Bc4+ Ke8 35. Qd1 a3

Eval (0.00) Depth 34/15

My verdict: Another over-rated exchange sacrifice by Topalov

May-26-21  Xenon Oxide: <Ron> Always easy to do backseat driving with a superhuman engine turned on. Can you be so confident if you were facing this position OTB with no outside help?
May-26-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Hail, man, Ah'm just a hasbeenusetawas, but <Ah> woulda found everthing in a nannysecond--them computers got nuthin on mah great genius!
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