Here's how I describe trolls as they are called on this website and others. Note that some trolls are extremely clever and can sometimes disguise their intentions for long periods of time. Point is the troll isn't interested in resolving disputes. They are interested in starting them. The dispute is what turns them on and gets them attention. They will start an argument over anything to get the ball rolling. Small semantic errors work pretty good for example. So reasoning/debating with a troll is a waste of time and counterproductive. So this is where the term "don't feed the trolls" comes from. Once they are identified the best course of action is to ignore them. If you stop feeding them they starve and go elsewhere.

i starred long at the position after blacks move 41 (with brain and comp). i think its best to reroute the queen to the e-file and then slowly bring the pieces to better positions. in this case i think it would have been hard for black to hold the draw, e.g.

42.Qa4 Qd5+ 43.Kf1 Qe6 44.Qd1 Qf6 45.Qe1 Kg7 46.Kg2 Kf7 47.Ne4 Qe6 48.Qf2+ Kg6 49.Qf3

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of course black has chances due to the reduced material, but if i had to bet, i would say its a win for white

The chess vibes page quotes the analysis of Qa4 which Shipov has given in his crestbook page : < 42 Qa4! Qd5+ <42...d2+ 42 Qc2+> 43 Kf1 Qe6 44 Qa2! Qd5 < 44...Qc6 45 Qa1! Qd5 46 Qe1!> 45 Qa6+ Kg7 46 Qa7+ Kg6 47 Qe3! > (Shipov)

Here is my explanation of the analysis.

Black draws because he is able to keep White's King out of e2 because from this square White's King can help to stop or capture Black's d2 pawn. If The White King can do that, Black loses because either the d2 pawn falls, or else the White Queen and Knight become freed to attack Black's King, or both.

Converse Black loses if he allows White's King to come to e2 where at the cost of repetition, he can help to stop or capture the d2 pawn and free White's Q and N to attack Black's King.)

After 42 Qa4 the advance 42...d2 allows the fork Qc2+, so Black has to support the advance...d2 by 42...Qd5+ first.

That however removes the Black Queen from the e file and 43 Kf1 heads for e2 (eg 43...d2 44 Ke2)

So 43...Qe6 stops the King from coming closer.

Then 42 Qa2 keeps the Black Q tied to the defence of the c4 pawn and covers e2.

If the Black Queen now keeps possession of the 6th rank by 42...Qc6, 43 Qa1 heads for e1 and on 44...Qd5 45 Qe1 the advance of the d pawn allows White's King to reach e2: 45...d2 46 Qe8+ Kg7 47 Ke2!.

<White is better now, but I think with 39.Qa2 he could have had a substantial advantage. The threat of Nxd3 gained a tempo, and after something like 39...Qd5 40.Qa7 Qe6 41.Qd4 his beautifully centralized queen gives him a nice edge. Now White's still a little better after 41.fxg4, but 41...d2 ties White down enough to make it very hard for him to make progress. That's why it was so great for him to get in Qd4 in the 39.Qa2 line.>

Yeah, I think 44.Qd1 is an improvement on Shipov's 44.Qa2 (where, as mentioned in my previous post, Black can apparently save himself by 44...Kg7) - this way the queen gets faster to the e-file; if Black tries 44...Kf6, to meet 45.Qe1 with a queen exchange and Ke5, leading to a draw, then White has 45.Qf3+ followed by Ne4/Qe4.

I must say, Anand must be one of the best defenders in the world. He didn't put a foot wrong in his defensive efforts, and just missed out on tipping the balance in his favour later in the game.

It was psychologically interesting that both players refused immediate drawing lines to continue to strive for the win. This was chess at it's fighting best!!

Since the first game, Anand hasn't really been troubled, but Topalov put him under the cosh for a while in this game. He threw everything AND the kitchen sink at Anand, but Anand's defensive move were extreme quality, and he seems to be in top form.

What can Topalov do now to break through and equalise the scores? I'm not sure, but one thing is clear, Topalov is going to fight to the death in this match.

What a great struggle between these two chess giants. It's enthralling and addictive.

One minute everybody is talking about Topalov's passive opening play, and the next minute he his releasing his bombs. This is going to be a memorable second half of the match I'm sure.

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qRO...

Part 2

After 9...b5

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10.Nxc6 Nxc6 11.Bxc6 Ba6 12.Bxa8 Qxa8 13.a3 Qc6 14.Nc3 Bb7 15.f3 Rd8 16.Qc2 Rxd4 17.Be3 Rd7 18.Bxa7 Ng4 19.Kh1 Bc5 20.Bxc5 Qxc5 21.Ne4 Bxe4 22.Qxe4 Ne3 23.Qa8+ Qf8 24.Qxf8+ Kxf8 25.Rfe1 Rd2 26.Rab1 e5 27.Kg1 f5 28.Kf2 f4 29.gxf4 exf4 30.Rg1 h6 (0.85) Depth: 23/56 00:04:48 185mN

And that line results in this position:

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Of course no sane human would go into this endgame as black, because is, at least, lost, so an improvement may be needed. For example, I´m very critical of the 11...Ba6 RobboLito suggests, or 16...Rd4 or 19...Bd5, losing the B pair for nothing.

After 20.Rxa7

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20...Re8 21.Kg2 Bd6 22.Bc1 h6 23.Nd2 Bc5 24.Ra2 d3 25.Ne4 f5 26.Nc3 Qb3 27.Bd2 Bd4 28.Qb1 Bxc3 29.Bxc3 Re2+ 30.Kh1 Qb7 31.Qf1 Re3 32.Kg2 Re2+ 33.Kg1 Qb6+ 34.Kh1 Qe3 35.Ra1 Kh7 36.Rd1 Qb6 = (0.23) Depth: 23/56 00:06:30 259mN

After 21.Kh1

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21...Qxb2 22.Qe1 h6 23.Na3 c3 24.Bf4 d3 25.Rxe7 Rxe7 26.Qxe7 d2 27.Qe8+ Kh7 28.Qe4+ Kg8 29.Qa8+ Kh7 30.Qe4+ = (0.00) Depth: 25/58 00:08:14 345mN

It forces a draw by perpetual check by White. Still Kh1 remains misterious: did Anand think that it had threat potential from, say, a7-g1 diagonal? Or rather he thought that Kg2 could have been extensively analized by Topa (as the position where the K had to be in order to be attacked as he planned)and decided to try this nuance so that Topa had to think more and, most important get out of his "book".

About the B response, maybe Topa new, or found out, about how drawish Qxb2 was and tried to avoid it. That would "explain" the awkward 21...Bf8

After 24...h6, 25.Qh3 would have been very strong, but that line has been posted somewhere else.

Despite the position, during the middlegame, looking very dinamic and full of tension, engines don´t give more than tiny advantage for white, nothing good enough to score a point.

After 27...Qa4

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29.Ra1 Qb5 30.Rd1 Qe5 31.Nxc4 Qxc3 32.Nd6 Qc2 33.Ne4 f5 34.Rc1 Rxh2+ 35.Kg1 Rg2+ 36.Kh1 Rh2+ = (0.00) Depth: 26/63 00:08:03 355mN

Again, draw by perpertual, this time forced by black

After 29.Ne4

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29...f5 30.Rd2 fxe4 31.Rxe2 dxe2 32.Qxe2 Qa1+ 33.Kg2 Qxc3 34.Qxe4 Qb2+ 35.Kf1 Qb5 36.Kf2 Qc5+ 37.Ke2 Kh8 38.Qe8+ Kh7 39.Qe3 Qc7 40.Qe4+ g6 41.Kd2 Qa5+ 42.Kc2 Qa2+ 43.Kc3 Qxh2 44.Qe7+ Kg8 45.Qe8+ Kg7 46.Qe5+ Kh7 47.Qc7+ Kh8 48.Qe5+ Kh7 = (0.00) Depth: 25/60 00:06:04 271mN

RobboLito recommends f5. As you will remember, f5 was played in the game, but several turns later. Also, most people would think "What does it matter, if it´s a draw anyway?"