Apr-06-19
 | | An Englishman: Good Morning: After 24...Ra4, Black's position looked perfectly safe, perhaps even a little better thanks to White's two weak pawns. So Black wins those two weak pawns--and resigns a few moves later. Topalov can still conjure his tactical magic. Rb1 might be a new move, waiting for ...axb4 before playing d5. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | Fanques Fair: Wasn't it a little early to resign ? |
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| Apr-06-19 | | goodevans: Shak could have kept things on an even keal with the simple <29...Qe7> to defend f6 but no, he had to maintain the hideous complexity with <29...Qc5>. Now after <30.Rdc1> the Q needs to defend both f6 and c6. 
click for larger viewBut hold on, doesn't <30...Qd6> do just that. What's wrong with that? Normally I like to work these things out myself before checking with SF but this time I was stumped. The answer (so SF tells me) is <30...Qd6 31.Rxc6! Qxc6 32.Bxf6 Bxf6 33.Nd5!> 
click for larger viewBoth B and R are attacked and he can't save both because <33...Rf4 34.Ne7+> drops the Q. If black chooses to save the R then 34.Nxf6+ simply bags the other R so black ends up N v 2Ps down either way. Not always a fatal disadvantage but in this case white would also have a dominant position. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | goodevans: <Fanques Fair: Wasn't it a little early to resign ?> Good question, especially since after <33...Qb6> white has some difficulties holding onto his dark squared B. For example, after <34.Bh4 g5> he can't play <35.Bg3?> because <35...Nxg3> wins a piece. I guess Shak had worked out completely how white could solve this little issue but a few more moves may have been wise. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | Eyal: <Shak could have kept things on an even keal with the simple <29...Qe7> to defend f6> When playing 29...Qc5 he was apparently hoping for more than equality - in the press conference after the game he said that he looked at 30.Rac1 Rc4 with advantage (30.Bxf6 Rf4 is also good for Black), but he failed to appreciate the difference made by the same move with the other rook - which vacates d1 for the queen and so allows White's strong 31st move. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | parmetd: Qd1 is an easy move to miss. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | goodevans: <Eyal> Always good to remember your opponent has two rooks! ;o) |
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| Apr-06-19 | | goodevans: <parmetd: Qd1 is an easy move to miss.> Joking aside, I do agree. Particularly if you think your opponent has a rook there. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | spazzky: Looks like a miscalculation by Shak. Topa was world champ after all, he's still quick to capitalize on any mistake. |
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| Apr-06-19 | | ChessHigherCat: Great game between "two top tacticians" (say that five times in a row!). Topalov has a unique style. Who else would have left the Q on f3 exposed to the discovered attack for 6 moves in a row before his opponent cracks and makes a mistake? There are some players whose moves I guess very well and others, like Tal and Topalov, who leave me reeling and they're the ones I really admire. |
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Apr-07-19
 | | HeMateMe: I don't think Topa was ever 'world champ'. He won what was a very strong Candidates tournament that FIDE called "The world championship." the only problem was that the tournament didn't include V. Kramnik who really WAS world champion, at the time. that said, topalov can still bring the heat. Mamster reminds me of Grischuk, in that he has brilliant tactical streaks but then loses games he shouldn't, loses too often to become world champion himself. |
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| Apr-07-19 | | ChessHigherCat: I think the most brilliant games are what matter to fans like us because we don't need to play through every single game, just the brilliant ones (although I don't recall seeing any boring games by either Topalov or Mamedyarov, but there must be a few) . Consistency is important from the professional standpoint, of course, but it's like a great painter, who cares if he turned out a couple junky paintings at some point, we probably would never even find out about them because history weeds them out and just leaves the masterpieces. Correction: There are some players whose moves I guess very well and others, like Tal and Topalov, who leave me reeling and they're the ones I <reely> admire. |
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Kibitzing
