Starting soon in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Live here. It's Polgar-Mamedyarov and Sokolov-Topalov. Polgar leads Mamedyarov by a full point with two games to play including today's. A draw for her today by no means locks things up since she has black against Topalov tomorrow while Mamedyarov will have White against Sokolov.
Update: Mamedyarov uses some nice prep (assumed) in the Lopez to encourage a Polgar piece sacrifice and win with black to again join her in the lead. Both have 3.5/5. Mamedyarov was an hour ahead on the clock very early on. Topalov brought out his old love, and everyone's favorite "must win with black against d4" defense, the Benoni, against Sokolov. He got the messy fight he wanted and looks to have a solid plus.
Topalov follows through and beats Sokolov. Very nice game, a good example of Topalov on a tear. He's back to an even score and can salvage a decent result if he beats Polgar tomorrow with white in the final round. That would still require the demoralized Sokolov (.5/5) to beat Mamedyarov with white to create a bizarre ménage à trois tie for first at +1.
Why did they change the order? Normally Topa had to play Judit today.
To avoid anyone having three of the same color in a row. Standard practice.
Judith has stepped into Shaka's home preparation with that dubious sacrifice (1h 56' to 57' !)
If it saves herself here it should be classified as a miracle.
Anyone knows about the results of those two games ?
They are still playing...Judit is in big trouble. I haven't been watching the other game.
I guess Judit is lost now (move 40)
Game just ended...Judit lost :(
Hey, Thanks ! Can I watch them without chessbase s/w ?
Mamedyarov won very nicely. Polgar managed to avoid a drop of flag on just a few seconds, but surrendered immediately the following move.
george: yes, from the tournament website you can watch the games in a flash page, no software required.
http://www.essentchess.nl/live/tfdweb.htm
Fantastic, thx guys ! I hadn't noticed.
There's also a webcam, but badly placed.
It's OK. Chessboard is enough. Topalov is not doing bad, eh ?
Anyonw knows why not Black Knight to d3 ? (move 32....)
Seems to win a rook !
Good question, I also thought the fork is possible.
I think Sokolov has a very good pawn structure, therefore I choose white.
OK, but I think the two bishops are doing a nice job out there.
It's a matter of who will be able to gain material and free pawns.
Topalov is of course psychologically in a better position since Soko is mentally down with 0,5/4. I expect a win by Topa.
No need to let a white knight camp out on d5, which is what would have happened had Black taken the exchange. Plus, Topalov doesn't like to win the exchange, he likes to sacrifice them.
Well, if he didn't notice the knight fork we gonna give him a simultaneous exhibit 8-))
Topa should play only in the second halfs of the tournaments 8-))
Yes Mig, but sometimes exchange wins games easily. OK, it's the actual position !
Mig wrote : Plus, Topalov doesn't like to win the exchange, he likes to sacrifice them.
8-)))
Perhaps the answer is evident now: Black has returned to being a pawn ahead, and now has both the 2 B's AND connected passed pawns on the queenside -- all but assuring the win.
Although I didn't calculate this outcome when looking at the position at move 32 (after Topalov passed up the Exchange-winning ...Nd3), perhaps he did calculate this far.
I agree there was no obvious reason to avoid playing ...Nd3. Perhaps the less-obvious reason is that Topalov decided that freeing his QR for action on the a-file, busting open the queenside, and expanding the scope of his light-square B, together were worth even more than winning the Exchange.
OK, I just changed my nick-name. 8-))
Question : you want to push b-pawn OK ?
Which is the most favourable pieces configuration to do this ?
Rook + 2B, Rook + B, 2B, B, kings only ?
I mean in theory.. for this very position..
Yes, in positions like this a knight is sometimes worth a rook. He might have had resaced it later.
Now it seems to be over and out for Soko. Too many uninspirated moves.
Topa wins on a resignation.
Cheparinov is rolling. Wow! I love the bombastic writeup on veselintopalov.net -- "Ivan Cheparinov showed one more time why he is the champion of Bulgaria".
The sad part is that I looked through the Brodsky game and I am lost what happenned. Need to really think it through... There's something chaotic about Cheparinov's games, it seems.
D.
If 36..Nd3 37.Nxf6+ exf6 38.Ra1 ! and there is no exchange win for Black...but there is a the loss of the pair of bishops and a damaged pawn structure, thus "Nd3 fork" is no go
Sokolov had a better postion, maybe much better, but he blew it away. Just as in the fist game with Judith he starts excellent, get a good position, and then loses focus and plays aimless
in the second part of the game.
poor Sokolov probably want this tourney to end v fast, but Topalov rocks. Grand match up against Judith to wind things up. I dunno, but when Toaplov plays, the world watches. He plays every game as if it may be his last and he wants to leave something to be remembered by!
32.- Nd3 was the question in charge.
Off topic: Chucky also in deep trouble now against the combination player Leinier.
"Topalov follows through and beats Topalov. Very nice game, a good example of Topalov on a tear."
I guess Topalov still has it and can beat himself pretty easily.
> 32..Nd3 was the question in charge
This wins big time according to comps
(-2.25 ).
He might have been afraid of 33.Nd5 Nxe1 33.Rxe1 Bf8 34.Nef4 a6 35. Nc7 Rc8 36. Nfd5 Bc6 37.Bxd6
which looks nighmarish for Black but actually White is losing.
Very good practical decision, such variations are for the nerveless computers to win.
It is almost certain that Black would have collapsed and blundered something in such a weird position with White seemingly pressing.
He played safe, just as a human
I prefer Polgar to win as she is the only one who doesn't have a last name ending in "OV"
Topalov is an active player. Even in endgames he searches for the most active way to defend. That's what I discovered by observing several of his games. With a white knight on d5 he had to build a fortress for a while to protect e7, which is completely against his nature.
just for how strange it looks
1...Nd3 2.Nd5 Nxe1 3.Rxe1 Bf8 4.Nef4 a6 5.Nc7 Rc8 6.Nfd5 axb5 7.Bxd6 Bc6 8.Bg3 bxc4 9.bxc4 Rd8 10.Re5 Rg4 11.Rxf5 Rxc4 12.Rf7+ Kg8 13.Nxe7+ Bxe7 14.Rxe7 Rc2 [ 0-1 -3.00, Fritz ]
now try thinking about entering such a computerworld variation and see if you still feel tempted, even if you are told that you are winning
freitag
>Topalov is an active player
yes, this must have been another big reason, after
32..Nd3 the initiative switches to White and Topa would have had to defend, for a while, even he was winning.
Psychological is difficult to defend even in a won position. We tend to associate initiative with advantage and "domination".
Fischer also had problems defending a passive postion, he always needed counterplay to maintain the balance of the game.
Kasparov too had this problem. He would rather neurotically jerk some pseudoaggressive move and lose on spot if its "holes" were saw rather than being tied down in passive defense (see his game lost Radjabov in a defendable postion).
Petrosian, Karpov or Kramnik didn't have this psychological problem. They picked material, defended patiently, gradually defused the pressure, and won.
So does now Topalov have a chance to be 1st?
Another beyond moronic interview by TopaClown: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3454
he always has, if he doesn't blunder something
The interview sucks and Topa sucks, that is my information
Translated from the official site
Polgar found that she had herself to blame for the loss today: "After my victory yesterday – the third in four games – I felt myself invulnerable." That was noticeable, she took all risks by sacrificing a piece as early as on the seventeenth move in a Ruy Lopez for a King side attack. And that when she was nearly certain of the tournament win with a draw.
"But that was all known", explained Polgar after the game. "The real problem was that I did not make the effort to check my analyses in this variant before the game. I would undoubtedly have discovered with Fritz that Nf5 which I played is not good and instead had to play Nh5. Then a draw would have been the most probable outcome, now I can no longer salvage the game."
A sad day for Polgar fans.
Topi campeon!!!!