The tension getting to you yet? Anand managed to right his Grunfeld ship and fend off Topalov to set up a winner-take-all finale in the final two games. Anand has pressed but hasn't won since game four. Topalov is a famously strong finisher but nerves must be affecting him as well. Both players have world championship match experience.
Anand-Topalov WCh Off-Day Chatter
49 Comments
Wanted for post-election British cartoon ...
position in three-player hexagonal chess where everyone would want to 'pass on the move' in turn.
Thanks in advance.
I wish Anand would dispense with the dosas and take some fish oil.
Does anyone else find that when you replay a game on Chessbase's board, it often happens that you press '>' once, but it goes two moves ahead? Does anyone know the solution to that? (It happens to me on PC's as well as Macs, and with any browser.)
I'm sure Anand will come to the 11th match game in an aggressive mood with a positionally intense game which he and his seconds have undoubtedly worked on today. As for Topalov, I can only imagine apprehension they must have about what to expect tomorrow from Anand and his team. The last thing Topalov wants is to be cornered into a passive position with all the advantages on Anand's side of the board -- if that happens, Topalov will probably lose tomorrow's game. If Anand starts with another 1.d4 and 2.c4 opener, then I would hope Topalov would respond with something that would prevent Anand from maneuvering the game into heavy positional channels. But whoever wins this match, one thing is sure -- both players have put on a magnificent show for us.
C'mon Vishy! Put him away!
Anand usually struggles when it matters and the momentum is with opponent. Topa on the other hand is like Kasparov - an ultimate fighting machine. I bet Topa will take home the trophy.
The sad thing about these top notch matches, is that you only get to see 1/500th of their preparations. Imagine how many spectacular novelties these guys have for sicilians, evans gambits, and God knows how many more oppenings. But matches are usually played only in 3 or 4 different oppenings. Well, I guess you have to keep following them after the match is over...
ptr: try clicking on the -> once with the mouse for move one and then switch to your keyboard and press the -> arrow key to continue -- that's what I do.
With all his Lord of the Rings-preparation I do hope that Anand hangs on to the precious trophy.
Yes, that happens to me, too.
I use my keyboard instead of the mouse.
Some questions:
Game 10 page is incomplete even after the page loads up fully. Any others experiencing that?
Are any betting sites covering the WCC? And what are the odds? My feeling is that tiebreak is more than 50% likely.
Are there free sites giving engine analysis? I know chessdom live (very good otherwise, but the standard option has weak analysis) and chessok (good Rybka lines but site is overloaded at game time and rarely works for me). Are there any others?
Kapalik
It has indeed been an exciting match. We can now be sure that the match will go the distance (game 12 will be played). As someone commented, does this match have the record the highest average moves per game of all WCC matches?
Kapalik
hahaha yep definitely needs to ease up on the dosas Aruna looks like a size zero why does she fatten up hubby??
"does this match have the record the highest average moves per game of all WCC matches?"
Actually not (or not yet): Kramnik-Topalov had an average of 51.6 moves per game at classical time controls [well, if we discard game 5 which had zero moves]. Anand-Topalov has only 51.0 moves on average - don't forget that games 1+4 were rather short decisive games.
A question to any person whose language is native english, or perfect in english :
When Nigel Short, the kind haughty englishman said the "flabby middle-aged indian", can it be meaning also " a flabby indian from Middle-Ages "?
Thank you for your answer.
No, it can not.
Celeborn & Galadriel (Vishy + Aruna) shall prevail over Wormtongue & Saruman (Topalov + Danailov) :-)
@Metis-Paris:
i am neither native english nor perfect in english but,
'flabby middle-aged indian' cannot mean an indian from the middle ages. If he had said, ' Anand is a flabby middle age indian' without the 'd' then may be, but even then that would be incorrect english. So if he wanted to say Anand is an indian from the middle ages, he would have probably used the simplest way to say it which would be 'anand is an indian from the middle ages'.
Of course, Short could not have meant it that way because, if anand were really an indian from the middle ages, he would have played more like how Topalov has played the last couple of weeks - daring, dangerous and always looking for a fight.
From Anish Giri
"The World Champion quickly equalized after mutual inaccuracies"
"17...Rc8? A logical follow-up, but I think it is inaccurate."
"18.h3? Forgiving Anand for his inaccurate last move."
Is the champion and challenger preparation so bad that mutual inaccuracies needed in opening phase to equalize for the champion?? Anything that is not going to result in a clear minus during opening phase cannot be inaccurate. Didn't Anish Giri get that? If both the players choose to play the top candidate moves as per Rybka/Fritz, I doubt they can achieve any thing more than a draw!
Thank you J Nielsen & Sureshkv,
English have such a cold sense of humor -:)-that one cannot help to see if there were another hidden meaning...
In a way, it teaches your brain cells to be on alert.
Ah! Funny N.Short !
Did we ever guess Anand's seconds?
I see now it would have to be someone who is not at Astrakhan. Among the top tenners, I hadn't even considered Grischuk - How about him? He's not at Astrakhan, and is not commenting somewhere (like Svidler).
Kasimdzhanov should have played in Astrakhan, but was apparently replaced by Ponomariov (who hasn't played any of the previous GP tournaments).
For the rest we may have to be patient a few more days, and Anand's comment in the latest press conference "ask again when the match is over" (referring to his opening choices in the match) also applies to the names of his seconds.
does it start in half an hour?
do we see a sicilian today?
The English Opening!
yes, we see a Scilian, the Dragon, classical variation, with reversed colours (i.e. plus one tempo for "Black")
Heine Nielsen was seen on the pictures from the Van-trip to Bulgaria, so surely he is again one of Anands seconds. Also Heine Nielsen hasnt played much again making it likely he has been working on opening prep for this match.
A tame white dragon. Let's see if Anand can create some positional problems for Topalov to solve.
In honor of Nigel Short?! ,:)
Would be surprised if Grischuk was a second. He is probably busy online playing poker !
"Also Heine Nielsen hasnt played much again making it likely he has been working on opening prep for this match."
You can rely on that.
Shades of Kasparov-Karpov, Seville '87?
:)
Topalov has been thinking for long on his 11th move. What's up???
11...Qe8 seems like a logical novelty - Shipov quoted an Aronian - Ctrl+v game which was similar to this one, & there the queen went to d7 first but then withdrew to e8 a few moves later. ...Qf7 looks good at some point. Still, I wonder if it's a prepared novelty or just an attempt to get out of Topalov's preparation as soon as possible!?
Topalov has been thinking for long on his 11th move. What's up?
off theory , he wants 11..Qe8-Qh5, f5-f4..all too typical "white" attack in Sicilian..Topalov must be happy with Anand choice today, not only "no problem" with the opening but he also gets to play an open game
If Anand wins today I will make the English my main opening as white. Always thought it lost by force !
Anand's preparation...
The choice of 1.c4 is surprising. I wonder how many variations Anand had prepared. If he had to do it different, wouldn't it have been better to go with 1.e4?
I think 1.c4 is somewhat a concession already
Shipov's comment: As you can see, Veselin preferred not to put the queen on d7 - in contrast to the majority of his predecessors. The thing is that the planned exchange of the white-squared bishops on h3 doesn't worry white at all. He can calmly continue his plan of putting pressure on the queenside. And a mating attack for black is as far away here as Alaska. For residents of Alaska (where there are Russians too) that phrase needs to be read differently: "as far away as Moscow"!
English is a logical choice if Anand thinks he doesn't need a big advantage from the opening and can outplay Topalov in dynamically equal positions.
Could you give the web addy for Shipov commentary? Thanks!
Russian: http://online.crestbook.com/antop10-11.htm
English (delayed): http://www.chessnc.com/en/online/
Mig's put up a new game 11 thread.
1 more game!
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