Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

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  • Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

    The win by GM Carlsen over GM Topalov from Wijk aan Zee 2012 is the best game I have seen in years!! Topalov is probably the top GM whom I dislike the most, particularly because of his ridiculous antics in his match against GM Kramnik several years ago. Carlsen plays in the style of GM Mikhail Tal during his prime in this game! Tal's famous remark on sacrificing pieces ("They can only capture one at a time!!") fits perfectly here. So, for artistry, beauty, brilliance, occasion, strength of opponent, and toasting Topalov, this game gets my vote as one of the best of all time!!!

    Many sites have this game, but I like chessbase.com, which has a great format for following it online, and some nice analysis. Check it out!! :) :)

    http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7874

  • #2
    Re: Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

    Hey Frank - I was glued to my screen for this game as well. I was taken aback by the GM comments on Chess Bomb. They were very critical of the play from both sides. Carlsen doesn't play like that very often, but when his attack failed to mate the King, he was even more deadly in the conversion of the "Queen vs bits" (as Lawrence Day calls them) ending. Two Bs and a Rook for Topalov and he was hapless against the Carlsen Q.

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    • #3
      Re: Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

      Originally posted by Hal Bond View Post
      Hey Frank - I was glued to my screen for this game as well. I was taken aback by the GM comments on Chess Bomb. They were very critical of the play from both sides. Carlsen doesn't play like that very often, but when his attack failed to mate the King, he was even more deadly in the conversion of the "Queen vs bits" (as Lawrence Day calls them) ending. Two Bs and a Rook for Topalov and he was hapless against the Carlsen Q.
      Once Toppa caved in to the pressure and sacked his Queen, he was on the defensive. I would love to know why he sacked his Queen - some of the lines around that were scary, but a GM of his calibre should not have folded.
      ...Mike Pence: the Lord of the fly.

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      • #4
        Re: Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

        Originally posted by Hal Bond View Post
        Hey Frank - I was glued to my screen for this game as well. I was taken aback by the GM comments on Chess Bomb. They were very critical of the play from both sides. Carlsen doesn't play like that very often, but when his attack failed to mate the King, he was even more deadly in the conversion of the "Queen vs bits" (as Lawrence Day calls them) ending. Two Bs and a Rook for Topalov and he was hapless against the Carlsen Q.
        I find the GM commentary on chessbomb to be pretty awful to be honest. They more or less just follow the computer analysis, and they are very quick to criticize moves that stockfish deem slightly inferior.

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        • #5
          Re: Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

          Originally posted by Kerry Liles View Post
          Once Toppa caved in to the pressure and sacked his Queen, he was on the defensive. I would love to know why he sacked his Queen - some of the lines around that were scary, but a GM of his calibre should not have folded.
          Hi Kerry:

          I have done a Fritz 13 analysis of the game, for the Scarborough Community of Toronto Chess News & Views, the newsletter of the Scarborough CC. The next Issue is coming out tonight.

          Fritz agrees that Topalov sacking the Q was a blunder. He moved from a " winning " game, to an equal game, with the blunder. I have posted the analyzed game on Chess5 ( www.chess5.com ).

          Also, Carlsen's sacs were unsound, as the computers evaluated.

          But the game shows that unsound moves in human games may not be fatal. We all, including GM's , make faulty judgments, under the pressure of tournament conditions, and so we may escape the consequences of unsound sacs.

          And it is my contention that this is even more true for us class players, like myself. We can play inferior opening lines, and may generally not be punished for it at our level, because our level of player often makes inferior moves, and so where a white opener may intially be choosing an opening, giving Bl a " slight " advantage, it is generally the case that Bl will shortly, by inferior moves, bring the game back to equality. By this method at the class level, W can often get the advantage of " surprise ", by playing an inferior little-used line, and yet not suffer the consequences that should be suffered in an ideal theoretical world. In fact, Bl may be so discombobulated by the unfamiliarity with the suspect opening, he may end up giving W the " slight " advantage!

          Bob
          Last edited by Bob Armstrong; Tuesday, 31st January, 2012, 04:03 PM.

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          • #6
            Re: Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

            I spent some time looking at the game last night, having written down some of the key alternatives from the analysis on chessbase.com, and it seems likely that Carlsen's play was unsound. But the game was so creative, right from the opening, where Topalov's ...e5 was new, I believe on move 8. From a Rossolimo / Moscow Sicilian with 3.Bb5, it headed for territory similar to a Spanish (Ruy Lopez), and perhaps Topalov was disoriented. Topalov likely used a lot of clock time when on unfamiliar ground, and when the attack arrived, he couldn't find the best moves. I doubt if we will see Carlsen's attack repeated, but he did have a very good position anyway, before launching it. All in all, the game must remind many chess fans of GM Mikhail Tal's style, when the best defenses to his attacks were discovered after the game, sometimes months or years after!! :) :)

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            • #7
              Re: Carlsen takes down Topalov in barn-burner!!

              It certainly wasn't as exciting, but I preferred Aronian's win over Giri. I remember looking at the position around move 14, and I just didn't understand why black had sacrificed an exchange. I didn't really get it until I looked at the game afterwords. Complete positional domination by Aronian, Giri's rooks were spectators pretty much the whole game. I would suspect that Giri missed some improvements, but Aronian made it look easy after the exchange sacrifice. The computers suggest Rxf3 as well, but that doesn't mean that the follow up is easy to find.

              I also enjoyed some of Motlyev's games in the tournament. He sacrificed his queen in two consecutive games, once on the white side of a Scandinavian and the next game as black in the same opening, winning both. I do not think that happens too much at the top levels.

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