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Topalov beats the world champion
Veselin Topalov had one of the best days in his life as he has beaten the world champion Viswanathan Anand. The best way to celebrated it is having a drink and eating some “pinchos”. He shared the experience with Silvio Danailov, his manager, and two members of the organization, after winning the world champion, the Indian player Viswanathan Anand, (in 25 moves, in 2 hours) in the fourth round of the Chess Master. The evening was great and Topalov, like any other man from Bilbao, decided to relax for a while and enjoy the rich gastronomy of the city, thought his cell phone kept ringing all the time.
His victory assures Topalov the leadership in the tournament, and the 400.000 euros winning award. He had one point of advantage from the 17 years old Norwegian player Magnus Carlsen; consequently, Topalov was proclaimed winner of the tournament. The last round was exciting, and the guest appearance of the final game was in charge of José Antonia Ardanza, the Euskaltel president and former Lehendakari who wanted to took part in the event.
Chess openings could be crucial to secure a decisive advantage in the game. Topalov, who has been living in Salamanca for more than 10 years knows that, so he never forgets the opening theory. During the last days of August, after his performance in Alcubierre (Huesca) he traveled to Menorca with the Spanish chess master Francisco Vallejo. During his visit to the island he found an interesting idea to fight against the Queen’s Indian Defense used by Anand. In the 12 move, he exchanges his black-bishop for the opposite knight, in order to avoid castling. Surprisingly, he did it with a rapid time control and Anand couldn’t find an effective defensive attack; in fact, he nearly spent the limited amount of time assigned to make a move: 40 moves in 90 minutes. Topalov made a move in order to retrieve the pawn he sacrificed minutes before and the world champion gave it back to him. However, everybody could predict the last move, and the Indian stop time in the 25th move and Topalov won the game.
Sicilian Defense, an aggressive and obsolete technique is now getting famous among the chess players. Magnus Carlsen, an expert both with black and white pieces used this technique to beat the Azerbaijani Teymur Radjabov in 37 moves, during a 3 hours fight. The young star undertook a pawn sacrifice in the 19th move but, later on, Radjabov proved that it was an inferior move. However, they started making direct moves and Carlsen took advantage over Radjakov (he was ready to attack after giving his opposite a pawn back). The opening of lines was crucial in the game and Radjabov (who was running out of time) let Carlsen find a brilliant checkmate which made him won the game.
Patience is a key element in chess techniques. The Armenian player, Levon Aronian showed how to play against the isolated pawn in the game he played against the Ukranian Vasily Ivanchuk. He could defend easily at first time, but, later on, he lost controlled and allowed his opposite to perform different aggressive attacks. Aronian took advantage of the situation and won the game in 70 moves.
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