Topalov surprises Anand; surges into sole lead

By Arvind Aaron

DORTMUND, JULY 21. Down to the last three minutes of sudden death time, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria scored his second victory over World chess champion Viswanathan Anand in the tournament to move into sole lead at the end of the eighth round of the 29th Sparkassen chess meeting here on Friday.

Scoring victory number four, Topalov moved into the lead with 5.5 points from eight games. Braingames World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia took a quiet draw in 18 moves with the white pieces and is in second place on five points. Two rounds remain to be played in this category 21 tournament.

Anand chose an off-beat opening line to play his reverse encounter against Topalov with the white pieces. The Rossolimo variation was an opening surprise by Anand with the white pieces.

White's pawn advances on move 15 and 16 suggested that a crazy end was a possibility. After pieces were regularly traded they came down to a queen, rook and opposite coloured bishop game. Black's swift attack on the white king changed the complexion of the game for good.

Black missed a win on the 60th move when he could sacrifice his rook for bishop. Topalov's winning technique was pedestrian. Anand had defensive possibilities on and off as Topalov's play varied.

Without precise moves, Topalov was taking a longer route to win the game and white started his counter and the game suddenly looked double-edged. Finally, Anand missed 84.Ra2, a possibility to fight on. Topalov's next move forced Anand to resign.

``Crazy game, we don't understand what they are doing,'' said International Master Silvio Danailov about the middlegame.

Kramnik proposed a draw without exhausting possibilities with all the pieces and pawns on the board. This is a negative strategy to preserve energy for the last two games against Anand and Leko. In a queen's Indian defence, black was close to equality and Kramnik did not try to win, deciding to preserve his energy and getting the criticism for he had lost to Adams here last year.

In a bishop's opening of the king pawn opening, Leko latched on to a tactical mistake from Morozevich to win a pawn on the 19th move with the black pieces. After an exciting middlegame, it came down to a queen and minor piece ending.

Sensing an imminent blockade in the minor piece ending, Morozevich offered to exchange queens and Leko took up the challenge after long thought. After 56 moves, Leko was a pawn up and has winning chances in the minor piece ending.

The results (eighth round): A. Morozevich (Rus) playing P. Leko (Hun); V. Kramnik (Rus) drew with M. Adams (Eng); V. Anand (Ind) lost to V. Topalov (Bul).

The standings after eight rounds: 1. V. Topalov 5.5/8, 2. V. Kramnik 5, 3. P. Leko 4 plus one game on hand, 4. A. Morozevich 3 plus one game on hand, 5. M. Adams 3, 6. V. Anand 2.5.

The moves: GM V. Anand-GM V. Topalov, round eight, Sicilian Rossolimo, B51: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.0-0 Bd7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.c3 a6 7.Bf1 Bg4 8.d3 e6 9.Nbd2 Nd7 10.h3 Bh5 11.g4 Bg6 12.d4 cxd4 13.cxd4 e5 14.d5 Ncb8 15.b4 h5 16.g5 a5 17.bxa5 Be7 18.Nb3 0-0 19.Qd2 Na6 20.Nh4 Nac5 21.Bg2 b6 22.Nf5 f6 23.Nh4 Qe8 24.Nxc5 Nxc5 25.axb6 fxg5 26.Nxg6 Qxg6 27.Qe2 Rfb8 28.Rb1 Bd8 29.Be3 Bxb6 30.Rec1 g4 31.hxg4 hxg4 32.Rb4 Ba5 33.Rxb8+ Rxb8 34.Bxc5 dxc5 35.d6 Qxd6 36.Qc4+ Kh8 37.Qxc5 Qh6 38.Rd1 Bb6 39.Qxe5 Rf8 40.Rf1 Qh4 41.Qh2 Bxf2+ 42.Kh1 Qxh2+ 43.Kxh2 g5 44.Bh1 g3+ 45.Kg2 g4 46.Rd1 Kg7 47.Kf1 Bd4+ 48.Ke2 48.Kg2 Be5 49.Rd20 48...Be5 49.Rd2 Ra8 50.Bg2 Kf6 51.Kd3 Kg5 52.Ke2 Kf4 53.Rc2 Ra3 54.Rd2 Re3+ 55.Kd1 Ra3 56.Re2 Ra7 57.Rc2 Rb7 58.Re2 Rb1+ 59.Kc2 Rg1 60.Kd3 Rc1 61.Rd2 Rc3+ 62.Ke2 Rf3 63.Kd1 Bc3 64.Re2 Ke5 65.Kc2 Bd4 66.Kd1 Rf8 67.Rd2 Rb8 68.Ke2 Bc3 69.Rd5+ Ke6 70.Kd3 Be5 71.Rc5 Rb1 72.Rc6+ Kd7 73.Rc2 Rg1 74.a4 Ra1 75.Kc4 Ke6 76.Kb3 Bd4 77.Ra2 Rg1 78.a5 Bf2 79.a6 Ke5 80.Ra5+ Kf6 81.e5+ Ke6 82.Bd5+ Kxe5 83.Bb7+ Kf6 84.Ra4 g2 0-1.

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