Brilliant Anand retains right to rule the world

Chess: Indian ace outclasses Topalov in 12th game

Anand had first won the title in 2000 in knock-out format, in 2007 in tournament format and then in 2008 in match format against Vladimir Kramnik.

Anand, who ended with a 6.5-5.5 score, produced a magical performance with black pieces on the day.

Interestingly, throughout this 12-game match, black was more or less always struggling for survival and no victories had been scored with the black pieces by either player. It was a superb victory by the 40-year-old Anand, albeit helped by inaccuracies on Topalov’s part.

Topalov opened with the queen pawn for the sixth time in this event and it was Anand who surprised him by opting for the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Laskar variation, and soon had a solid set-up. This was an indication that the Indian wanted to play solid chess on the day.

A lively middle-game with open lines was fought on even terms but Anand’s piece placement did offer him scope if he wanted to explore. Anand played actively and his pieces were trained on the king side.

Topalov put one of his rook on the side of the board on the queen side and weakened his king side by moving the pawns there and later tried to build a sort of a fortress for his king.

As Anand stepped up the pressure, Topalov tried to play fast and blundered. Soon Anand’s queen and rooks were swooping down on Topalov’s king and snared his queen for a rook and knight. Topalov  resigned on the 56th move in a hopeless position.

The moves:
Topalov (2805) - Anand (2787):

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 00 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Be2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.00 b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Qc2 Nf6 17.dxc5 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 bxc5 19.Qc2 Bb7 20.Nd2 Rfd8 21.f3 Ba6 22.Rf2 Rd7 23.g3 Rbd8 24.Kg2 Bd3 25.Qc1 Ba6 26.Ra3 Bb7 27.Nb3 Rc7 28.Na5 Ba8 29.Nc4 e5 30.e4 f5 31.exf5 e4 32.fxe4 Qxe4+ 33.Kh3 Rd4 34.Ne3 Qe8 35.g4 h5 36.Kh4 g5+ 37.fxg6 Qxg6 38.Qf1 Rxg4+ 39.Kh3 Re7 40.Rf8+ Kg7 41.Nf5+ Kh7 42.Rg3 Rxg3+ 43.hxg3 Qg4+ 44.Kh2 Re2+ 45.Kg1 Rg2+ 46.Qxg2 Bxg2 47.Kxg2 Qe2+ 48.Kh3 c4 49.a4 a5 50.Rf6 Kg8 51.Nh6+ Kg7 52.Rb6 Qe4 53.Kh2 Kh7 54.Rd6 Qe5 55.Nf7 Qxb2+ 56.Kh3 Qg7 0-1.