On Sunday, May 9th 2010, Vishy Anand will play for holding his title, surely! I´m very convinced of his successfull defending the WCC title! Good luck, Vishy Anand!!! :-)

Exciting match, I'm sure it will have exciting finish.

did you notice it on the picture? the flags of India and Bulgaria have the same colors!! great.

so grunfeld is a good opening! Anand got better game than with slav.

Game 11 1/2
Game 12 1-0

--> former and new

unknown knows the unknown.

From chessmind.net

Update: Draw Agreed, Pseudo-Sofia Rules Refuted

There was just one more move: 60.Bc4 1/2-1/2. Apparently at this point Anand more or less offered a draw, Topalov in a ridiculous gesture looked to the arbiter for approval, and the game was drawn.

Why is it that the last move was made by Topalov if Anand was the one that offered a draw?

when you offer a draw, you need to make a move with black!. right?

i think topalov offered draw:)

Y chess, hence my question.

It just shows the class and manners of Anand. He could have given Topalov a taste of his own medicine by continuing with Ne6 i think.

Not that it was any use to continu cause it is a dead draw (sorry pressed post to soon).

I hope Anand wins Sunday.

game 11: 1-0

game 12: 0-1

Anand 6.5-4.5

What´s up with the journalists? They act as if it is a matter of time before Topalov wins! Surely disrespectful for Anand.

I'm foreseeing a tiebreak between the two. I think Anand has an edge in faster time controls.

Cheers!

@Vesco: The same could be said about your assumptions.

What assumptions?

Think harder, caveman.

The stubbornness with which this Sofia rule is applied by Topalov makes him look like a patzer that cannot recognize a theoretically drawn position without daddy's approval.

When offering a draw it is not required to make your move first. You may make the offer and your opponent may accept; however, your opponent may ask to see your move first before accepting or rejecting the offer. Then after making your move and starting your opponent's clock your opponent may accept the offer or reject it (verbally or by simply making a move).

Ok, ten games are played till now. Judging from the games played so far in the match, as a patzer(!), I would like to give a strategy for the rest of the games for both parties. On Anands side , I suppose creating chaos in the whole board both strategically and tactically would be the way to go. Consider games 4 and 9, he needs to enter less known territories, create multiple threats on various areas, prevent opponents natural development, making weaknesses at around Topalovs camp and in general create discomfort even at the cost of unusual concessions, then he should launch the dicisive assault in time. On the other hand, Topalov shall strive for clear cut positions; both tactically and stragically. Consider games 7 and 8. Topalov may demand positions such that their main points are obvious and long lasting, say attack on king, squeezing up his opponent, taking and keeping initiative and so on. I expect them to try to dictate their will from the very beginning of games.

In short, if I go to Anands restaurant, I may order mixed pizza; to Topalovs, apple pie.
(Health warning: Home made food is best!)

According to the Fide rules you should make a move first (art 9.1.1).
Technically you can also offer it at any other point in the game but this can easily be seen as harassment of the opponent.

Well, all twelve games are now guaranteed to be played.

After 10 games here is my resume.

Anand blunder twice and lost twice.
Anand win 2 twice with good prep. (outplayed despite any obvious blunder)

Despite the fact the Topalov have a excellent prep. and play with great stamina and determination.

And since the beginning Anand have been responsable of what happened so far.

Anand have his destiny between his hand and Topalov just have to wait if the door open, if Anand shut-up the door, Topalov chance are weak.

Anand is in the driver seat and Topalov can just wait for his chance to steal the wheel.

I just d'ont know...but i luv it

Anand varied openings twice lately and got out of trouble. This was supposed to be his strategy since game 7 but he seems to have underestimated Topalov' and his team in the area of opening preparation.

It is still worrying that Anand has lost his killer's instinct as evidenced by a missed draw, a missed win and a missed easier draw, all in succession! Nobody would have predicted that in view of his authoritative title defense against Kramnik, who is much a better player than Topalov.

Anyway, the next two games are more crucial to him than to Topalov and they will show how determined he is to retain his crown.

After Game 9, Topalov was asked a question "So are you the world champion now?" LOL. Amusing question given that the score was 4.5-4.5 - And he answered - "I dont know. We have to wait for the results" - and a sheepish grin at that!

Here's how it could have been ---

"So Topalov, are you the world champion now?"
Topalov - "Funny question given the current champion is sitting here to my left. A few days later, things may change, and lets hope it does ;)"

These two guys are making too many mistakes. I think Carlsen could beat either one of them.

@Peter: Thanks for pointing out the Kramnik interview (actually it is rather long) as well as (this goes without saying!) for your own report + video. You - or whoever helped you - made one 180 degrees translation error, it should read "This strategy was actually _easy_ to predict [leicht vorhersehbar]". On the next question, Kramnik said that Topalov probably expected the Catalan and was prepared.
I will translate a bit more from the interview at Dailydirt, where such long posts are more common. Best regards from a "Nederduitser" and German native speaker! :)

I wonder why these guys can't give eachother a decent handshake. What they produce is more like the touching of fingertops.

@ops. Yes, the colours of the flags of India and Bulgaria look the same, but they shouldn't!
The upper band in the Indian flag is (deep) saffron, too deep on the picture, Anand could make a point of it.
The lower band of the Bulgarian flag is red and could be a bit darker.
And of course the Indian flag has the "Ashoka Chakra" (wheel of justice!) in the centre.

j voudrais voire des partie avec e4

24.-,h5

One thing that seems to be forgotten is that within the Sofia rules it is possible to make a draw on agreement when an 'adjudicator' is OK with it. When Anand had agreed on Sofia rules (I'm not implying that he should have), Topalov probably would have proposed a draw in this way. Now it is a bit unclear how to do this, so I think it's normal Topalov seems a bit confused.
It's a bit like the first Franciscan monks. They took a vow of poverty because they didn't feel happy with being part of a church living in splendour. At the same time they didn't want to impose their rule on the whole church or break away from it, they just wanted to give an alternative. But what to do when the pope invites you for a sumptuous meal?
Of course the comparison is a bit wild, but the idea is: when you have vowed to keep yourself to certain rules, life is easy when you're amongst your own. But when you have to deal with outsiders, things get complicated; there are no set rules. You will have to make compromises, so all the nothing-doing bystanders can have their laugh.

@Le Spectateur: Moi aussie!

@Frits Fritschy,

Here's a proposal to help you feel like Topalov does. Next time you go to play chess, openly declare that you are going to wear bunny-ears, groan when you opponent does not wear them, and display discomfort when spectators laugh at you. Of course, you can pick another oddity of your choice (always make your first move with the h-pawn, for example), as long as it falls into the category of self-imposed rules.

Jussu,
Yes, I do try to feel like Topalov does, even when I'm not completely agreeing with him. But even when you think he doesn't have the solution, he adresses something that has been viewed as a problem by many chess players for the last 80-90 years. (I think it was in the 1920's when people started talking about the Remise-Tod, 'drawing dead', in chess.) You have the right to disagree with it, but by calling it an oddity you alienate yourself from a very substantial part of the chess community.
By declaring he would try to follow Sofia rules, of course he did put pressure on Anand, but he also put considerable pressure on himself. It adds to the tension in the match in a way that you will remember many of it's games. Do you still know what Grischuk said before Anand-Topalov about the match between the 'perfect gentlemen' Leko and Kramnik?

@Frits:

I actually don't think it would have made a difference if Anand had agreed to Sofia rules. According to match regulations, they are not playing by Sofia rules. In essence, Topalov asked the arbiter what he thought of the position, which is a highly irregular thing to do.

Hi, i have a question to some experts. When the WCh started most of the comments were, Anand was playing like Kramnik against Topalov...is the trend still continued till game 10 ? Because i have not read such comments after game3.

A must win for anand today.......or .......the world championship title would slip from his hands !!!!! I would be suprised and disappointed if anand doesnot open with e4 today.

Bondegnasker,
I read: "Anand offered a draw here, and after saying something to the arbiter, Topalov accepted." What's your source that Topalov asked the arbiter what he thought of the position?

"It adds to the tension in the match in a way that you will remember many of it’s games."

I am still of the opinion that Topalov's self-imposed Sofia rules have so far only elongated game 3 by about ten moves in a dead drawn ending. No impact on any other games whatsoever, apart from the awkward finish in games 5, 6, 7, an 9. Nothing good, and six useless moments of slight discomfort.

"Do you still know what Grischuk said before Anand-Topalov about the match between the ‘perfect gentlemen’ Leko and Kramnik?"

Yes, I heared that interview, and I have played through that match, but why do you ask?

Correcting myself:
"and six useless moments of slight discomfort"
Five, of course. In game ten, Anand ended the comedy with a simple draw offer.

Frits, you're right - it's pure speculation. But the source for the speculation is you! "When Anand had agreed on Sofia rules (I’m not implying that he should have), Topalov probably would have proposed a draw in this way." - I just went along with that speculation and assumed that it was T.'s way of achieving a draw under the Sofia rule. IF that assumption is correct, THEN he was asking the arbiter if he thought the position was sufficiently drawish, which I think is a violation of the actual rules. But it's entirely possible that T. didn't do that at all - and that he just accepted a draw offer contrary to his stated intentions.

My point, I guess, is that the attempt to enforce Sofia rules one-sidedly will always be inconsistent, because it's going to conflict with the actual rules.

What I remember from the live video feed at the end of the game:
1) Anand may have said something to Topalov, at least he raised his hand
2) The arbiter arrived at the board (I couldn't tell if Topalov called him, but why else would he come?)
3) The players shook hands - or rather: their hands of fingertips touched each other for a second or less.

Of course it's technically incorrect procedure (though not "forbidden"?!) to offer a draw before making your own move. The other player then has an additional option beyond the usual ones (accept, decline or ignore an offer): "I want to see your move first!". But in the given situation, this - as well as declining a draw - would have been ridiculous, though maybe "Sofiotic".

No need to remember, it's all in the video. :-) And it's not technically incorrect to offer a draw before making your move. And certainly not 'of course'.