I'm the first!!!!!!!!!

the game was a bit boring, lots physiological pressure but no real action on the board. Now we reach a critical moment in the match I believe. Anand will have two whites in a row and can decide everything.

Anand seems to have his act together...

Danailov made the lights went down...lol

a nod to Topalov ,... it was enjoyable to watch the players continue to play. I learned a lot about endings

The photo at the press conference with the Economics professor (he should watch out by the way; he is very close to Greece, who blames all this misfortune on Euro) is a piece of evidence that Danailov himself didn't cut the power! Oh God! What a relief!

comfortable draw... see Topalov squeezed again tomorrow. I don't see Topalov playing for win with black anymore... he will pray for a draw.

Well then he ordered the lights to get out. hehehe

BTW: Anand has now a good chance to make the win with 2 white in a row.
GOGOGO ANAND! :D

next two maybe the most crucial games. Psychologically its very much possible for Topalov to psyche out himself. he had the start, but the way he is pushed back has put a big dent in his confidence for sure.

I just hope that Danailov will not do anything smelly.

If he does, then in my opinion there should immediately be a very long ban from chess for bringing the game into disrepute and damage the image of chess.

Match point for Anand now, he's much better than Topalov in rapid chess so if he reaches +2 it's just over, Topalov will never go +3 in the few games that will remain.

Danailov ordered this power failure just to see how Anand will behave on the board for the next few moves. If Anand position collapsed, then he can accuse him of getting computer help from outside.

Nevermind that was a "subtil" way to verified his paranoïd though.

Now he don't have to make a fool of himself like in Elista.

By the wait I really enjoy the second part of the game, (once they got out of prep.)

Solid play by both players

Another early and drawn ending by move 20, definitely not what Topalov would like to achieve with White. He kept on playing for reasons other than chess because the position was always equal.

there are no wins with black. tomorrow first black win?

topalov could play today for a win when he would play 22. Rd1 and 23.Be3

When the lights out... It's less dangerous...

match tactics - try to win with white and draw with black

Anand plays White twice in a row now 6 & 7 if he can get 1 win then he will be at +2 with only 3 games (with the white pieces) remaining for Topalov to convert to a win it will be very difficult to change things around.
Topalov always has been a fighter but he needs to keep his nerves under control and monitor his desire to complicate matters.
The danger is overpressing matters and losing there is no bottom of the tournament table for him to regain the lost points. (it is interesting to note that it seems to me while Topalov tournament record is great he tends to drop points to the top half and regain them against the bottom)

Excellent play and strategy from the World Champion! If one is as good as Anand, this is probably the best way to face tactical players in a match situation like this. Things are pretty tough for the challenger now, and I am curious what he would play as black for the next two games. Is Topalov going all out with Grünfeld or KID alike (Bennoni wouldn't do against Anand), or play solid and see if he can draw until he gets another white game? The latter option is proved to be already difficult. Even Topalov improves something, like today, if Anand doesn't give a chance to show it, then he might not be able to hold. I think Topalov might go active. We shall see. The momentum is definitely for Anand though. It started look like his match against Kramnik. Anand is in control, and the challenger is at a loss. People are wondering what the challenger can play against Anand. Anand is so composed in all situations. But, you never know. Both are great players.

i was wrong, after 22.Rd1 the game is also draw:( see comment of short on chessbase.

so the consequence of this must be that this slav variant is deadly draw:)
so topalov must look for other variant or opening when he want win with white.

time for the Kings Indian Defense Topalov. That way you will have a chance to win as well, but catalan is certain death!!!

the worst thing Topalov can do is play for a draw tomorrow. He has an active style, taking risks, initiative and creating unbalanced situations, but he has to play it.
Why does he play nf6 and e6? It's a mystery to me

but the save way for topalov is to play draw with black, and win with white.
to try to win with black and lose is big poker.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the "lights out" situation in Game One of Fischer-Petrosian 1971, Buenos Aires, where Fischer famously agreed to have his clock continue running while he thought about the position in the dark (he won the game).

Will there by a video posting for game 5 as well? The official site usually posts a very noisy version but even that is missing today and chessvibes has not mentioned "video to follow" in the this report.

I am sure there would have been a press conference.

Are you saying you don't believe me? ;-)

Oh sorry, it is there down at the bottom "video will be added later" :)

Finally the official site had its noisy version. boy...... i can make out 2 or 3 words at most and that too I know only English amongst the 3 languages spoken there. ChessVibes :) ........ my strong suggestion is you make a dvd of all these interviews that you put together.... they will be a unique collection to have... I will be more than happy to buy it :)

Same holds for the Anand-Kramnik match. Its nice to have everything in one place.

the game 5 press conference is the exhibit for how not to produce a video. last time I will ever try.

good thing the power situation was resolved quickly. And nice to see BCF offer an apology for the disruption.

this video no-showing is annoying, and i am running latest version of firefox.

They like to charge money for the moves played by the players (15 thousand Euro to relay the moves), "forgetting" that those moves are not copyrightable. The only thing they have produced so far that IS copyrightable are the videos, and they are so worthless we don't even want to watch them for free. I'd say "lol" if it wasn't so sad, really.

"Dear Sirs": Aruna will be pleased! :-)

@Arne: That's a terrific catch by you Arne!

>> this video no-showing is annoying, and i am running latest version of firefox.

All browsers seem affected by this at various degrees. I suspect it is directly related to the fact that it is embedded content. I'm also wondering if this is not just an issue with blip.tv not responding correctly to requests from browsers.

Okay thanks

great videos! my compliments as well!

Im sure Anand will keep the pressure in games 6 & 7 on Topalov. Well done VIshy!!

Who Topalov keeps repeating a boring opening?

Given that Anand obtained a draw in both game 3 and 5 with the Slav with no real danger of losing, what made him play the Gruenfeld in the first game? Surely, the most important goal would be not to lose with black in the first game.

@pf: "Given that Anand obtained a draw in both game 3 and 5 with the Slav with no real danger of losing, what made him play the Gruenfeld in the first game?"

I think the important question is whether Topalov outplayed Anand in the first (Gruenfeld) game. He didn't. He won because Anand evidently forgot his preparations. That could have happened with the Slav games as well. So, it's not so strange that Anand played Gruenfeld. He must have something really nice prepared in Gruenfeld.

I understand that it's kind of counter-intuitive to play a sharp opening as Black against one of the most successful attacking player. But that can also be considered a brilliant strategy because Topalov and his team would expect Anand to play something like Slav, and not something like Gruenfeld. So, there's a chance of catching them off-guard.

Chess Live ratings: Can someone help me understand the comma separated numbers in "Rating column" and the interpretation of those numbers in the "Change" and "Games" columns?

Rank Name Rating Change Games
01 Carlsen 2813,0 0 0
02 Topalov 2806,0 +1 14
03 Anand 2797,4 +10,4 7

Wake up, Topa!

@Sanjeevi: I think the rating is just the rating (though a bit more precise, without rounding). Change probably is the change of the rating since the last official FIDE-rating. Games is the number of games on which the change is based.

@Joe: Thanks Joe, but it is still not clear for me.

For instance, the live rating for Anand under the different columns are as below. I have simply place a colon for better clarity.

03 : Anand : 2797,4 : +10,4 : 7

According to your description +10 indicates Anand's rating has risen from official 2787 based on 7 games.

What about those "4"s?

Once again thanks in advance

I am surprised that even after 5 games none of the players have opened with 1 e4. Not too long ago it used to fav of Vishy Anand. I seriously hope for an 1 e4 by Vishy atleast in game 6 or 7 or both......should be more fun with more tactical and strategic variations......and probably topalov should try out english opening with white now.

@Sanjeevi: the "4" is just the fractional part. In some languages a "," is used to separate the integer and the fractional part in a number.
So "2797,4" would be "2797.4" in English ;-)

Will Topalov try 1.e4 with his next White?

Time for Topalov to drop Smeets and l'Ami and go back to his own style of play. Playing for small advantages in strategical positions that he fundamentally does not understand just does not work for him. It was very apparent in game 4 where he was simply outplayed by Anand who has a much deeper understanding of chess.

would it be un-sportman like for anand to force seven draws on topalov to finish off the match?

I would be stunned if Anand switched his first move now, with Topalov obviously having big trouble neutralising 1. d4. However, Topalov may well try 1. e4, unless they find some improvement in this classical Slav (which white is almost unable to avoid if he opens 1. d4 or 1. c4).

Is there a way to mute the commentary while watching the live feed on the official site other than turning down speakers volume? I'm using Google Chrome and can't manage to do that.