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Not exactly Topalov’s tournament
9 March 2007 22:48 PM | Last modified: 19:48
Caissa is not on Veselin Topalov’s side these days. At the end of January he was the glorious co-winner in Wijk aan Zee, but in Linares everything goes wrong. Today against Morozevich, the only player so far he managed to beat, he played well and reached a very promising knight ending. But after some miscalculation he suddenly saw himself defending a worse queen ending (that was still drawn aaccording to the tablebases, by the way). Morozevich was very accurate in this ending and after one more mistake by Topalov, Moro collected the full point. (But OK, which human would find 70… Qh1+ 71. Kg7 Qg2! 72. Qxe5 Qf3=.) The other three games ended in a draw.
Standings after round 12:
1. Anand 8 2. Carlsen 7,5 3. Svidler 7 4-5. Aronian, Morozevich 6,5 6. Ivanchuk 6 7. Topalov 5,5 8. Leko 5
Tomorrow is the 14th and last round:
Leko - Carlsen Svidler - Morozevich Topalov - Aronian Ivanchuk - Anand
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In my opinion Topalov is to chess, what Milli Vanilli was to music.
It’s tough when you’re a 2700 playing 2700+. Guess the magical mechanical fairy wasn’t in the mood to help out.
It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
In my opinion, the problem is that Topalov tries to win at any rate and neglects possible draw options.I have seen it many times, this risky strategy of his. Win or die …
Uh, what are you talking about pako, I think you’re confusing topalov with moro
pako is right.
Take it easy on Topalov. I don’t think seriouly about either his accusations against Kramnik (Danailov’s actually) and those against him. They have, so far, proven baseless and without evidence.
He is simply having a bad tournament. It happens. Really. And also Pako is right that sometimes Topa inadvisedly presses in positions that do not warrant it. Sometimes he wins that way, sometimes not. This tournment, the strategy has not paid off.
Incredible second half showing by Moro! Finishing with three straight wins, including two with black!! Standing at -3 after Mexico, he went +4 in Linares!!! It is nice to see his brand of chess rewarded with a great result now and then.
May be Topalov should stop accusing his opponents of cheating and concentrate on his own chess.
he’s not accusing his opponents
he just _suspected_ only one player of using help
bad tournament for him, not less not more
Actually, it was Danailov accusing Kramnik… Topalov seems (and I hate to make such a statement) to be rather dependent on Silvio for his opinions (to put it kindly). It’s likely that Danailov’s accusations actually harmed Topa during hte match, as Topa believed the ghost and started playing fast to prevent Kramnik from leaving the table for any length of time.
My opinion is that, in that match, when move one was made, the managers no longer had any right to make input. Complaints should only be made by the players, directly to the arbiter, and these should be settled in a private room between gentlemen, not in the press.
I would go one step further, and deny the combatants and their managers (except for post-mortem interviews) any access to the press/media. Innuendo does not solve problems, it only creates more.
Didn’t you find it strange that the only two miserable performances by Topalov in the last year or two happened when Danailov wasn’t able to assist him during the games? At the match with Kramnik (when the special screen was placed between the audience and the players) Topalov did not play a single impressive game and actually had to resort to the toilet scandal to save his neck. Now, when Danailov left the playing hall and was was watching the games from the press room, Topalov was again not in his element!
Curiously, the “Topalov fan site” http://www. veselintopalov.net writes highly laudable articles about Topalov’s successes (in the best traditions of communism era), and goes totally silent when Topalov loses.
Topalov did accuse Kramnik of cheating:
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3553