[Event "WCh"]
[Site "Sofia BUL"]
[Date "2010.02.25"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "2787"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[Annotator "IM Malcolm Pein"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[EventDate "2010.04.24"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 {Topalov was largely responsible for
rehabilitating the Modern Benoni with 3...c5 However both he and Gashimov
suffered quite a bit in this line at the recent Linares tournament} 4. g3 {The
Catalan, is this quiet approach a result of yesterday's disaster, or the plan
all along? We will only know later on in the match. As the Catalan is a
Gruenfeld Defence in reverse with an extra move he has effectively played two
Gruenfeld setups in two games.} dxc4 {#In general Black has two ways to play
against the Catalan. He can reinforce the centre with c6, or, as he does here,
take on c4 and aim to equalise in the centre with a later c5.} 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5
c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 {8...Ra7 is also played. #} 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 Nd5
11. Rc1 Nd7 (11... b6 {1-0 Gustafsson,J (2614)-Berkes,F (2619)/ Gothenburg SWE
2005/The Week in Chess 561 (31)}) (11... Qf6 12. Nd3 Be7 13. e4 $3 {1-0
Gelfand ,B (2703)-Aronian,L (2649)/Bastia FRA 2003/The Week in Chess 469 (30)})
12. Nd3 Ba7 (12... Be7 13. Nf4 $1 $14) 13. Ba5 (13. Na5 N7f6 14. Qb3 Rb8 15.
Rc2 Bd7 16. Rfc1 Bb5 17. a4 Bxd3 18. exd3 Re8 19. Nc4 Qe7 {1/2-1/2 Vidit,S 
(2356) -Venkatesh,M (2462)/Nagpur IND 2008/The Week in Chess}) 13... Qe7 14.
Qb3 (14. Bxd5 exd5 15. Bb4 Qf6 16. Bxf8 dxc4 $17) 14... Rb8 {#Worryingly for
Anand supporters, he fell into deep thought here. In spite of being still in
theory.} (14... Rb8 15. Nce5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Qf6 17. Nd3 b6 18. Bb4 Rd8 {Black
is fine already} 19. Bxd5 Rxd5 20. Rc7 Bb7 21. Be7 Qf5 22. Qc2 e5 23. Rc1 h6
24. Nb4 d3 25. exd3 Rd7 26. Rxb7 Rbxb7 27. Qc8+ Kh7 28. Nxa6 Qxd3 29. Nb4 Qd2
30. Bf8 Rb8 {0-1 Gulko,B (2559)-Shulman,Y (2606)/ Tulsa USA 2008/ The Week in
Chess}) 15. Qa3 $6 {A novelty and objectively a bad one but I think Vishy's
idea here was just to take Topalov out of his preparation even at the cost of
fighting for an objective advantage} (15. Rfd1 {was sensible while}) (15. Rfe1
$5 {preparing Bxd5 so that e2 is protected - Nigel Short and}) (15. Rc2 $5 {
with the same idea were interesting ideas}) 15... Qxa3 16. bxa3 {#This is
risky as it weakens the c3 square which Black's extra pawn controls. It seems
to me that Black is comfortably equal here indeed White has to think how he
recoups this pawn} N7f6 {Not best, Black should not fear Bxd5} (16... Nc5 {
Removing White's wonderful blockading knight was much better when Black is
doing rather well} 17. Nd6 b6) 17. Nce5 $11 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20. Rfc1
{#} Rbd8 ({Vishy's position has improved, he has decent compensation here with
control of the c file and Nc6 coming} 20... Rec8 21. Rxc8+ Rxc8 22. Rxc8+ Bxc8
23. Nc6 {wins!}) 21. f4 {Keeping some control over the e5 square after a Nc6
Bxc6 sequence. Anand does not want to allow e6-e5.} Bb8 22. a4 a5 $6 {#Forgive
me reader but my computer likes this and so did Topalov but I am suspicious of
it. I guess Topalov did not like the idea a4-a5 b6-b5 Nc6 when the fixed a6
pawn is vulnerable but it's b6 which looks weaker to me. Longer term I see the
Bb7 being exchanged and the dark bishop staying on the board so pawns on black
squares could be uncomfortable against 2 knights} (22... Bd6 $5) (22... Rc8 23.
Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Rxc8+ Bxc8 25. Nc6 Bd6 26. Nxd4 $11) 23. Nc6 Bxc6 (23... Rc8 24.
Nxd4 Rxc2 25. Rxc2 {and the b5 square comes in handy.}) 24. Rxc6 h5 {
Prophylaxis against the plan of Bg2-f3 and g4-g5 but also a sure sign Black
lacks an active plan. Your engine might say level but it's perhaps a little
uncomfortable to play} (24... e5 25. fxe5 Bxe5 26. R1c4 Nc3 $5) 25. R1c4 $1 Ne3
$6 26. Bxe3 dxe3 {#} 27. Bf3 $1 {Calmly played and ruling out Rxd3 which might
have happened after:} (27. Rxb6 Rxd3 28. exd3 e2 29. Rb1 Ba7+ 30. d4 {with
complications although White is better here also} e5 31. fxe5 Rxe5 32. Re1)
27... g6 (27... Ba7 28. Kg2) ({Topalov gives up the wrong pawn as when b6 goes
a5 becomes weak so} 27... Nd7 28. Bxh5 e5 {was best}) 28. Rxb6 Ba7 {Played
after a long think. Black is clearly in some trouble. Top GMs hate these kinds
of positions with fixed weaknesses. The Catalan bishop is getting better and
better and a5 is very weak.} 29. Rb3 Rd4 $2 (29... Nd5 30. Rb5) (29... Re7) 30.
Rc7 {Obvious and strong, a5 falls} Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32. Rxa5 Rc8 33. Kg2 {This
looks technically winning Topalov has been utterly outplayed from a position
where if anything he was more comfortable} Rc2 34. a3 Ra2 (34... Kg7 35. Ra7
Ra2 36. Rbb7 Rxd3 37. Rxf7+ Kh6 38. Ra8 g5 39. Rxf6+ Kg7 40. fxg5) 35. Nb4 {
Again simple and strong} Bxb4 (35... Ra1 36. Nc2) (35... Rxa3 36. Rxa3 Bxb4 37.
Ra8+) 36. axb4 {#With two connected pawns and a huge Catalan bishop the game
is completely won. I couldn't pinpoint one serious error, Topalov has just
played a series of innacurate moves and failed to find a plan.} Nd5 37. b5 {
Offering one pawn to reach a completely technically won game} Raxa4 38. Rxa4
Rxa4 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 {#} (43. Ke4 Kf8
44. Kxd4 Ke7 45. Kc5 Kd7 46. Kb6) 1-0

