[Event "FIDE Candidates 2011"]
[Site "Kazan, Russia"]
[Date "2011.05.08"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A16"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"]
[PlyCount "112"]
[EventDate "2011.??.??"]
[TimeControl "7200"]

{The Topalov-Kamsky match has been without a doubt the most exciting match in
the first round of the Candidates. Of course, these great players would not
let us down in the final game.} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5.
Qc2 {[#]Topalov reveals a surprise as early as move five! 5. Qa4+ has been
played thousands of times.} Bg7 6. e4 Nb6 {This move allows Black to keep
using familiar themes and strategies as opposed to radically changing the pawn
structure and having to come up with ideas in a less familiar environment.} (
6... Nxc3 7. dxc3 {This pawn structure is slightly better for White, as
Black's bishop is quite passive (nothing a Gruenfeld player wants to hear
about...).}) 7. d4 O-O 8. Be3 Bg4 9. Ne5 {This is the other point of White's
system. With the queen on c2, and out of harm's way, the knight can jump to e5
to control the g7 bishop.} Bxe5 (9... Be6 {was worth considering, with the
idea of c6 and N8d7 eventually.}) 10. dxe5 Nc6 11. h3 Be6 12. Rd1 Qc8 13. f4
Rd8 14. b3 Nb4 15. Rxd8+ Qxd8 16. Qb1 f5 $5 {Maybe not the strongest move, but
Black had to do something. At least now the position is getting opened while
White's king remains in the center.} 17. exf6 exf6 18. Be2 Qe7 19. O-O Bf7 20.
Bf2 Rd8 21. Rd1 Rxd1+ 22. Qxd1 {The dust has cleared a little, as White has
finished his development. Black hasn't achieved anything tangible, but at
least his position remains solid and he has enough space for all his pieces as
he has managed to take the rooks out of the game.} c5 23. Bf1 Nc6 24. g3 Kg7
25. Bg2 h5 26. Nb5 Nc8 27. Qd2 {Black can now sit back and wait until White
threatens a breakthrough, which may be now or in twenty moves, but Gata is
just not that type of player.} c4 28. bxc4 Bxc4 29. Nd4 Qb4 {[#]} 30. Qc1 $1 {
It is important to understand the power of this move. The queen is the last
remaining heavy piece in the game, and without it White will not be able to
generate a strong enough initiative to overwhelm his opponent.} (30. Qxb4 Nxb4
31. a3 Nd3 $1 {And Black's pieces are just as active as their counterparts.
Kamsky would very likely hold this endgame without any problem.}) 30... N8e7
31. a3 Qa4 32. Qb2 {With every move White's position gains more and more
strength.} b6 {[#]} 33. Kh2 $1 {An important prophylactic move. Remember king
safety!} Kf7 {Now White must find a way to strike. The game begins to heat up!}
34. Qc3 Ba2 {[#]} 35. f5 {And here it is. This move was played, in my opinion,
at exactly the right time. With five moves to go it is still difficult to make
time control considering that Gata only had one minute and thirty seconds at
this point, while Topalov had a full eleven minutes. It is difficult to react
to a challenging move with such a short amount of time.} Qc4 36. Qb2 Ne5 37.
Qd2 $1 g5 38. Ne6 {Topalov has played a flawless game. His knight and queen
will create deadly threats.} N7c6 $2 {[#]} (38... Bb3 {, defending d1, is an
extremely hard move to find, but might have been the only way to defend.}) 39.
Qd6 $1 $18 {The decisive penetration.  Black simply does not have enough glue
to keep his entire position together.} Ke8 40. Nc7+ $6 {It is hard to
criticize this move, as it seems to be extremely strong, and the computers
like it. However Bd4 was cleaner, albeit much more difficult to find. The game
now takes a very unexpected turn...} Kf7 41. Nd5 {and f6 falls, as well as the
game... or so it would seem![#]} Qe2 $1 {Kamsky does not give up! He sees that
his only hope now is the somewhat weak position of White's bishops, which
cannot move because they must stay to defend the king.  Resourceful, but
should be insufficient.} 42. Qxf6+ Ke8 {White *seems* to be winning, but it is
not so easy, and he might not even be winning at all now!} 43. Qe6+ Kf8 44. Kg1
$6 (44. Qh6+ Kf7 45. Qf6+ Ke8 46. Qh8+ Kf7 47. Bg1 {And now that the queen
takes h5 with check against most Nf3+ variations, White should be winning.
Although far from easily.}) 44... Qd1+ {[#]} 45. Bf1 $4 (45. Kh2 $1) 45... Bxd5
$1 {Eliminating the knight is, of course, the first order of business.} 46.
exd5 (46. Qxd5 Qxd5 47. exd5 Ne7 48. Be2 Nxf5 49. Bxh5 Ke7 {is not much better
for White, as Black's knights miraculously control the White bishops. However,
this position can be squeezed.}) 46... Nd4 $11 {The position is already drawn.
White doesn't have enough resources to defend his own position, and he is
missing a piece in the attack to finish off the Black king. Amazing!} 47. Qf6+
Kg8 48. Qxg5+ (48. Bxd4 {did not solve White's problems, as too many
simplifications arise and his king is too weak.} Qxd4+ 49. Kh1 Qxd5+ 50. Bg2
Qd1+ 51. Kh2 Nf3+ $1 52. Bxf3 Qxf3 {with a clear draw.}) 48... Kf7 49. Qd8 Qc2
$1 {[#]The key move! The White king is completely controlled, and the threat
is Ndf3+ followed by Ne1+, with a perpetual.} 50. Bg2 Qc1+ 51. Kh2 Qc2 52. Bg1
Ndf3+ 53. Kh1 Ne1 54. Bf2 Qxf2 55. Qc7+ Kf6 56. Qd6+ Kf7 {White is in time to
give a perpetual and not lose, but that is all. A fantastic struggle.  It is
easy to blame Topalov for not calculating properly or for breaking down
nervously.  It is easy to say this when you have a computer that is throwing
numbers such as +3 and +4 after 42. Qxf6+. However, I challenge the readers to
calculate that position with or without a computer! It is extremely complex,
and Black's resources plentiful while White's continuation is unclear.  In
most cases in chess, the position is as natural as it seems. Black's weak king,
pawn deficit, etc. seemed to clearly indicate he was easily lost, but that
might not have been the case. Again, a fantastic save by the American
grandmaster, but props to both players for providing us with unbelievably
exciting chess.} 1/2-1/2

