Topalov eliminates Karjakin in León

León Semifinal #1
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• Event intro • Game
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For the past five years the Grandmasters playing in the annual León
tournament have not played alone. They had the assistance of the latest ChessBase
software running on cutting edge hardware. (Some said that the computers had
the assistance of a top Grandmaster.) This was "Advanced Chess," a
creation of Garry Kasparov. After so many famous battles against computers,
in 1998 Kasparov decided it was time to join them instead of trying to beat
them.
This
quest for perfect chess had a few fans and many critics but the big names did
not shy away. Kasparov beat Topalov in the inaugural event and then abandoned
the experiment after falling out with the organizers. Anand took over from there,
winning the next three events before falling to Kramnik last year.
This
year there is no "Anand+Fritz" or "Topalov+Junior" on the
player list. The GMs are going it alone in a traditional rapid event in a knock-out
format. Veselin Topalov faced Sergey Karjakin in the first four-game
semifinal and the tomorrow's will bring Ruslan Ponomariov against Paco Vallejo.
Rapid chess has always been considered a young player's game and top teens
improve so quickly that only a nut would expect a 2550 performance from Karjakin
regardless of his rating. He confirmed his talent, promise, and inexperience
all at the same time in his first match game against Topalov.

Yes, he CAN reach the eighth rank.
The
young Ukrainian introduced a novelty in the Petroff, handled the white pieces
impressively and came through complications with an extra pawn against the world
number five. It was unlikely that Topalov was going to lose this position but
he didn't have to worry about it because Karjakin suffered a major delusion.
He played 50.Bd5?? and must have thought he was winning if 50..Bxd5
51.e7. Now if 51...Kxe7?? 52.Kxd5 and White wins. (Mate in 28 according
to Fritz.) The problem was 51...Bc6 and Karjakin had to resign. Oops.
Things continued downhill in the next game. Topalov played a powerful Maroczy
Bind squeeze out of an unorthodox English and finished off well in the endgame
to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Karjakin staved off elimination by holding
on to win the third game after another fine performance by Topalov. The Ukrainian's
tough defense kept him in the game until Topalov slipped in the endgame and
was soon lost.
Topalov held serve with white to take the match 2.5-1.5. Karjakin shuffled
around in a drawn bishop endgame until move 112 hoping for a miracle. It was
a tough match for both players. Karjakin was outclassed but showed he has moxie
by the pound. There is little doubt he'll be a powerful addition to the already
superb Ukrainian Olympiad team in 2004.
The second semifinal looks like a mismatch. Ponomariov has completely owned
Vallejo in their encounters so far (4.5/5) so it will be a tough test for the
Spaniard despite the home crowd. A Topalov-Ponomariov final would be a match-up
of the trainee and trainer from Ponomariov's FIDE title match in 2002. (Karjakin
was also part of that team.)
Karjakin-Topalov photo courtesy of León press officer GM Zenón
Franco.