Round 9: Saturday, May 20, 2006 |
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Gata Kamsky |
0-1 |
Veselin Topalov |
Vishy Anand |
½-½ |
Peter Svidler |
Etienne Bacrot |
½-½ |
Ruslan Ponomariov |
Games – Report |
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Standings
World #1 Veselin Topalov capped an amazing comeback by beating leader Gata Kamsky with the black pieces. After Topalov's third straight win they are now tied for first with one round to play. Kamsky stuck his head into the Bulgarian lion's mouth by allowing the Najdorf and then tickled the lion's belly by playing the exact same line he has used many times in the past few months. Topalov was ready with a strong new move (14..e5) and the white position was soon in ruins. The attack was executed with Topalov's usual ruthless precision and White resigned on move 29.
Vishy Anand escaped against Peter Svidler in another Lopez. Even the final position looks good for Black, but at the end of the first time control Svidler looked at his clock, then at White's menacing pieces, and decided discretion was the better part of valor and took a repetition. Bacrot-Ponomariov was a relatively peaceful draw.
Topalov has white against Bacrot in the final round. Kamsky has black against Svidler. Anand is a half point back with black against Ponomariov. The curious tournament regulations dictate that a tie for first place between two players results in rapid and blitz tiebreaks. If three players are tied for first, they use various systems, starting with most wins.
An outdoor market on the way to the city centre, where the tournament takes
place
It's the start of strawberry and cherry season. Quality is already excellent,
prices I am told will go down to less than a dollar a kilogram.
Veselin Topalov arrives early for his game against Gata Kamsky
Gata comes at the last minute – no piping hot coffee before the game today
At the start of round nine: Etienne Bacrot of France
Bacrot vs Ruslan Ponomariov, both of whom are trailing in the table
Vishy Anand, preparing for a tense game against his friend Peter Svidler
Another Ruy Lopez, under the watchful eye of TV cameraman Vijay Kumar
Round nine is under way
The technology room where the live Internet broadcast is generated
Live audio commentary for the audience
What Topalov second Ivan Cheparinov does instead of anxiously biting his
nails in the playing hall
"To the sweetest Romi" he signs the poster...
...and both enjoys the idea of this becoming part of our round nine report
Yet another young Bulgarian talent: Milena Stefanova, 16, this year's under
16 and under 18 girls' champion of her country. In 2002 Milena won the European
under 12 championship in rapid chess in Novi Sad. She is trained by her father
Plamen Stefanov, an IT specialist, and goes to a special mathematics school.
The book store just outside the playing hall
Prominently on display: the first four volumes of His Great Predecessors
in Russian
During lunch break in a streetside restaurant we are approached by a young gypsy
girl. Mark Lefler, an American friend with whom I am staying in Sofia,
is a contact magician and pulled the coin she wanted out of thin air.
This bright young girl immediately forgot about working the other guests and
spent all of her time trying to figure out how Mark made the coin disappear
and reappear.
No, turns out one cannot simply take them back to Germany
A traditional dance group taking a break on the balcony of their theatre
In the press room: international FIDE arbiter Gregorio Hernandez Santana,
who in his caricature looks disconcerting like a former dictator who currently
being tried in a Baghdad court.
A cartoon on the wall of the press center – can anyone with a knowledge
of Arabic translate it? Alternately, can non-Arabic readers supply a plausible
caption in English?
Addendum: Translation by Mahmud Hassain of Canada: "When he discovered that in chess there is king, visir (councilor or miniser for the queen) and soldiers (pawns), he got scared of playing ... He said to leave him out of politics".
This one needs no translation
Famous movie scenes with chess motifs
Lottery tickets with a chess position
Mild chess erotica in an unusual postcard collection
At the end of a hard-fought game Peter Svidler answers the question of Russian
chess journalist Yurij Vasiliev
Anand showed us his scoresheet, noting that for the first time ever he had made
use of the rule that allows players in time trouble to use dashes instead of
the move notation during the last four minutes. At dinner Peter Svidler told
us that in such situations Alexander Grischuk will write down the full move,
in long algebraic if necessary, and even note the clock times next to it.
Very seldom in time trouble: Vishy Anand
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