Game of the Week: Topalov vs Basso

by Merijn van Delft
2/5/2020 – Tonight, IM Merijn van Delft looks back on an eventful Gibraltar tournament, and a game by veteran Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov, who is always good for a show. The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium account holders (but FREE for a limited time!). Merijn is live this week starting at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).
Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.

Game of the Week #398

In the past week the strong Gibraltar tournament was a rich source of creative chess. In the end first place was shared by seven strong grandmasters. For tonight, I've selected a game by good old Topalov, who is still playing with enormous flair.

The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium accounts.

Warming-up question: What would you play here with White?

 
Topalov vs Basso, Gibraltar 2020
Position after 13...c6

Merijn will explain in the show!

This week's show

To chat, please visit videos.chessbase.com/live or login via Playchess for Windows. Merijn is  live at 19:00 UTC (20:00 CET / 4 PM EST).

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,184,21554%2421---
1.d4958,93255%2434---
1.Nf3286,32756%2441---
1.c4184,72256%2443---
1.g319,88456%2427---
1.b314,59854%2428---
1.f45,95348%2377---
1.Nc33,90650%2384---
1.b41,79048%2378---
1.a31,25054%2406---
1.e31,08149%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446654%2382---
1.c343951%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411860%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.c3 0-0 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Be7 8.Nbd2 d6 9.a4 Nh5 10.Bg3 Nxg3 11.hxg3 Nb8 12.Ba2 Nd7 13.d4 c6 14.Qc2 Qc7 15.g4 c5 16.g5 hxg5 17.0-0-0 Bf6 18.Rh2 g6 19.Rdh1 cxd4 20.Rh6 Kg7 21.Nb1 Nc5 22.Nxd4 Bd7 23.Rh7+ Kg8 24.Nb5 Qd8 25.Nxd6 Be6 26.Bxe6 Nxe6 27.Qd1 g4 28.Na3 Nf4 29.Nac4 Nh3 30.Rxf7 Rxf7 31.gxh3 Rh7 32.Qxg4 Bg5+ 33.Kb1 Qf6 34.Rg1 Bf4 35.Qxg6+ Qxg6 36.Rxg6+ Kh8 37.Re6 Rd8 38.h4 Rc7 39.Kc2 Kh7 40.Kb3 a6 41.Nf5 b5 42.axb5 axb5 43.Ncd6 Rb8 44.Ne8 Ra7 45.Nf6+ Kh8 46.h5 Rba8 47.Nd5 Bc1 48.Kc2 Ra1 49.Rxe5 Kg8 50.Nb4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Topalov,V2738Basso,P26001–02020Gibraltar Masters 20209.7

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The new Corr Database 2020 is a large ChessBase collection of correspondence games from the period from 1804 to 2019. With more than 80,000 tournaments and over 1.6 million correspondence games.

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Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.

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