The Topalov-Leko torture in San Luis

Dennis Monokroussos writes:

We continue our series previewing the upcoming World Championship in San Luis, Argentina, and this week it's Veselin Topalov and Peter Leko taking center stage.

As the number two and three seeds by rating, the title could quite conceivably come down to their mini-match, and if it does, Leko will be in excellent shape, if history is any guide. Even when Leko was in his early teens, he was torturing the older, higher-rated Topalov, and on this week's show we'll take a look at one of those early games.

In Vienna 1996, the 21-year-old Topalov was in fine form, tying for first with Gelfand and Karpov and adding to his impressive 2750 rating. Yet although just short of his 17th birthday, Leko was a contender as well, finishing just half a point behind the victorious trio and destroying Topalov in their individual game.

Leko played the Caro-Kann in that game, and despite the defense's ultra-solid reputation, their game (as with most of their games over the years) became complicated in a hurry. Topalov had chances to develop a queenside attack, and over a period of several moves, if Leko hadn't played incisively, White would have been in good shape. He did, however, and while Topalov was repeatedly just one move short of consolidating, Leko's initiative grew into an overwhelming attack, and White was crushed.

In addition to the value of the game as a whole, it's also of interest from a theoretical standpoint for those who play either side of the Panov-Botvinnik Attack against the Caro-Kann. So I hope to see everyone this Monday night at 9 p.m. ET!

Dennis Monokroussos is 39, lives in South Bend, IN, and is an adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.

He is fairly inactive as a player right now, spending most of his non-philosophy time being a husband and teaching chess. At one time he was one of the strongest juniors in the U.S., but quit for about eight years starting in his early 20s. His highest rating was 2434 USCF, but he has now fallen to the low-mid 2300s – "too much blitz, too little tournament chess", he says.

Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for seven years now, giving lessons to adults and kids both in person and on the internet, worked for a number of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools program, where he was one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8 championship team from the Bronx, and was very active in working with many of CITS’s most talented juniors.

When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main areas of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key moments of the middlegame (or endgame, when applicable). With respect to the latter, he attempts to present some serious analysis culled from his best sources (both text and database), which he has checked with his own efforts and then double-checked with his chess software.

Here are the exact times for different locations in the world