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Champions Showdown 2016
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The Schedule of the tournament: There will double round robin time control event with 60 minutes and five seconds delay. This will be followed by six rounds of Rapid chess (15 minutes + 5 seconds delay) and finally there will be twelve rounds of 3 minutes + 2 seconds delay blitz on the final day.
Round one
The most exciting game of the first round was definitely the battle between Veselin Topalov and Fabiano Caruana
Caruana has just played his knight to b6, attacking the bishop on c4. Can you guess what Topalov played? The Bulgarian gave up his bishop and played the unbelievable 13.Qg3!!??!
Anand cannot really believe that Topalov has given up an entire piece
Nor can Hikaru Nakamura!
It wouldn't be incorrect to say that Topalov played like Mikhail Tal. He took his opponent into the deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the road leading out was only wide enough for one! Fabiano was winning on many occasions, and for a player of his calibre it wasn't difficult to defend. But he was unable to and the game ended in Topalov's favour.
[Event "Champions Showdown 60m"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2016.11.10"] [Round "1"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [BlackElo "2823"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2016.11.10"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 dxc4 {Caruana goes for the Vienna Gambit.} 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 {This is not the first time that Topalov has played this Gambit line. It goes perfectly well with his aggressive style.} Nxe4 7. O-O Nxc3 8. bxc3 Bd6 $5 {Usually Black retreats his bishop to e7. But here he went for the move Bd6. Although this is not a novelty, very few games have been played with this move.} (8... Bxc3 9. Rb1 $44 {It has been proved that taking the pawn on c3 is a mistake and gives White tremendous compensation.}) 9. Re1 O-O 10. Qd3 $146 (10. Ng5 {was played by Bacrot against Maze.}) 10... Nd7 11. Ne5 Bxe5 12. dxe5 Nb6 {[%cal Gd7b6] When Caruana made this move he was sure that he would either exchange the important light squared bishop or the queens. However, Topalov had a huge surprise in store for him.} 13. Qg3 $3 {What an amazing move by Topalov. The two exclamation marks are definitely not for the objectively value of the move, but for the sheer boldness. Veselin gives up a full piece for an attack which is far from being successful. But he figures out that in an opposite coloured bishop position, having the dark squared bishop is like having an extra piece! With the computer analysis we can arrive at the truth that Black is winning, but still I really like Topalov's courage.} (13. Qe4 Nxc4 14. Qxc4 b6 $15 {is not something White would like to go for. Black is at least equal.}) 13... Nxc4 14. Bh6 g6 15. Rad1 Bd7 (15... Qe7 { might have been a better move because now f6 is threatened.} 16. Bg5 (16. Bxf8 Kxf8 {is just a lost position for White.}) 16... f6 17. exf6 Qf7 18. h4 Re8 $1 $19 {Black is just winning now as the move e5 cannot be prevented, with smooth development for Black.}) 16. h4 Nb6 17. h5 {Topalov plays as if nothing really has happened!} Qe7 18. Rd4 {Brining in another piece into the attack. Well, even though the position is winning for Black, it is not so easy to just wait and do nothing. The rook on f8 is hanging, but White is not taking it. Meanwhile Fabi has to decide whether he should move the rook or let it be in the line of fire forever. Such decisions seems quite easy sitting at home with the computer switched on, but during the game it is never easy.} Be8 19. Bg5 f6 $2 (19... Qc5 {was relatively better, but after} 20. Qh4 {With the idea of Be7, the margin of error for Black keeps getting smaller and smaller.}) 20. exf6 { White now has a very strong attack. Black's pieces are unco-ordinated and this results in a quick win.} Qc5 (20... Qf7 {was better.}) 21. Rxe6 Qf5 22. Re5 Qb1+ 23. Kh2 gxh5 (23... c5 24. Rde4 Bc6 25. hxg6 Bxe4 26. f7+ Kg7 27. Qh4 $18) 24. Bh6+ Bg6 25. Bxf8 Rxf8 26. Qg5 Qxa2 27. Re7 Qxf2 28. Rg7+ Kh8 29. Rxg6 { With this game Veselin proved that Mihail Tal wasn't wrong when he said, "You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest, where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one!} (29. Rxg6 hxg6 30. Qh6+ Kg8 31. Qg7#) 1-0
The game between Hikaru Nakamura and Vishy Anand ended in a draw
Round 1
| White |
Result |
Black |
| Topalov,Veselin |
1 - 0 |
Caruana,Fabiano |
| Anand,Viswanathan |
½ - ½ |
Nakamura,Hikaru |
Round two
Vishy Anand was rock solid with the black pieces against Veselin Topalov and the game ended in a draw
Caruana and Nakamura also split the point
Round 2
| White |
Result |
Black |
| Caruana, Fabiano |
½ - ½ |
Nakamura,Hikaru |
| Topalov, Veselin |
½ - ½ |
Anand,Viswanathan |
Standings after day one
The official commentary is being done by GM Yasser Seirawan and IM Tania Sachdev along with...
...GM Alejandro Ramirez (right), who is seen here interviewing the grandmaster and economist Kenneth Rogoff
One of the brilliant initiatives taken by the commentary team is that anyone can make a phone call to the commentators and ask any question that they have. It gives you a unique opportunity to speak to great chess players and ask them questions about chess which have always been on your mind. The live commentary can be followed here and the phone number to call is 314-361-5465. The live broadcast begins at 1 p.m. local time in Saint Louis.
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