Topalov. Vallejo in final of Dos Hermanas Rapid

XIV International Chess Tournament

“CIUDAD DE DOS HERMANAS”

Veselin Topalov, Alexey Shirov, Judit Polgar, Francisco Vallejo

Dos Hermanas April 17-21 2008

The XIV Dos Hermanas tournament is taking place from April 18th-20th April, 2008, in the Teatro Municipal Juan Rodriguez Romero in Dos Hermanas, Spain.

Four players are in the knockout event, with four rapid games played at the rate of 20 minutes + 10 seconds a move. The tiebreaker is blitz games of 5 minutes + 3 seconds followed by a final sudden death game if required. The scores in the first round were:

Today, Sunday, will see the final between Veselin Topalov and Francisco Vallejo. The games begin at 16:30h, 17:30h, 18:30h and 19:30 hours Central European Time (=GMT +2).

The setup in the Teatro Municipal: the players are on the stage, large projection and
flat panel displays show the game, commentary and the players.

A visual feast – here during a game Vallejo-Shirov

During their first (drawn) game

The intensity and tension of a rapid chess match

Shirov,A (2740) - Vallejo Pons,F (2684) [B12]
XIV Rapid Dos Hermanas ESP (1.2), 18.04.2008
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 Ne7 7.f4 c5 8.dxc5 Nec6 9.h4 h5 10.f5 Nxe5 11.fxg6 Nf3+ 12.Kf2 hxg4 13.Nf4 Bxc5+ 14.Kg3 Nc6 15.Bg2 Nxh4 16.Qxg4 Nd4

17.gxf7+ Kxf7 18.Rxh4 Qxh4+ 19.Qxh4 Nf5+ 20.Kh2 Rxh4+ 21.Nh3 Rah8 22.Bd2 Bd6+ 23.Kg1 Rxh3 24.Bxh3 Rxh3 25.Rf1 Rh2 0-1. [Click to replay]

Press conference after the game, with Shirov, Leontxo Garcia and Vallejo

On the second day: rapid chess match between Veselin Topalov and Judit Polgar

The former FIDE world champion faces the strongest female player in history

That's him, the 33-year-old Bulgarian GM, who won the title in 2005

...and her, the Hungarian GM who has broken all records in women's chess

Topalov,V (2767) - Polgar,Ju (2709) [D38]
XIV Rapid Dos Hermanas ESP (1.1), 19.04.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 d5 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.cxd5 g5 9.Bg3 Nxd5 10.Rc1 cxd4 11.exd4 Nc6 12.h4 g4 13.Ne5 f5 14.Bc4 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 b5 16.Bxd5 Qxd5 17.0-0 Bxc3 18.Rxc3 Bb7 19.f3 Rac8 20.Qd2 Kh7 21.fxg4 Rxc3 22.bxc3 Rg8 23.g5 h5 24.Re1 Qc4 25.d5 Bxd5 26.Qf2 Kg6 27.Bd4 Qxa2 28.Re2 Qb1+ 29.Kh2 Qd1 30.Qe3 Be4 31.Be5 Qd3 32.Qf2 Qd5 33.Bg3 Rd8 34.Qxa7 Rd7 35.Qb8 Rd8 36.Qb6 Rd7 37.Qa6 Qc4 38.Rf2 Rd3 39.Qa7 Qxc3 40.Qb8 Qg7 41.Be5 Rd8 42.Qxd8 Qxe5+ 43.g3 Bd5 44.Qg8+ Qg7 45.Qe8+ Qf7 46.Qxb5 Qa7 47.Qb2 Kh7 48.Rc2 Be4 49.Rc8 e5 50.Qe2 Kg7 51.Qd2 Qa4?

White has an exchange and is of course winning; with her last move Black allows mate in four: 52.Rc7+ Kf8 53.Qd8+ Qe8 54.Qf6+ Qf7 55.Qxf7#. But the laws of rapid chess dictate that players take the longer path: 52.Rd8 Bc6 53.Qe2 Qa1 54.Rd1 Qc3 55.Qf2 Qb4 56.Rc1. Again there was a faster way: 56.Qa7+ Qb7 (56...Kg6 57.Qa2 threatening ...Qg8# 57...Kg7 58.Rd8 same threat and no reasonable defense – White wins.) 57.Qxb7+ Bxb7 58.Rd7+ and the game is over. 56...Bb7 57.Qa2 [57.Rc7+ leads to forced mate in six] 57...Qd6 58.Qb2 Kg6 59.Rc2 f4 60.Qxb7 Qd3 61.Rc6+ Kf5 62.Qh7+ and mate to follow. 1-0. [Click to replay]

A scene from the second game Polgar vs Topalov

Polgar,Ju (2709) - Topalov,V (2767) [C92]
XIV Rapid Dos Hermanas ESP (1.2), 19.04.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a4 Na5 13.Bc2 b4 14.d5 bxc3 15.bxc3 c6 16.c4 Qc7 17.Ra3 Reb8 18.Nh4 Bc8 19.Rg3 Qd8 20.Nf5 Bxf5 21.exf5 cxd5 22.cxd5 Rb4 23.Nf3 Rc8 24.Bg5 Nc4 25.Bxf6 Qxf6 26.Ng5 Be7 27.Qh5 h6 28.Ne4 Qh4 29.Qe2 h5 30.f6 Bxf6 31.Qxh5 Be7 32.Qf5 Rcb8 33.Rg4 Qh6 34.Ng3 g6 35.Qd7 Kf8

36.Qc7? This allows the family fork 36...Qd2 37.Re2 Qxd5 and Topalov took the full point without any difficulty. 38.Be4 Qa5 39.Qxa5 Nxa5 40.Bd5 Rb1+ 41.Kh2 Rd1 42.Bf3 Rc1 43.h4 Nc6 44.h5 gxh5 45.Nxh5 Nd4 46.Rxd4 exd4 47.Nf4 Bg5 48.Kg3 Bxf4+ 49.Kxf4 Rb4 50.Kf5 Rc5+ 0-1. [Click to replay]

The third game was drawn, which meant that Topalov had a seat in the final. The final game was played and Judit Polgar scored a nice win to perk up her spirits.

Press conference after the match, with Judit, Leontxo and Veselin

The public in Dos Hermanas hanging on to every word by the masters

Links Official web site (with live broadcast) All games in PGN You can use ChessBase Light to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. It also gives you immediate access to play and watch the Dos Hermanas final on the Playchess.com server.