FIDE Commentary

Below is the commentary from the official website of FIDE:

A single point gap with two Whites out of three remaining games does not look insurmountable. However, the course of the recent games is troubling for Vladimir. Topalov won the Game 9 al-most without resistance. Having faced an opening ‘mine’, Kramnik suddenly became frustrated and ruined his position in a few moves. It is difficult to believe that such move as 10.f4 can refute the Slav Defense.

It is just Vladimir who got tired of facing new ideas of the opponent, exhausted his reserve of patience and objectivity, which are so important for defending, and cracked under Veselin’s pressure. He displayed dissatisfaction by his opening preparation today, but hadn’t he selected the team himself? One can ascertain that Topalov’s team, despite their notorious lack of match experience, worked more efficiently.

It is difficult to disclose Vladimir’s true feelings behind his impenetrable mask, but it is easy to read Veselin’s face. After his second consecutive victory Topalov’s growing confidence banished the earlier frustrations of his two defeats. “I have caught my rhythm, – said the Bulgarian to the journalists, – I play quickly and strongly!’ Big negative score against Kramnik does not influence him – history is not important as long as he leads in the match and plays better chess.

And still, there are few those equal to Kramnik in collecting his strength at critical moments. Fans of the Russian pin their hopes on this reserve as well as recall the concluding game of the Brissago match. Vladimir’s situation had also been considered hopeless back then…