Adams 1/2 – 1/2 Topalov
Topalov seems to amaze the fans more and more each day. With only 4 games left and leading by 2 full points, one would expect Topalov to play safe. Of course not! That is just not possible with the Bulgarian superstar. He decided to play a sharp Sicilian (Scheveningen).
Adams made the first move. On move 14, he played e5 and basically decided to sacrifice a pawn for initiatives while creating a strong Kingside attack. He succeeded as Topalov’s position had key weaknesses on the dark square in front of the King.
On move 26, Adams decided to go all out and offered a sacrifice of a Knight. If Topalov would have taken the Knight, the continuation would have been very dangerous and hard to calculate. He wisely declined the sacrifice and decided to sacrifice an exchange himself to get rid of White’s deadly dark square Bishop.
For a while, it looked like Topalov was about to suffer his first loss against the only player who does not have a win in the World Championship. Even though Adams had the advantage, it was not a clear forced win. Adams could have made Topalov’s life so miserable by patiently squeezing the position. Unfortunately, Adams did not have that patience and he decided to give back an exchange to open up the position.
The plan did not work as Topalov defended brilliantly and Adams was forced to give perpetual checks.
Anand 1 – 0 Kasimdzhanov
Anand and Kasimdzhanov engaged in a Be3 Najdorf. Instead of a more “normal” 13. Nc5, Anand surprised Kasim with 13. Na5. That seemed to throw Kasim off. On move 15, Kasim should have played Be7. He made a strange decision by playing 15…g6. On move 19, Kasim missed a brilliant defensive move 19…Nh2!! that would have given him an OK position. He played the “normal” 19…Nf6 and Anand precisely punished him the rest of the way. Kasim resigned on move 29. Anand is now at +2.
J. Polgar 1/2 – 1/2 Leko
Leko employed the Caro-Kann and they really did not have to play chess this round. Just about everything was part of theories. On move 25, Judit offered a draw in a dead even endgame.
Svidler 1 – 0 Morozevich
I have to hand it to Svidler this round. In a harmless Petroff, he just outplayed Morozevich in the middle game. Yes, White did have a small advantage but it was not something that warranted a full point. But Svidler kept on squeezing and he fully earned the win to give him a +3 and still in clear second place. The most important thing is he is now only 1.5 points behind Topalov with 3 rounds to go and they face each other tomorrow. 
Judit is defintely good enough, Susan. There is probably a gender bias here. I’ve had some limited experience is city closed championships and have done and played best when I tried to “play within my strength.” While I think that Judit’s fighting spirit is greatly laudable, I wonder if a little conservation of her energy might not have been more in her competitive (and in a few games being better rested) artistic interest. I wonder if Judit’s result won’t result in having a salutary effect on future world championship performances. I am a little reminded on Fischer’s performance at Curacao from the competitive point of view. I would be surprised if Judit doesn’t take alot from this experience. Any comments that you have from your experiences in similar competitions would, I’m sure, be enlightening to the board.
I think that Alekhine’s comments on his New York 1927 experience are very revealing. His match result with Capablanca months later suggests that he came to the correct conclusions.
Thank you for your support of Judit!
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Hi Susan,
I just want to add a little to your summary of the Adams-Topalov game.
I say Hats Off to Adams for fearlessly taking the attack to Topalov. He completely surprised Topalov ! To Topalov’s credit, he defended precisely.
I suppose Adams realised he had nothing to lose at this stage 🙂
Good luck to Judit for the remaining rounds.