Even at his best, Topalov is no match for Viswanathan Anand
Praveen Thipsay
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:18 IST
The volcanic ash has virtually brought Europe’s air traffic to a halt as a result of which Vishy Anand has had to travel by road to Bulgarian capital Sofia where the defending champion will lock horns with favourite Veselin Topalov for the World Chess Championship in Sofia.
I don’t think Anand must have recovered from a 40-hour long bone-jarring road journey. The rejection of Anand’s plea to postpone the contest by two-three days will disrupt his gameplan. Also, his seconds would have reached late and they will be tired as well.
Anand has to make sure that he is not psychologically affected. Because in Bulgaria, Topalov is a national hero. The tournament is sponsored by the country’s government, which is not the case all the time. So it gains more significance over there.
With the government taking so much interest, the match will get a lot of public and media attention. It will be a national event in Bulgaria and you can compare the frenzy to the forthcoming football World Cup. That sort of thing never happened when Anand played in India.
Game wise, Topalov has been playing badly this year. He was lucky to win Linares title. So it makes me wonder what kind of games we’ll see from the World No.2. But Linares can’t be an indicator to his form. He played erratically because he didn’t want to reveal his preparations.
If he commits a mistake, Anand will kill him. But Anand has to guard against the erratic openings played by Topalov, who has won from precarious positions.
If Anand shows the same form as he had against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008 title clash, then Topalov would be no match for him. But that was about 18 months ago.
One can’t ignore Garry Kasparov’s comment on Anand’s age. I respect Kasparov for his judgement. So I’m little worried on that front. But if you take player-to-player assessments then Topalov at his best is no match for Anand.
Here is the full article.
If Kasparov is as right about Vishy’s age as he is about Russian politics, then Vishy has nothing to worry about!
>:)
I hope Topalov gets killed.
I do not like his chess at all.
He says he is not afraid of losing, but what I see is that he is not afraid of making bad moves, deliberately, to confuse his opponent. And then, not even in good style.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6269
article in chessbase on anand’s travel to sophia on road.
Poorly written article biased towards Anand. It takes 18 hours to reach Sofia from Frankfurt, not 40.
“He was lucky to win Linares title”??
Really? I did not know you can win Linares by luck. May be some of us should give Linares a shot?
Articles about Anand vs. articles about Topalov on Susan’s blog: 10:1. And then Anand’s fans complain he is treated unrairly. Can’t please everyone, obviously.
Author of the article shall replace Anand in the match ;-).
The last results Topalov – Anand shows that Anand is not clear favourite.
“Poorly written article biased towards Anand. It takes 18 hours to reach Sofia from Frankfurt, not 40.”
Please read the full article in “Anand’s journey to Sofia” before commenting.
“Even at his best, Topalov is no match for Anand”? To state the obvious, Topalov is rated No. 2 in the world, behind only Carlsen, and 18 points ahead of Anand. I am rooting for Anand, but fear that Anand playing Topalov in Bulgaria is like Lasker playing Capablanca in Cuba – and we know how that turned out. If that comparison seems far-fetched, recall that Lasker, despite being 20 years older than Capablanca, always finished ahead of him in tournaments until 1936, when Lasker was 67. Those tournaments included three after their 1921 world championship match: Lasker’s immortal victory at New York 1924; Moscow 1925; and Moscow 1935, where Lasker was undefeated, finished 1/2 point behind Botvinnik and Flohr, and crushed Capablanca in their individual game.
Chessgames.com shows that Anand has beaten Topalov 23 to 14, with 49 draws. From 2007 to date, Anand has won thrice and Topalov twice, with 12 draws. http://bit.ly/aHdKQ7 With the match taking place in Bulgaria, Topalov has to be the favorite.
“Chessgames.com shows that Anand has beaten Topalov 23 to 14, with 49 draws. From 2007 to date, Anand has won thrice and Topalov twice, with 12 draws. http://bit.ly/aHdKQ7 With the match taking place in Bulgaria, Topalov has to be the favorite.”
Yes, including blitz and blind and rapid.
In classicalgames
Topalov win 11 games lost 10 and draw 23
Since 2007 in classic controle Topa win twice, Vishi – once.
This is the completely opposite conclusion that GM Spraggett reaches on his blog. Also the CG.com database of games does not support this conclusion either.
My conclusion: too close to call. I’ll root for Anand anyway.