Welcome to the Game of Death

Veselin Topalov to go for kill
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, May 11, 2010, 01.34am IST

CHENNAI: Welcome to the Game of Death. The decisive game of the World Chess Championship in Sofia will be played on Tuesday with challenger Veselin Topalov going all out to have a tilt at the world title and world champion Viswanathan Anand putting up as solid as any defence he had in his illustrious career.

There are two reasons why Topalov would not like the match to end in a tie if the twelfth game is drawn: one, the colour of the pieces and then the great record of his opponent in speed chess. The colour has gone well and truly in favour of Topalov, who will have white at the most decisive moment in his career.

Topalov has a great record playing in the last round in his career as he had won many tournaments when he had to strike in the last game. He is determined to get this title under his belt as he has only won the World Championship once, but in the tournament format. “Topalov has the reputation of winning the final game of many events,” observes Grandmaster and coach RB Ramesh. Topalov would like to close the match in regular play because he wouldn’t want his opponent to call the shots in the rapid tie-breaker.

If Anand holds for another draw, which surely will be the world champion’s prime objective, then Topalov could be in danger of losing his way. The tiebreaker consists of four rapid games of 25 minutes each and if that set is also drawn, a blitz game will decide the match. In both cases Anand would be the favourite not only based on his reputation but his head-to-head record against Topalov in these formats.

Topalov will certainly press for a win, like Anand did in the penultimate game on Sunday. However, the last two games would have given Anand’s confidence a boost because with black in Game 10, he played doggedly, throwing the once-bitten Grunfeld back at Topalov.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com