Who will win the Topalov – Kamsky match?
V. Topalov
G. Kamsky
Click here to vote.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Will it be Topalov or Kamsky?
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Who will win the Topalov – Kamsky match?
V. Topalov
G. Kamsky
Click here to vote.
Kamsky has 20% chance to win this match.
No contest, Topalov easily.
Topalov is just plain better. That doesn’t mean he’ll win, but his chances are good.
An Interview that did not happen
The President of the USA Chess Federation did not answer our questions
During the preparation of our website, we decided to enable the Presidents of both United States Chess Federation and the Bulgarian Chess Federation to express their opinion concerning the forthcoming semi-final match for the World Chess Championship. The President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Mr.Stefan Sergiev, PhD, was eager to respond to our request. His counterpart from USA would not answer our questions.
It shows that Goichberg doesn’t care about his player or the welfare of chess in his country. It’s sad that the head of a national federation behaves so unprofessionally.
http://www.wccc2009.com
Goichberg never cares about anyone but his own ego and politics. He’s driving the USCF to the brink of bankruptcy.
Topo has got to be heavy favorite. Having said that, what is Kamsky’s best strategy to surprise him? Maybe something similar to Anand’s surprising Krammy by playing d4 every game and probably rendering much of K’s preparation useless – brilliant!! Hope he has something interesting up his sleeve or it may be a blowout.
With a very short 8-game match (boiling down to 4 White games each = 4 potential attempts to win) and Topalov being the heavy favourite, the strategy is clear:
Topalov will try to spring one of his opening-novelties on Kamsky while not risking anything in unfamiliar positions.
Kamsky therefore will try to steer positions into unfamiliar terrain or force draws; he will be content to reach the tie-break where chnances should be 50-50 because of the psychological pressure that will be on Topalov in that case.
Openings for Kamsky:
With White: Trompowsky, London-System, Closed Sicilian and Sokolsky 1.b4.
With Black: Scandinavian 3..Qd6 and Philidor against 1.e4; Baltic Defense and Chigorin against 1.d4.
If he plays the Grunfeld Defense with Black then he will be dead meat. The same goes for a Caro-Kann.
Wow Anon! A very deep analysis!
You should be Gata’s second!
And it’s limp, too.
Yes, Topa’s nose is quite limp. It needs Viagra!
I wonder if FIDE considers Viagra dope.
FIDE TD: Mr. Topalov, is that pocet Fritz in your pants?
Topa: No sir, it is an 8 hour erection from eating too much Viagra!
Kamsky is an American lawyer. We, as a class, tend to kick butt! Have doubts? Check the news stories of November 4th, 2008!
Topalov will lose on a technicality. You’ll see!
I would bet 7 to win 2 that Topalov won, but that’s not what I WANT to happen. I’m hoping that Kamsky’s recent middling performance at Corus was due to his not caring as much about performance in that tournament as he was about resting up for this Match.
Kamsky is an American. USA is the Mecca of chess where the worlds strongest players reside. Therefore I expect Kamsky to donimate this match with perhaps a plus 3 result.
“USA is the Mecca of chess where the worlds strongest players reside”
LOL. Good one!
Why does the post from http://www.wccc2009.com say there was no interview with the President of the USCF? I just looked at the website and there was an interview with Bill G.
He refused to respond for more than a month. After the news came out of this, he immediately tried to save face. What a phony! He’s a disgrace to chess and the USCF.
Anonymous said:
Openings for Kamsky:
With White: Trompowsky, London-System, Closed Sicilian and Sokolsky 1.b4.
With Black: Scandinavian 3..Qd6 and Philidor against 1.e4; Baltic Defense and Chigorin against 1.d4.
GMs, especially super-GMs do not play these ridiculous openings, except maybe Closed Sicilian.
If Kamsky does decide to use any of those openings, perhaps he has the objective of boring Topalov into submission.;0)
I’m rooting for Kamsky, but I’ll be amazed if he really does win.
As I support Anand and fair play, I couldn’t care less. May the worst man win!
I wish that Kamsky were Kamsky again (like Zuckertort was no longer Zuckertort when losing to Steinitz). I believe that in the ‘good old days’ when Kamsky was a dominant force (like #3 in the world), he had no problems with Topolov. Unfortunately, it was after that that Topolov became Topolov, and by recent results, still IS Topolov. It’s for this reason that I’m expecting Topolov to win, and possibly quite convincingly.
Of course, I’m rooting for Kamsky, but my rooting for him is not exactly going to help anything.
I remember when Kamsky was a world – dominant force. I followed every game in his losing match with Karpov; Kamsky played brilliantly, but unfortunately, Karpov was still Karpov! Can Gata truly regain his old form?
Can any of us 50+ years old geezers ever hope to regain ‘our old form’??
MC
I want and am rooting for Kamsky to pull the upset of 2008. Having said that the odds are heavily in Topalov’s favour, he has been playing great chess and is in superb form. Kamsky has not been playing so powerfully as he has in the past. BUT in a short 8 game match if Kamsky’s opening preparation nullifies Topalov’s as Anand did to Kramnik we may see a Gata Victory!
Mister Cat wrote :
“Can Gata truly regain his old form?”
“Can any of us 50+ years old geezers ever hope to regain ‘our old form’??”
If you’re implying that Kamsky is 50+ (maybe you’re not, but then I don’t quite see the point of your comment) you are gravely mistaken. He’s not much older than 35.
– A 35+ Geezer 😉
8-0, GO Topalov!!
HA HA HA!! Kamsky surprise Topalov??? Don’t make me laugh. The only way Kamsky can surprise Topalov is if he shows to the first game with no pants. Worst case scenario, Topa loses that game on a laugh attack…and then win 7 in a row.
Go Gata! We believe in you and will be rooting for you here in the U.S.!
Gata Kamsky to be first American world champion since Bobby Fischer!
My vote to Topolov
Kamsky (34) was born 2 June 1974 and is a whole nine months older than Topalov (33), born 15 March 1975. Both are significantly younger than Anand (1969) and just barely older than Kasparov (32) was when he beat Anand in their match.
I dread seeing one day Kamsky as world champion. He is clearly not the best chess player anymore, has no charisma, no good team and a weak USCF to support him – altogether, no ability to promote world chess as it deserves to be.
Topalov is under pressure but hopefully he can focus on chess. An entire nation (Bulgaria) is firmly behind him and he is no. 1 on rating list. Having said that I hope Anand will retian the title over either of these two guys until a better WC contender comes by.
Pali
Pali
To Pali Feb 12, 02.42 am
” I couldn’t agree with you more!
“GMs, especially super-GMs do not play these ridiculous openings, except maybe Closed Sicilian.”
That’s exactly the trick!
Topalov will be unfamiliar with them. Just take his quick loss against Carlsen’s Alekhine last year, or for example the use of the Scandinavian by Anand against Kasparov in the WM-Match 1995; Anand was alraedy better after the opening (though Kasparov later won nicely in sacrificial style)
Especially Topalov is focussing very much on the openings. If Kamsky gets him out of the familiar Topalov will sweat to death and blunder….
ANON from February 11, 2009 12:42:00 PM
“I want and am rooting for Kamsky to pull the upset of 2008.”
Umm, we are in year 2009.