Tuesday, May 11, 2010

World Championship tactics

This position could have occurred in today's game if White had played 41.Rxa8:

Topalov-Anand, game 12 (variation after 41.Rxa8)
Black to play and win

Hint: Black's Christmas list might include eliminating a certain defensive piece, then clearing the way for yet another piece, no matter the cost.

1 comment:

Frederick Rhine said...

I puzzled over this for a minute, until I saw 41...Rxe3+! 42.Rxe3 Rh4+! 43.Kxh4 Rg4#. This game was a gutsy performance by Anand, and a sad collapse by Topalov. I am no fan of Topalov's, but he must really be kicking himself after that horrible debacle. He played at about 1600 level. What a plan - f3, g3, Ra3, Nb3-a5, e4, exf5, and then parking his king on h4! The worst last game collapse in a big match since Deep Blue-Kasparov.

Hats off to Anand, who is becoming one of the great champions of all time. I am amazed that he was able to beat the higher-rated Topalov in Sofia. I had thought the match would be a modern-day repeat of Lasker-Capablanca 1921, when Lasker was crushed in Capablanca's home country of Cuba.

Frederick Rhine