Gata Kamsky blundered horribly when in sight of draw in game five of his world title final eliminator against Veselin Topalov at Sofia. Kamsky chose to defend a slightly inferior position and should have held on. Topalov leads 3-2 with three to play.

Topalov,V - Kamsky,G [C07]

World Chess Challenge Sofia BUL (5), 23.02.2009
[Pein,Malcolm]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.Nxc6 Bxc6

[7...bxc6 8.Bd3 Qc7 9.Qe2 Ne7 10.Nf3 Ng6 Tal-Korchnoi 1971]

8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.c4! Bd6

A novelty at the top level [9...Nf6 10.Qa4 Qd7 11.e5 Ng8 12.0-0 Ne7; 9...Qa5 10.Qc2 Qa6 11.Rb1 Bb4 12.exd5 cxd5 13.0-0 Nf6 14.b3 0-0 15.Qb2 Rac8 ½-½ Ehlvest,J (2635)-Chernin,A (2635)/Pula CRO 1997]

10.cxd5 cxd5 11.exd5 exd5 12.0-0 Ne7 13.Nf3 0-0 14.Qd3 Qd7 15.Rd1 Rfd8 16.Be3

Controlling the square in front of the isolated pawn

16...a5 17.g3 h6 18.Bb6 Rdc8 19.Bd4 Bc5 20.Bc3 Bb4 21.Be5 Bd6 22.Rd2 Bxe5 23.Nxe5

White has a small edge but Kamsky defends well

23...Qd6 24.Re1 Rc7 25.Qf3 Rf8 26.Kg2 Rb7 27.h4 Qb4 28.Ree2 Qa4 29.b3 Qb4 30.Nd3 Qd6 31.h5 Rc7 32.Nf4 d4!

[32...Rd8 33.Rd4]

33.Re4 Nc6 34.Nd3 Rd8

The last few moves have gone well for Black

35.Rc2 Nb4?

[35...f5 36.Ree2 Ne5 37.Nxe5 Rxc2 38.Rxc2 (38.Nf7 Qc7 39.Nxd8 Rxe2 40.Qxe2 Qxd8 41.Qe6+ Kh8 42.Qxf5 d3 and White must stop the pawn with his queen when he cannot undertake anything active) 38...Qxe5=; 35...f5 36.Qxf5 Ne7 37.Re6 Qxg3+ 38.fxg3 Rxc2+ 39.Qf2 Rxf2+ 40.Kxf2 Kf7 (40...Nd5 41.Ra6 (41.Re5 Nb4 42.Nxb4 axb4= 43.Ra5 d3 44.Ke1 Rd4 45.Ra4) 41...Rf8+=) 41.Ra6; 35...Rcc8 36.Rc4 Nb4 37.Rcxd4 Qxd4 38.Rxd4 Rxd4 39.Ne5 Rf8 40.a3 Nd5 41.Nc6]

36.Nxb4 axb4

37.Rxd4! Qf8?

[37...Qxd4 38.Rxc7 Rf8]

38.Rxd8 Qxd8 39.Rxc7 Qxc7 40.Qa8+ Kh7 41.Qe4+ Kg8 42.Qxb4 Qc6+ 43.Kg1 Qc1+ 44.Kh2 Qc2 45.Qe1 Kf8

[45...Qxa2 46.Qe8+ Kh7 47.Qxf7]

46.a3! Qb2

[46...Qxb3 47.Qb4+ Qxb4 48.axb4 Ke7 49.Kh3 Kd6 50.Kg4 Kd5 51.Kf5 Kc4 52.Ke5 Kxb4 53.Kd6 Kc4 54.Ke7 Kd3 55.Kxf7]

47.Qb4+ Kg8 48.Kg2 Qe5 49.Qg4 Qb2 50.Qc8+ Kh7 51.Qc4 Qxa3 52.Qxf7 Qb4 53.Qc4 Qb7+ 54.Kg1 Qf3 55.g4

1-0

Play through the game.