Linares 2010 (9)
Alexander Grischuk catches Veselin Topalov by beating him
IM Malcolm Pein - Thursday 25th February 2010
Alexander Grischuk needed to beat Veselin Topalov to have a chance of retaining his Linares title and this he did in a fine game in Round 9.
The Russian champion Alexander Grischuk dealt a major blow to the ambitions of world number two Veselin Topalov in the ninth and penultimate round at Linares. Grischuk avenged his defeat at the Bulgarian's hands earlier in the event and joined him in the lead with one to play. The rest of the six player field is well out of contention. Simultaneously Topalov lost the number one spot on the live world rankings which he had regained from Magnus Carlsen thanks to his fine start.
In the final round Topalov is white while Grischuk is black and they both face players who have yet to win a game.
Last round pairings:
Topalov - Gelfand
Aronian - Gashimov
Vallejo - Grischuk
Scores: 1-2 Topalov (Bulgaria), Grischuk (Russia) 5.5/9; 3 Aronian (ArmeniA) 4.5; 4-5 Gashimov (Azerbaijan), Gelfand (Israel) 4; 6 Vallejo (Spain) 3.5
A Grischuk - V Topalov
Queen's Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Rc1
(8.e4 is the most aggressive move)
8...Ba3 9.Rc2 Nc6
(Black threatens Nb4 trapping the rook)
10.Bg5 h6 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Bg2 d5
(The battle for the e4 square would be lost after 12...Bb7 13.0-0 Be7 14.Ne5)
13.0-0
(Black has no problems after 13.cxd5 Nb4 14.Rd2 Nxd5)
13...dxc4 14.bxc4 Rad8
(14...Bxc4 15.Ne4 wins)
15.Rd2 Bb4
(15...Bxc4 16.Qa4 attacks three pieces and even after 16...b5 17.Qxa3 b4 18.Qa4 bxc3 19.Qxc6 cxd2 20.Qxc4 White is much better)
16.Qb3 Bxc3
(16...Bb7!? 17.Rfd1 Qe7 to play Na5 was possible)
17.Qxc3 Na5 18.c5!
(18.Ne5 c5! is good for Black)
18...Nc4 19.Rc2
(Black's minor pieces lack good squares so Topalov sacrifices them for rook and pawn)
19...bxc5 20.Qb3 cxd4 21.Rxc4 Rb8 22.Qc2 Bxc4 23.Qxc4 e5 24.Qxc7 Rfe8 25.Qxa7 Rb2 26.Re1 g6 27.a4 Rd8 28.Qa5 e4 29.Nd2 e3 30.fxe3 d3
Veselin Topalov
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Alexander Grischuk
Position after 30...d3
(With both players running short of time Topalov plays to complicate but 30...dxe3 31.Ne4 Qd4 was probably better)
31.Ne4 Qe7 32.exd3 Rxd3 33.Qa8+ Kg7 34.Qc6 f5 35.Nf2 Rdd2
(35...Rxe3!)
36.Qc3+ Kh7 37.Rf1 Rbc2 38.Qb3 Rb2 39.Qc3 Rbc2 40.Qb3 Rb2 41.Qc4 h5 42.Qf4
(White's position is impregnable now. Once he activates his knight or plays e3-e4 he should win)
42...Re2 43.Bf3 Rec2
(43...Rxe3 44.Nd1)
44.Nd3 Ra2
(Trying a different material balance but Grischuk makes light of the technical difficulties with rook, bishop and knight v queen)
45.Nb4 Rxa4 46.Nxc2 Rxf4 47.gxf4 Kh6 48.Rb1 Qe6 49.Re1 Qa2 50.Nd4 h4 51.Be2 g5 52.fxg5+ Kxg5 53.Rf1 Kg6 54.Rxf5 Qb1+ 55.Rf1 Qe4 56.Kf2 1-0
Veselin Topalov
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Alexander Grischuk
Position after 56.Kf2
White will round up the h pawn as well and then gradually advance with his three pieces shielding his king from checks.
