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From this match, we must hope for a decisive result, as a tie will divert to speed games. The infamy of it: Speed games to decide a world championship! How 'democratic.' Shame it is only a 12 game match as this goes against tradition of longer world championship match games. Good that the match is taking place at all, unfortunately under FIDE auspices. FIDE under Ilyumzhinov seems incapable of finding either a format or set of qualifiers worthy of an event of this magnitude. It will be a very exciting match, I think, and it is very hard to pick a winner. I will predict Kramnik as winner, though it pains me to think that Topalov, with his recent winning chess, might not become legitimate heir to Kasparov.
Topalov plays Cochrane Gambit against Kramnik in Linares
'After 28. Rc6 Qh5 29. Qxa6, Topalov could win a fourth pawn for the Knight and in case of a check of the Black Queen to d1 come back with his Queen to f1.'
True?
Due to his peculiar weakness for getting beaten by Kramnik, Kasparov may be unusually biased.
This is supposibly most of the first game of the match. I can't get the game from the official site at http://www.worldchess2006.com/ but someone posted this over at http://chessgames.com [Event 'World Championship Match'] [Site 'Elista'] [Date '2006.09.23'] [Round '1'] [White 'GM Kramnik, Vladimir(RUS)'] [Black 'GM Topalov, Veselin(BUL)'] [Result '*'] [WhiteElo '2743'] [BlackElo '2813'] [Annotator 'Holger_Lieske'] [PlyCount '83'] [EventDate '2006.??.??'] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 a5 7. Qc2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 c6 9. a4 b5 10. axb5 cxb5 11. Qg5 O-O 12. Qxb5 Ba6 13. Qa4 Qb6 14. O-O Qxb2 15. Nbd2 Bb5 16. Nxc4 Bxa4 17. Nxb2 Bb5 18. Ne5 Ra7 19. Bf3 Nbd7 20. Nec4 Rb8 21. Rfb1 g5 22. e3 g4 23. Bd1 Bc6 24. Rc1 Be4 25. Na4 Rb4 26. Nd6 Bf3 27. Bxf3 gxf3 28. Nc8 Ra8 29. Ne7+ Kg7 30. Nc6 Rb3 31. Nc5 Rb5 32. h3 Nxc5 33. Rxc5 Rb2 34. Rg5+ Kh6 35. Rgxa5 Rxa5 36. Nxa5 Ne4 37. Rf1 Nd2 38. Rc1 Ne4 39. Rf1 f6 40. Nc6 Nd2 41. Rd1 Ne4 42. Rf1 * The position appears to be drawn.
Sam,the link you gave should enable you to see the game http://www.worldchess2006.com/main.asp?id=926 at first i just saw the opening position, till i realised you must click on the players names, directly under the board. Highlight their names, and then the moves will come up. (link i gave is from official site, after you click on 'games' and then 'game 1'
Thanks, Cherry. I was wondering why I couldn't see the game position. - Sam
yeah it is not a very good design, and at the moment (was ok earlier) it seems sometimes you need to refresh, then highlight names again and click on '>>' to go to last move ...
OK, Kramnik has won the first game with the white pieces. The consensus seems to be that it was a drawn game until Topalov, trying to get a win, played the blunder 57. ... f5?
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Kramnik won the second game against Topalov. Here is a commentary on the second game.
- Sam
They should give Kramnik back the forfeited point.
Good news that Kramnik is willing to play even having forfeited the point.
It is good that match will continue, but not good about forfeit point. If Topalov now wins match 6.5-5.5, or 6-6 on tiebreaks, then world will still doubt who is true champion. Opinion of world's chessplayers now running very strong against Topalov.
Excellent point, Andy. To win and leave an unambiguous impression as champion, Topalov will still have to win at least three games.
Just two more games left and in order to be accepted as legitimate world chess champion, Topalov will have to win both of them. Kramnik, on the other hand, can either draw both and win the rapids or win just one and draw one and he will be accepted as not only legitimate world chess champion, but also the champion preferred in the eyes of the professional chess community. Prior to the toilet scandal, Topalov would have been preferred.
At this point, given the fact that Kramnik has won three games and Topalov only two, the only honorable way to proceed will be for Game 5 to be played, unless Kramnik wins the twelfth and final game. Kramnik proposes as much in his letter where he threatens to sue FIDE:
' 5. As a sign of good will Mr Kramnik once again requests FIDE to arrange for game five to be played out on the board immediately after game 12. This in our opinion is the only way to alleviate the personal, sporting, judicial and ethical injuries that have been incurred by Mr Kramnik.'
Agreed; unless either Kramnik wins the next game or game five is replayed, the state of the world champion will be in the air just as much as it was before this contest, if not more so.
- Sam
Yes, also complicated by possibility that best player in world is neither Kramnik nor Topalov, but Anand!
even if kram wins, when the 2007 wc comes around, he won't go in it, say he is 'classical' world champ, and we will get 2 world champs again.
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It should prove to be a very exciting match. Kramnik became the classical world Chess champion when he beat Kasparov in 2000; Topalov is currently FIDE's strongest player. I personally think Kramnik will win the match; he seems to have his arthritis under control and has more 1-on-1 match experience than Topalov. Most people are rooting for Topalov; he has a more exciting playing style complete with sacrifices.
Anyway, the first game starts tomorrow. Any thoughts on this match?
- Sam