(1) Topalov,V (2780) - Gelfand,B (2737) [C42]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 17.01.2008
[Mihail Marin]



1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nc3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bg4 10.Re1 0-0 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Bxd6 cxd6








Both players treated the Russian defence in original way. Double pawns are known to be weak, but also to control important groups of squares and leave files open for the major pieces. The weakness of the c3- and c2-pawns would be less relevant if the c-file would not be available for Black. In principle, the d5-pawn looks more exposed than the c3-pawn (even if for the simple reason that it is physically blocked; compare to White's possibility of playing a sacrificial c4 at some moment, provoking structural changes that could eventually offer him an initiative). On the other hand, the squares controled by the d5- and d6-pawns is more central, which can have an important influence over the outcome of the game. Anyway, it is not easy to give a final evaluation of the position, but both players had probably their own opinion about it. Topalov had had this structure before (against Bacrot, in Morelia 2006), with the only difference that the bishops were exchanged early in that game. He maintained some pressure until deep in the endgame, but the result was a draw.

13.Re3 Qd7 14.h3 Bh5 15.Qd2 Rae8 16.Nh4 Rxe3 [In tensioned situations, it is generally recomendable to refrain from carrying out the exchanges and provoke the opponent to do it himself. 16...Qd8 17.Nf5 Bg6 deserves attention, preventing the radical activation of forces carried out by Topalov in the next phase of the game.]

17.Qxe3 Qe6








The situation repeats itself in a slightly different form. Neither player is interested in strengthening the enemy centre by exchanging queens himself. The ladies will be throuwing furious glances at eachother, but nothing more than that.

18.Nf5 Rd8 19.Qg5 Bg6 20.Ne3








White has regrouped in optimal way, putting the d5-pawn in serious danger.

20...Be4 21.Re1 [White systematically increases his tension. It can be felt that the c6-knight is not participating to the defence in any constructive way. Well, it defends the d8-rook and prevents Black from losing material after 21.Bxe4 dxe4 22.d5 by enabling 22...Qe7! , but this has little strategic significance from a wider point of view.]

21...h6 22.Qh4 Qg6








It might seem that Black is better placed in this new tensioned situation. However, the better coordination of forces allows White to sidestep the tension, by sacrificing a pawn!

23.Be2! The start of a new regroupment, aiming to put the enemy kingside under pressure.

23...Bxc2 After this move, Black will be slightly hanging. Gelfand probably thought that the worse that could happen to him is lose the d5-pawn, when his structure would remain acceptable, but neglected certain tactical nuances...

24.Bh5 Qe4 25.Qg3 Bd3 26.f3










26...Qe7? [This blunder offers the confirmation of my supposition from the previous comment. Black should have played 26...Qh7 , but his position would have been anything but harmonious in this case. After his move, Gelfand was probably expecting 27.Nxd5 Qg5, with approximate equality.]

27.Ng4! Qg5 It would be pointless to attach a question mark to this move, since any other queen move would lose the h6- and f7-pawns, with decisive attack for White. Gelfand probably was a victim of inertia in thinking; in the aforementioned line the queen would occupy precisely this square...

28.f4! All of a sudden, the queen is trapped. The h5- and f5- squares are not available because of knight forks on f6 or h6, respectively. "How could he have done this?" some reader may ask. "The occupant of the 2nd-3rd position at the Mexico World Championship blundered his queen in one move! Not even the early version of my Fritz would have played so weakly..." Indeed, but humans are not computers and blunders can happen at the highest thinkable level. As you might have noticed, the main drama of the game seemed to be the mutual weaknesses in the centre. A strong player only "needs" some lack of flexibility at the critical moment to overlook that there are small concrete things happening around, too and this must have been precisely the case with Boris... In fact, Gelfand seems to be not in his best form these days. Just one round earlier, he missed the possibility of eliminating the important d2-pawn agains Judit (23.Nxd2 Nxd2 24.Qc3 f6 25.Rad1 Red8 26.Bc1), a line also overlooked by the annotator! My thanks to Albert Silver from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for notifying me about this possibility. 1-0