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Chess Life Online 2008 June Topalov Wins Grudge Match
Chess Life Online 2008 June Topalov Wins Grudge Match | Topalov Wins Grudge Match |
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| By Jennifer Shahade | |
| January 22, 2008 | |
Fabiano Caruana and Irina Krush are playing in the C-section of Corus. Photo courtesy Peter Doggers of chessvibes.com
1570 Topalov's awesome queen sacrifice in the heat of the battle deserves a diagram to itself: 
Position after 26...Rf8
Topalov played 27.cxd5 here and achieved a winning position after 27...Rxf7 28.Rxc6+ Kb8 29. Nxf7 Re8 30. Nd6 Rh8 31.Rxc4 Qe2 32. dxe6 Nxb6. From here, Kramnik managed to last another 13 moves, but unfortunately for him, White's position was too strong to contain. Before the ninth game, Magnus Carlsen was leading Corus A, but Aronian caught up to him after he lost today against Peter Leko. Leko's straightforward a-pawn march demonstrated how inept knights are in fighting against passed pawns. 1569 In Corus B, Cheparinov apologized to Short in the nick of time for his refusal to shake hands, thus avoiding a forfeit. Read the backstory in Ian Rogers' blog live from the scene. The two ended up playing the game on the rest day. Short won a marathon game that lasted almost six hours: 1568 Americans in C Italian-American GM Fabiano Caruana continues his excellent performance in the "C" group, and leads the section with 7/9. Here is Fabiano's attacking effort from today's round. 1571 Irina Krush has 3.5/9, but her seventh round smash over GM Carlsson must have been some sort of consolation. What did she play in the following position? 
Position after 19...Qf4. White to play and win.
Corus Chess 2008, Group A Wijk aan Zee, Jan.11-27, Standings after 9 rounds 1-2 Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen-5.5 3-5 Vladimir Kramnik, Teimour Radjabov, Michael Adams, Viswanathan Anand- 5 7-10. S. Mamedyarov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov- 4.5 11.- Judit Polgar and Loek Van Wely-4 13-14 P. Eljanov and Boris Gelfand-3 Group B 1. Sergey. Movsesian- 6.5 2. Etienne Bacrot- 6 3. Nigel Short-5.5 Click here for complete Group B standings Group C 1. Fabiano Caruana- 7 2. Dmitry Reinderman- 6.5 11-12- A.Ushenina and Irina Krush- 3.5 Click here for complete Group C standings |