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Chess Life Online 2008 February Topalov Leads in Morelia
Chess Life Online 2008 February Topalov Leads in Morelia | Topalov Leads in Morelia |
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| By Jennifer Shahade | |
| February 18, 2008 | |
Topalov in Morelia, 2006. Photo Cathy Rogers.
 Position after 23...Qc8, White to Play. Topalov found the unusual bishop maneuver to gain a devastating positional edge. He started with 24.Bb6! Now 24...Rxc3 loses to 25.Ne4 Rc4 26.Rc1!! Of course Ivanchuk played 24...Rb7 instead of Rxc3 but now Topalov played 25.Ba7! If he had played Ba7 in the original position above, Black can just 0-0 (not Rxc3?? Rb8!)when White doesn't have any clear follow-up. But if 24. Bb6 Rb7 Ba7 0-0, White plays the crushing Rxb7 Qxb7 Qc6! Sensing the danger, Ivanchuk tried a pawn sack, 25...e4 but went down without much of a fight anyway. Here is the full game: 1638 After winning the exchange against Magnus Carlsen, Anand used his perfect technique to glide into plus one. 1639 Read the CLO preview article with predictions and our report on rounds 1 and 2. Watch the games live on ICC at 4:30 EST . Free days are on Feb.19, Feb.21 and Feb 24-27 when the players will travel to Linares, Spain to play the second half (Feb.28-March 7). Check out the official website. Morelia-Linares, February 18-March 7 Standings after three rounds 1- Veselin Topalov- 2.5/3 2- Vishy Anand- 2/3 3-5- Levon Aronian, Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Leko- 1.5/3 6-9- Teimour Radjabov, Alexei Shirov and Magnus Carlsen- 1/3 |