I
am not going to lie to you, Veselin Topalov
does not number among my favorite people.
It is not because of the kitschy gold rings
and chains, but because of his, and his
manager’s, Silvio Danilov, unacceptable
behavior in Elista. If the English say rugby
is a sport of ruffians played by gentlemen
and football (soccer) is a game of gentlemen
played by ruffians, we can be sure that
in chess, gentlemen are even fewer than
in soccer.
Of
course, there are exceptions, for example,
the Indian Viswanathan Anand, who is number
one in FIDE’s rankings. But (What a coincidence!)
those kind of players (the good guys), decided
not to play the tournament we are going
to talk about today: The M‑Tel Masters.
This
tournament is relatively new–this year being
the 3rd edition–but has already become one
of the most prestigious tournaments in the
world. That is, we have to be fair, a product
of Danilov’s ability to promote his boy
Topalov. So much of a factor is this, the
Bulgarian government got involved in organizing
the event.
In
the tourney’s inaugural run, Topalov won
it right before becoming world champion.
Ever since, it has been a competition where
Topalov has excelled.
This
year he won it again. And he did it his
way–Topalov style.
The
first half of the tournament he played terribly,
leaving him tied for last place. But, as
he did two years ago, the Bulgarian played
extraordinarily well in the second half.
In
the last round, he needed to win in order
to secure overall victory. His rival was
Krishnan Sasikirian, who took the lead early
on in the game. Topalov had to risk, and
he did, winning in impressive fashion.
We
present this game today. Topalov calculatedly
sacrificed pieces in order to slowly choke
his rival’s movement. It is also a very
instructive game, from which chess novices
can improve their endgame skills, as well
as strategies of attacking chess. Pure Topalov.
