It’s official. Fide has announced a 12-game world title match between Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand to be played at Sofia, Bulgaria in April 2010. The Bulgarian PM, Boyko Borissov has guaranteed a prize fund of Euro 2 million. The Sofia bid was preferred over lower bids by Singapore and Turkey for undisclosed sums.
Unusually there was no bank guarantee but a sovereign commitment was considered good enough. Anand has so far refused to confirm participation, saying in his latest press release that contractual details are still being worked out.
Topalov will be playing in his home town, with his manager, Silvio Danailov as a chief organiser. Too much stress is often placed on “home advantage” but Topalov’s glittering career has been marred by several unsavoury controversies that have centred around Danailov.
There were cheating accusations at San Luis, when Topalov won with something to spare. Then, in the Elista match with Kramnik, Topalov-Danailov triggered the “Toiletgate” hysteria. Kamsky had to play loud music to prevent eavesdropping during his analysis sessions at the Candidates final in Sofia because the Bulgarians insisted on posting guards in close proximity to his hotel suite. At Corus, a fan posted a video featuring Danailov making incessant cellphone calls and darting in and out of the hall, while Topalov was playing.
Title matches always involve negotiation. There may be serious conflicts of interest if the organisers include true-blue supporters of one party. The noise level could ratchet up to the point of serious distraction and Anand is not well-equipped to handle unpleasantness off the board.
If none of this happens, it should be a fascinating match. Both are very sharp, well prepared players who don’t mind skating on the edge of disaster. They’ve both won spectacular games against each other. Anand is the better “all-rounder” in the sense that he handles quiet positions better but in a 12-gamer it could all boil down to a combination of the better prep and the better nerves.
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THE DIAGRAM, (Short Vs Mchedlishvili, Kolkata 2009) has nothing much to do with either Anand or Topalov; it’s just a nice example of a deeply calculated sacrificial attack.. 16.Nfxd5!! Nh4 Short’s main idea was 16...exd5 17.Nxd5 Rc8! 18.Qb3 Na5 19.Qa4+ Nc6 20.Rf6! Nge7 21.Rd6 Qa5 22.Rdxc6! After black declined to go there, play continued 17.Bh1 exd5 18.Nxd5 Bg6.
The text Bg6 looks like an outright blunder since subsequent events are forced. But the alternative 18...Rc8 19.Qb3! Na5 20.Qb6! Rxc1 21.Qxd8+ Kxd8 22.Rxc1 with Nb6 and Bg5+ as threats doesn’t seem great for black either. Now there’s a concluding shower of fireworks with 19.Rxc6! bxc6 20.Nf6+! gxf6 21.Bxc6+ Ke7 22.exf6+ Kd6 23.Qa4 Kc7 24.Rc1 Qd6 25.Bxa8+ Kb8 26.Qe8+! (1-0).