Bilbao ended in a triumph for Veselin Topalov who logged +4,-1,=5, (worth 2,874 in rating performance terms) to come way ahead of the field. Aronyan, Ivanchuk and Carlsen all ended at 50 per cent with Aronyan and Carlsen ahead because they played more decisive games. Radjabov won a last round encounter to drag himself to +1,-2,=7.
Anand ended dead-last with =8,-2, only the second time in his career that the world champion has managed this dubious distinction. For Kramnik at Dortmund and Anand here, the focus on the October title match has created indifferent tournament form. Apart from avoiding cutting-edge openings, they have suffered lack of motivation. Both have played less than 15 competitive long-control games in the last six months.
In all probability, the October rating list will read (in descending order) Topalov, Morozevich, Carlsen, Ivanchuk with Anand fifth and Kramnik sixth. It’s not unusual for a slump in form in the run up to a title match. But champion and challenger both dropping this low is unprecedented.
The Live Rating system and the quarterly updates do highlight recent form and punish people who play infrequently. But the competitiveness at the top level is show by the fact that the Top 5 are spread across 7 points with Topalov 2790 and Anand 2783.
Given the hype, one hopes that the title match lives up to expectations. There is such a thing as being over-prepared. If it’s played in ultra-cautious style, it could turn into a boring encounter with very few hard-fought or decisive games.
Kostenjuk and Hou are battling it out in the final of the world women’s championship. Russian glamour model Kostenjuk has been superior and leads at the time of writing, needing just a draw in the one remaining game to clinch the title. The 15-year-old Chinese wunderkind, knocked out top seeded Humpy in the semi-finals in a match that went into blitz tiebreaks but that effort may have left her exhausted.
THE DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY (Topalov Vs Ivanchuk, Bilbao) was a key last round encounter. A win by Ivanchuk would have pulled the Ukrainian into first place ahead of the Bulgarian. But Topalov got an edge and steadily outplayed Ivanchuk to reach the diagram. A last accurate sequence will finish the job but it’s zeitnot and a comedy of errors results.
The Bulgarian GM played 36.Rc1? Bf8 (to counter Re8+ and mate). 37.Red1? Bxa3? Black may have a draw with 37...Rc4!? 38.Rc8 Rff8 39.Be8! Be7 40.Re1 Bg5 41.g3! Topalov must have seen this before the 39th move. 41...a4 42.h4 Bf6 43.Re6 1-0.
Instead at the diagram, Fritz shows that 36.Rd3 wins easily — the plan is to play Rc1 and Rc8, Be8, etc but the rook configuration should be different.
