Topalov remains modest after clear victory in Zug

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FIDE Grand Prix Zug 2013 (11)

Topalov remains modest after clear victory in Zug

Mark Crowther - Wednesday 1st May 2013

Topalov won the Grand Prix in Zug with 8/11. Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich.

Topalov won the Grand Prix in Zug with 8/11. Photo © Anastasiya Karlovich. | http://zug2013.fide.com

Veselin Topalov won the Zug Grand Prix by a point and a half from Hikaru Nakamura after a final round win against Sergey Karjakin. Topalov wanted a quiet game but completely failed to achieve that. Karjakin maybe was a bit better but he went a little mad going for the attack starting with 22...Qh8 ("I should not have played it" Karjakin) and after 25...f4?! was busted. This was the only decisive game of the final round.

This result puts Topalov at the top of the Grand Prix Standings after three events.

"My strong side was always the opening, this time I was getting absolutely nothing, sometimes clearly worse." "Honestly I feel happy, it's good, but the result I had I didn't really deserve because I think I was quite lucky in several games but I'm satisfied with my play."

Topalov said about his games in Zug, "they were fighting victories" but probably none would feature in any book he might write in the future about his career. Topalov goes on to the very strong Norway tournament next week as world number 4 his best in a long time. It will be interesting to see how he does there.

Nakamura vs Caruana also finished in a draw after a reasonably interesting game. Caruana - "My result wasn't so bad but my play was another story." Nakamura - "Over all I'm pretty happy with the way I played but not the way the results turned out perhaps. I think I got a little bit lucky against Morozevich and even yesterday [vs Mamedyarov who resigned in a playable position] to some extent. +2 can't complain at all, Veselin was on a different planet."

Rustam Kasimdzhanov survived a bad position against Peter Leko. Leko was very disappointed with his result (1 loss the rest drawn) as he felt he had 5 winning positions. Both he and Kasimdzhanov felt their clock management was a large part of their bad result.

Morozevich said that he "happily survived the finish, didn't die yet" and that he felt "really terrible since the last free day". He wasn't preparing and so was happy with a short theoretical draw. He said his illness was completely different to that in Biel and a "total coincidence". Ponomariov too having been surprised in the opening and having lost in the final round of his last Grand Prix was happy with the draw.

Alexander Morozevich finished with a comment that begged several questions that were not asked. Not sure why he brought it up, perhaps it was because Sutovsky was there for the final round supporting Kamsky, I hope nothing more.

"I also heard since May this anti-cheating commision with Mr Sutovsky going to start. I really hope that it will start working and maybe some measures for anti-cheating will also be taken already starting from the next Grand Prix. I think we all need it to play more quiet because the pressure going to be big and we just need to respect each other."

Final Standings: Topalov 8pts, Nakamura 6.5pts, Ponomariov, Caruana 6pts, Kamsky, Morozevich 5.5pts, Giri, Leko, Karjakin 5pts, Radjabov, Mamedyarov, Kasimdzhanov 4.5pts.

Topalov,Veselin (2771) - Karjakin,Sergey (2786) [A64]
Renova FIDE GP Zug Zug SUI (11.3), 30.04.2013

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3

"I was trying to play a quiet Catalan because I know Sergey always goes for this classical line with the Be7 but of course I looked and I think he never in his life played 3...c5 I have two choices now to go for d5 or Nf3 but also it's already not a safe position for white, just a game you know." - Topalov.

3...c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Nd2 Nbd7 11.a4 a6 12.a5

"This is the theoretical position here white goes h3, it's very complicated but I don't know if a5 is a very good idea." - Topalov.

12...b5

[12...Rb8 13.Nc4 Ne5 14.Nb6 Nfd7 15.Nxc8 was Topalov's hope when he played a5.]

13.axb6 Nxb6 14.Nb3 Bf5

"Bf5 is very good and no my knight, I have to put it on a5 but it's very annoying that black has quite pressure now." - Topalov.

15.Na5 Ne4

[15...Qd7 16.Qb3 Qc7 17.Nc6 Ne4 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Bxe4 Rxe4 20.Qd3 Ree8 21.Ra2 c4 22.Qf3 Qb7 23.Re1 Nd7 24.Ra4 Nb6 25.Rb4 a5 26.Rb5 Qc7 27.Nxa5 Nd7 28.Nc6 Ra1 29.Rf1 Rb1 30.Rb4 Ne5 31.Qe4 Ra1 32.Rxc4 Qd7 33.Rc2 Ng4 34.Qd3 h5 35.Rc4 Bf6 36.Qf3 Bg7 37.b4 Rea8 38.Kg2 Rb1 39.h3 Nf6 40.Na5 Qb5 41.Bd2 Rxf1 42.Kxf1 Nxd5 43.Qd3 Kh7 44.Rd4 Nc7 45.Rxd6 Qe5 46.Rd7 Ne6 47.h4 Re8 48.Rd5 Qa1+ 49.Kg2 Kg8 50.Nc6 Qa8 51.b5 1-0 Nikolic,P (2630)-Cobb,J (2335)/Eupen BEL 1997]

16.Bd2

[16.Na4 Qc7 17.Nxb6 Qxb6 18.Nc4 Qb5 was the kind of thing Topalov didn't like.]

16...Nxd2 17.Qxd2 h5

Sergey Karjakin

Veselin Topalov

Position after 17...h5

"Here's it's just the position I wanted to avoid. [laughs] It's just a game but black is very comfortable, The plan can only be to exchange the knight on b6 and put the knight on c4." - Topalov.

18.e3 h4

"and here I don't know if I did OK." - Topalov.

19.Rfe1 Qg5

"Of course very annoying." - Topalov.

20.Na4 Reb8

This is better than with the other rook.

[20...Rab8 21.Nxb6 Rxb6 22.Nc4 Rb4 23.Nxd6 Rxb2 24.Qd1 Reb8 and Topalov was slightly worried about his position but it seems about equal. 25.Nxf5 (25.Rxa6 loses to 25...Rb1) 25...Qxf5 26.Qf3 is equal.]

21.Nc3

[21.Nxb6 Rxb6 22.Nc4 Rb4 23.Nxd6 Rxb2 24.Qd1 Bg4 and black is probably better.]

21...Qh5 22.f3

I just didn't like this f3 move but all the time I was thinking Nd7 and Ne5 is coming - Topalov.

22...Qh8

Sergey Karjakin

Veselin Topalov

Position after 22...Qh8

"Generally I like this move Qh8. Not because it is objectively good but the move is nice. I should not have played it." Karjakin

[22...hxg3 23.hxg3 Bh3 24.Bh1 Bd7]

23.g4 Bd7 24.h3

Might be a waste of time.

24...f5

[24...Nc8 25.Nc6 followed by f4.; 24...Bb5 25.Bf1 Nd7 26.f4]

25.g5 f4?!

Sergey Karjakin

Veselin Topalov

Position after 25...f4?!

Karjakin went a little mad around here and is quickly lost.

26.exf4 Bd4+ 27.Kh1 Qg7 28.Bf1

Very simple and now white is winning.

[28.Nc6 Nc4 is a total mess.]

28...Re8 29.Ne4 Kh8

[29...Qf8 30.Nb7]

30.Nxd6 Rxe1 31.Rxe1 Rf8 32.Re4 Nxd5 33.Nb3 Bc6 34.f5

Sergey Karjakin

Veselin Topalov

Position after 34.f5

Now it's hopeless for black.

34...gxf5 35.Rxh4+ Kg8 36.Nxd4 cxd4 37.Bc4 Qe5 38.Qxd4 Qxd6 39.Rh6 Qe7 40.Bxd5+ Bxd5 41.Rh8+ 1-0

FIDE Grand Prix Zug Zug SUI Thu 18th Apr 2013 - Tue 30th Apr 2013 Leading Final Round 11 Standings:
Rk	SNo	Name	Ti	FED	Rtg	Pts	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	8	Topalov Veselin	GM	BUL	2771	8	0	5	43.00
2	9	Nakamura Hikaru	GM	USA	2767	6½	0	3	33.00
3	11	Ponomariov Ruslan	GM	UKR	2733	6	1	2	33.50
4	3	Caruana Fabiano	GM	ITA	2772	6	0	3	30.25
5	7	Kamsky Gata	GM	USA	2741	5½	1	3	29.50
6	1	Morozevich Alexander	GM	RUS	2758	5½	0	3	27.25
7	4	Karjakin Sergey	GM	RUS	2786	5	1	1	26.00
8	5	Giri Anish	GM	NED	2727	5	1	0	27.75
9	6	Leko Peter	GM	HUN	2744	5	1	0	26.50
10	10	Radjabov Teimour	GM	AZE	2793	4½	1	1	25.25
11	12	Kasimdzhanov Rustam	GM	UZB	2709	4½	1	1	24.50
12	2	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	GM	AZE	2766	4½	1	0	25.00
12 players

FIDE Grand Prix Standings after 3 Rounds
Rk	Name	Player	Rating	Played	Pts
1	Veselin Topalov	BUL	2752	2	310
2	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	2729	3	240
3	Alexander Morozevich	RUS	2770	2	215
4	Wang Hao	CHN	2726	2	210
5	Sergey Karjakin	RUS	2785	2	190
6	Fabiano Caruana	ITA	2773	2	180
7	Peter Leko	HUN	2737	3	180
8	Boris Gelfand	ISR	2738	2	170
9	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2778	2	155
10	Ruslan Ponomariov	UKR	2734	2	150
11	Rustam Kasimdzhanov	UZB	2684	3	135
12	Alexander Grischuk	RUS	2763	1	90
13	Gata Kamsky	USA[2]	2746	2	85
14	Anish Giri	NED	2711	2	65
15	Michael Adams	ENG[1]	2722	1	55
16	Vassily Ivanchuk	UKR	2769	1	55
17	Leinier Domínguez	CUB	2725	2	55
18	Peter Svidler	RUS	2749	1	50
19	Teimour Radjabov	AZE	2788	1	20

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