| Jun-08-12 | | paavoh: First! (in lieu of a more informative kibitz) |
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Jun-08-12
 | | HeMateMe: I guess this won't be the most exciting of pages...What's Topalov doing for a living, these days? |
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| Jun-08-12 | | parisattack: He's probably made enough to be at least comfortable. Perhaps his wife is wealthy? He does seemed to have lost his desire to play. He's young enough to have a second wind, but doubt he will ever be at the top of the list again. Quite a few youngsters moving up now... |
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| Jun-08-12 | | Kinghunt: It'll be interesting to see how this goes. Topalov hasn't had a single result that can be called anything but disappointing since his WCC loss to Anand two years ago. Maybe a rapid match win against his former second will give him the morale boost he needs to turn things around. |
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| Jun-08-12 | | Kinghunt: Topalov's not off to a good start so far (0.5/2).
Game one: Vallejo-Topalov
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 d6 9. f3 Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. a4 bxa4 13. Bxa4 a5 14. O-O Rb8 15. Bxd7 Qxd7 16. b3 Qc7 17. Rf2 e6 18. Qd3 d5 19. exd5 Rfd8 20. Qe3 Nxd5 21. Nxd5 Bxd4 22. Qxd4 Rxd5 23. Qe3 Re5 24. Qc1 Rd8 25. g3 Qc3 26. Rb1 h5 27. Qb2 Re1+ 28. Kg2 Qe3 29. Rxe1 Qxe1 30. c4 Rd3 31. c5 Qc3 32. Qb1 Rd5 33. Rc2 Rd2+ 34. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 35. Kh3 Qc3 36. Qg1 Qxf3 37. Qc1 Qc6 38. Qc3 Kh7 39. Qf6 Kg8 40. Qd8+ Kh7 41. Qf6 Qxc5 42. Qxf7+ Kh6 43. Qxe6 Qc3 1/2-1/2 Game two: Topalov-Vallejo
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bc1 Ne4 7. Qg4 g6 8. Ne2 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ba5 10. Ba3 Nd7 11. h4 Nb6 12. Bb4 Bxb4 13. cxb4 Qe7 14. a3 a5 15. b5 Nc4 16. Qf3 Bd7 17. a4 Qb4+ 18. Nc3 Na3 19. Qd3 Rc8 20. Be2 c5 21. O-O cxd4 22. Nxd5 exd5 23. Rxa3 Bf5 24. Qg3 Rxc2 25. Rb3 Qxa4 26. Bd1 Rc1 27. e6 O-O 28. exf7+ Rxf7 29. h5 g5 30. Rb1 Qc4 31. Rxc1 Qxc1 32. Bb3 Qc5 33. Qe5 Be4 34. f3 d3+ 35. Kh2 d2 36. Rd1 Bxf3 37. Rxd2 Be4 38. Bxd5 Bxd5 39. Rxd5 Qe7 40. Qb8+ Rf8 41. Qg3 Rf4 42. Qd3 Rh4+ 0-1 |
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| Jun-08-12 | | checkmateyourmove: and the slope gets steeper for topa... but we will never forget 2005 ! :) |
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| Jun-09-12 | | wordfunph: 4 games left, still a long and winding road for Vallejo and Topa. i predict the match to end at 3-3.
<XXV Ciudad de Leon: WINNER : Tie [info] 20 LIVE BET 21:1 22.46 449 Jun-10-12> :-) |
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| Jun-09-12 | | Kinghunt: <wordfunph> Make that three games. Topalov just lost game #3. |
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| Jun-09-12 | | Kinghunt: Game three: Vallejo-Topalov
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 Be7 8. g5 Nfd7 9. h4 b5 10. a3 Bb7 11. Be3 O-O 12. Qd2 Nc6 13. O-O-O Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Rc8 15. Rg1 Ne5 16. Qe3 Nc4 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. f4 Re8 19. f5 Bf8 20. f6 e5 21. Bb6 Qd7 22. fxg7 Bxg7 23. Bc5 Bf8 24. h5 Rxc3 25. bxc3 Re6 26. Bb4 Qc7 27. Qa7 Qc8 28. Rdf1 Be7 29. Rf6 Bxf6 30. gxf6+ Kf8 31. Qb6 Bc6 32. Rg8+ 1-0 |
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| Jun-09-12 | | waustad: Game 4 is a French. |
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| Jun-09-12 | | siamesedream: Topa won 4th game. |
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| Jun-10-12 | | Kinghunt: Vallejo won the fifth game, and with it, the match. |
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| Jun-10-12 | | siamesedream: Topa won last game, so final score is 3,5-2,5 for Paco. |
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| Jun-10-12 | | Doktorn: Topalov hasn't good chess for quite a while and for me this feels like, even though it's just a rapid event, as the final nail in his career as a top player. |
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Jun-10-12
 | | Natalia Pogonina: At least I knew whom to bet on here... |
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| Jun-10-12 | | whiteshark: Illustrated chessbase report, part 1: http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... |
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Jun-10-12
 | | Sneaky: Paco: <I taught you everything you know, but I didn't teach you everything *I* know.> ;-) |
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| Jun-11-12 | | jussu: I am watching Topalov slowly but surely sliding away from the elite and I still cannot believe my eyes. Probably the World's best a mere seven years ago, he must have lost his motivation completely. |
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Jun-13-12
 | | piltdown man: How the mighty have fallen. I still hope he'll resurrect his career, though, there is no player more exciting than Topa in his prime. |
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| Jun-13-12 | | bgkuzzy: This is Topa for you. He goes into very strong periods and then he slows down. In 1995-1996 he played some amazing chess. Then again in 2005-2006. May be we are due for one more final upsurge from Topalov. I certainly hope so. It is very entertaining to watch him play when he is in top form. Personally i think he will be almost unnoticeable for a bit and then come out strong for a couple more years. May be take on Anand one more time or a couple very strong tournaments. I remember reading an interview with him before and he mentioned in passing that he does not feel like he is a natural born chess player (like Carlsen or Kasparov) but rather has to work extremely hard for any successes he has.
Ps; that doesn't mean that the latter two dont work hard :) |
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Kibitzing
