After the controversial Kramnik – Topalov and less controversial Anand – Kramnik matches, in 2010 the last match between the “Big Three” took place.
As you might recall, after he lost the 2006 match, Veselin Topalov also lost the right to participate in the 2007 World Chess Championship Tournament. In return, FIDE decided to grant him special privileges in the next World Championship Cycle. He was seeded directly in the final of the qualifying cycle, where he had to face the winner of the World Cup 2007 tournament – Gata Kamsky. By winning this final Candidates match in February of 2009, Topalov gained the right for yet another shot at the World Crown.
Anand – Topalov match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 24 April to 13 May 2010. Considering that Sofia is the hometown of Topalov, Anand was granted the opportunity to change the venue of play before the match, but he didn’t have any objections and opted not to do so.
Initially, the match was supposed to start a day earlier, but the ash emissions from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull delay Anand’s flight to Sofia. When the match finally began, it turned out to be as entertaining and fighting as the aforementioned Kramnik – Topalov and Anand – Kramnik matches.
Already in the first game, there was a decisive result. Anand chose to surprise Topalov by employing the Grünfeld defence, instead of the Semi-Slav variation he played exclusively in his match against Kramnik. However, Topalov seemed prepared and opened his account after Anand forgot his preparation on the move 23 (!). After this, Anand would revert back to Slav, employing the Grünfeld only once in the remainder of the match.
However, immediately in the 2nd game, Anand leveled the scores by displaying his mastery in a Catalan endgame. Then after a draw in the 3rd game, he again won with the White pieces, after producing a nice 10 Na3! novelty in another variation of the Catalan.
In the 8th game, it was Topalov’s turn to equalize the score. In a Slav endgame, he held the advantage for a long time, then threw it away. But Anand was the last to make a mistake and Topalov managed to win after Anand blundered heavily in seemingly drawn opposite bishops endgame.
Thus, the intrigue in the match was maintained until the very end. Before the 12th game, the score was equal. Anand deviated from his beloved Slav and employed the drawish Lasker defence, indicating his willingness to play the rapid tiebreaks.
Topalov, who lost to Kramnik on tiebreaks in 2006 didn’t want to settle for a draw. He chose to play riskily, grabbed a pawn and subjected himself to an attack. In the end, he lost a very complicated battle. Therefore, with the only win for the player with the Black pieces in the match, Anand defended his title and remained on the throne.
After the match, Anand disclosed the long list of seconds; except from his regular helpers that also helped him in the previous match with Kramnik (Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Surya Ganguly and Radoslaw Wojtaszek), he also received help from Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. The last name on this list shouldn’t be surprising, after the infamous „toiletgate“ in Elista in 2006, Kramnik wasn’t on speaking terms with Topalov. Even though he lost to Anand only two years ago, he was more than willing to help him.
On the other hand, the names of Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen were less expected. In an interview after the match, Anand himself admitted he didn’t expect Garry’s call. As for Magnus, he served as a training partner already in 2008. But with hindsight, it is still somewhat strange Anand played training games against a player he would face in a „real match“ only three years later.
Alas, sometimes Caissa’s ways are rather strange.
Sources:
Wikipedia: Chess World Cup 2007