Another round, another hat-trick of decisive games, another Topalov win
After scoring a spectacular win in round two, and a crushing loss in round five, after the rest day Veselin Topalov moves to +1 in the tournament once again with a win against Pavel Eljanov in Vugar Gashimov Memorial round 6.
True, compared to his second round encounter, the game against Eljanov was not a smooth ride.
After missplaying the White side of the Queen’s Indian line that first appeared in Korthscnoj’s games, Topalov found himself in serious trouble.
Eljanov built an appreciable kingside pressure and also created the weak a4 – c4 pawn duo on the queenside.
However, by releasing the tension too early on his 35th move, he let Topalov back in the game. And then the familiar scenario happened, in which side that was pushing was unable to readjust to the changes in the position. Eljanov went on to lose convincingly in the end as he spoils another great position after letting Mamedyarov swindle him in round 3.
Wesley So also moved to + 1 and thus built up on his round 5 success.
He managed to do what Carlsen couldn’t in the World Championship Match as he outplayed Karjakin “The Defender” from an even position in the endgame.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov did something similar to Vladimir Kramnik, who also had a vastly superior position early in the game, but failed to find the strongest continuation.
Vladdy being Vladdy, refused to settle for a draw afterwards, and transposed into inferior endgame instead.
Mamedyarov displayed some marvellous endgame technique and won the game convincingly.
Since I have given up on improving my endgame technique after reading Fundamental Chess Endings and Understanding Chess Endgames, and understanding nothing, I have decided to analyze the Topalov game instead.
Topalov – Eljanov, game analysis