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buddyrevell 22-Jan-08, 12:42	[Corus 2008] Topalov vs Kramnik: a classic is born This game was played today in Corus tournament and it caused a lot of fuss! No wonder. Not only it's a game between two players who hate each other (they didn't even shake hands!), it features a stunning move in a very common opening, the Semi-Slav Defense. That goes to show that unorthodoxy in chess is not only about openings with weird names, but about ideas. It's a knight sacrifice by Topalov on move 12th! Unheard of. I was following the relay on ICC (unfortunately I picked it up after the sac) and people were wondering if the move had been played before. I thought about checking it in a database, but I was too lazy. =P However I imagined that if I checked I'd find it played somewhere at least once. I just checked the Mega Database 2008, which contains almost 4 million games. Result: "no games found". Isn't that amazing? =D Position after 12.Nxf7 And then the move is played for the first time in what is considered one of the strongest tournaments ever, in a game between players rated almost 2800. And, yes, the story has a happy ending for fans of bold moves: Topalov won! I probably belong to a minority (if there is one), because I actually like both players, even though they are extreme opposites in terms of style. While I was fascinated by the game (Topalov later exchanged his Queen for Rook, Knight and Pawn), I was rooting for Kramnik to at least put up a good fight, but long before he resigned his position was lost. So, here it goes, if you haven't seen it already. Enjoy! =) www.chessgames.com In PGN notation: [Event "Corus"] [Site "1:44:33-0:40:33"] [Date "2008.01.22"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "9"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Veselin Topalov"] [Black "Vladimir Kramnik"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "2"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.O-O Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxf7 Kxf7 13.e5 Nd5 14.Ne4 Ke7 15.Nd6 Qb6 16.Bg4 Raf8 17.Qc2 Qxd4 18.Qg6 Qxg4 19.Qxg7+ Kd8 20.Nxb7+ Kc8 21.a4 b4 22.Rac1 c3 23.bxc3 b3 24.c4 Rfg8 25.Nd6+ Kc7 26.Qf7 Rf8 27.cxd5 Rxf7 28.Rxc6+ Kb8 29.Nxf7 Re8 30.Nd6 Rh8 31.Rc4 Qe2 32.dxe6 Nb6 33.Rb4 Ka8 34.e7 Nd5 35.Rxb3 Nxe7 36.Rfb1 Nd5 37.h3 h5 38.Nf7 Rc8 39.e6 a6 40.Nxg5 h4 41.Bd6 Rg8 42.R3b2 Qd3 43.e7 Nf6 44.Be5 Nd7 45.Ne6 1-0
mikekelly666 23-Jan-08, 06:59	Very nteresting game Hey Raul: Did FIDE fine them for neither of them offering a handshake like they threaten to do in that ChessBase article you sent my way? Hard to decide who to punish if neither of them offer a handshake. FIDE should declare the game a loss for both of them for not doing the handshake and make it a draw. Next you thing you know people will be offering and accepting handshakes just because they do not want to be fine or lose the game instead of behaving nice to their opponent. Sort of defeats the purpose of the rule   That is a very unusually move by Topalov to go Nxf7 like that, but like the Queen exchanged for the knight pawn and rook. Something that most players would not think about doing. But i do think the Nxf7 move rattled Krammik. He just didn't seem to have anything after that. Topalov was controlling the game from there.
owenss1 23-Jan-08, 10:21	Actually 12.Nxf7 was played in some tournament a couple of years ago, athough the move 13.e5 was new. Timman played it against Lbjuojvichbafafkj or however you spell his name today and lost!
buddyrevell 23-Jan-08, 14:05	A couple of videos - No, the rule only states about one player offering the handshake and the other refusing. Since no one offered a handshake in the game, nothing happened. Funny how they didn't even make eye contact (although Topalov took a quick look). LOL Here's the beginning of the game: www.youtube.com Funny how the Short-Cheparinov and Topalov-Kramnik games are connected. The 12.Nxf7 move was prepared by Cheparinov, who is Topalov's second. (I'm telling all this because some people may not know) It was kept in secret for 3 years, for a special occasion. And since Cheparinov's refusal to shake hands with Short was supposedly due to some Short's statements about the match between Kramnik and Topalov in 2006 (all that cheating stuff), it's not silly to think the whole handshake incident caused the novelty to be released. I mean, it's not like Topalov needed that victory ('cause he probably won't win Corus anyway). The psychological victory over Kramnik was the goal, and I think it's far stronger than getting one point in the tournament. When I wrote the post above, I didn't know about the background of the novelty. With that context in mind, the move becomes even more interesting. Here's a press conference by Topalov, in which he analyzes the game and talks about the 12.Nxf7 move. He gives all the credit to Cheparinov. And in the end someone asks him about handshake. His answer is an example of what you said, Mike. Players being polite just because they are forced to. =P www.youtube.com www.youtube.com - Yes, I learned today on chessbase.com that the move 12.Nxf7 is not exactly a novelty, it was played by a Romanian correspondence player. I guess I had to check the Chessbase Correspondence Database then, but I don't have it.   It has come to my attention (and Topalov also says that in the press conference) that the idea itself is not new either. Someone on chessgames.com pointed out a couple of examples in the same opening. One of them is a game between Anand and Kramnik, by the way. I'd like to check out that correspondence game and see how it went. In my opinion, a novelty isn't defined only by the move itself, but also by the follow-up, the plan. I'm sure the move has been played on blitz before yesterday, for instance, but just as a way to disturb Black's kingside. Probably lots of people thought the sacrifice was speculation, a crazy idea, especially against Kramnik, but home preparation is one of the main weapons of top-level players, especially in this era of databases, engines and seconds to help you out. =) Yeah, funny that Timmam gave the sac a try! And Ljubojevic played, on the 17th move, what Topalov said to the best move. I guess they were both watching Topalov's press conference. =P I'd have to play through the game more carefully, but from what I've seen, Timmam didn't really know what to do next. He was just having a good time. =) But that is a good example of how a novelty is much more than its first move.
buddyrevell 24-Jan-08, 09:06	Nope Ljubojevic wasn't at Topalov's press conference. www.chessvibes.com I haven't seen those videos yet, but I certainly will later.
schnarre 24-Jan-08, 16:56	An interesting game indeed!
owenss1 28-Jan-08, 06:38	Topalov looked slightly disappointed that Kramnik didn't offer his hand! I wonder if they shook hands after the game? How else would Kramnik resign? Tip his king and walk off?

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