The longest game of the match. Anand switched to a Nimzo-Indian, forsaking the Catalan that had served him so well. His choice seemed to be vindicated as Topalov found himself in trouble in an ultra-complicated endgame with an imbalanced position. Anand made it to the winning line more than once, but faltered at the last moment. The Bulgarian's resilience paid off with a draw.
World Chess Championship – Game nine
Sofia, 6th May
Viswananthan Anand had many promising continuations which would have led him on the path to victory. However the Indian maestero was far from his best in a choppy game against Veselin Topalov in the ninth game of the World Chess Championship Match at Sofia, Bulgaria and missed many winning opportunities. Finally after a marathon battle lasting 83 moves, a draw was agreed. The twelve- game match is tantalizingly poised with a 4.5-4.5 score and just three more games to be played.
As expected, it was not the Catalan opening which has been tried and tested four times already, whenever Anand has played white. The Indian indicated that it was a time for change. Topalov went for the Nimzo Indian Defence. Both players targeted each other’s kingside, Anand trying to get closer to the king with his pieces, while Topalov gunned long range from the queen side with his bishop and queen.
NIIT MindChampion Anand gave the impression that the game was very much along his prepared lines and on the 21st move Topalov made things more interesting by grabbing Anand’s queen for two of his rooks. After his 40th move Anand was visibly upset as he realized that he had made an incorrect move and he went into a long think, probably to shrug off the disappointment of missing what probably could have been a quicker route to victory.
After that it was almost as if Anand needed to start afresh with the king hunt. Incidentally this is the first game in this Championship which went beyond the sixty move mark, which incidentally is also the move for the second time control. Victory for the second time in the game once again eluded Anand as he made a few inaccurate moves. Topalov sacrificed his knight and tried to push his pawns on the queen-side. Anand too had to give up his knight for Topalov’s pawn. In the end the Bulgarian started checking Anand’s king, leading to a draw.
Tomororow in the tenth game Topalov will play with the white pieces.
Here is the full analysis of Game 9 .
If you liked the article kindly Digg it, Stumble it, Add to Technorati, bookmark it and please consider Subscribing by Email and have articles delivered right to your inbox! OR Subscribe to Attack the King Feed in a Feed Reader of your choice OR Subscribe to SMS Alerts & Get Article Headlines & Updates delivered to your Mobile Phone for free.
Click here to Subscribe to FREE email updates from "Attack The King", so that you do not miss out anything that can be valuable to you !!
