...a Lasker Defence to be specific
Viswanathan Anand retained his world title today in Sofia, Bulgaria by beating his opponent Veselin Topalov in the 12th and last match game with the black pieces. The Indian won the world title in a tournament in 2007, and now successfully defended it twice in a match.
Today already fourty minutes before the game, while the players were just about to leave their hotels, already a big amount of TV camera, single-lens reflex cameras, and other digital cameras, and dozens of media people operating them, were waiting in the theater room of the Central Military Club. A game that could be all-decisive, is on the program.
For the 6th time Topalov opened with 1.d4, and Anand went back to 1…d5. But no Slav this time. No, the World Champion chose the opening that has been played the most in World Championship matches: the Queen’s Gambit Declined. The variation with an early …Ne4, named after the second World Champion Emanuel Lasker, is known as passive but solid. A bit like the Slav ending Anand used three times, but with the queens still on the board.
Anand will certainly be satisfied with a draw. Topalov on the other hand will certainly be pressing today, but it remains to be seen how much risk he’s prepared to take. Many locals in Bulgaria will regard another draw as a loss for their hero, since Anand’s legendary record in rapid chess is known here too…
After a quiet middlegame Anand went both …e5 and f5. Topalov then seemed to crack under the pressure. He took two pawns very quickly, which simply led to a devastating attack for Black. Anand didn’t chose the quickest win, allowing Topalov to reach a RN vs Q ending, but the result was never in doubt. And so Anand decided the match in his favour with the first win for the black pieces in the very last game.
For now here is the full analysis of the game. More reports & videos plus press conference videos to follow shortly.
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