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During the Morelia part of the tournament Topalov has proved himself as uncompromising fighter with two draws only. He is half a point behind the provisional leader Anand and though he suffered two losses still has good chances to win the tournament. Aronian missed excellent chance in the 7th round to join Anand and lost being a pawn up. For both opponents this game is an opportunity to improve their standing. Would they choose a solid approach (quite unlikely) or enter complications pursuing the win? Soon we'll be witnessing that (unless the notorious tradition of 1st round live-server crashes goes on with Linares) . The round was rescheduled for 16.00 CET... 16.15 No transmission still.
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.O-O Be7 8.a3 O-O 9.b4 Be6 10.Rb1 f6 11.d3 Nd4 12.Nd2 c6 13.Nde4 Nd5 14.e3 Nxc3 15.Nxc3 Nf5 16.Qc2 Rc8 17.Rd1 The broadcast began 29 minutes late, so the opening moves had to be introduced in a harry to catch up with the game. A poular line of English opening was chosen. With Aronian's 13.Nde4 is a relatively new move which gave him advantage of 30 minutes on the clock.
17... Qd7 A position typical for the Dragon line of Sicilian Defence with reversed colors had arisen. Chances are about equal.
18.d4 exd4 19.exd4 As Topalov took all measures to secure his queenside, White goes for a breakthrough in the center - a logical sequence for their new plan - Qc2 and Rd1. After the eventual d4-d5 Black may be caused trouble by the fact that the 'f6' pawn has weakened King's position.
19... Bd6 ( Of course not 19... Nxd4 20.Qe4 c5 21.bxc5 Bxc5 22.Rxb7 As d4-d5 is threatening in many lines, Topalov prepares a route for his Knight to the critical square. )
20.Ne4 ( Ne4-c5 cannot be stopped by 20.Ne4 b6 as 21.Nc5 will follow anyway.)
20... Rcd8 (20... Rfd8 21.Bb2 Qf7 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.dxc5 Bb3 is not possible for 24.Rxd8+ That's why the move with the other Rook. Topalov appears to have solved the opening problems. Qd7-f7 - to avoid the Bh3 pin - followed by a Bd5 or even Nd5 should grant him at least equality.) (20... Rcd8 21.Bb2 Qf7 22.b5 is a suggested by the computer but after 22... cxb5 23.d5 Bc8 the importance of the 'd5' pawn is overestimated. Aronian sunk into a profound thinking and spent all of his advantage on the clock but it is not easy to handle such position as White. A few inaccuracies may lead to a long-lasting edge for Black should the pawn structure become too static.) As there has not been played a move in any of the four games for 25 minutes I guess they have once again translation problems.
21.Bb2 Qf7 22.Rd2 Bd5 23.Re1 Bb8 Once again this Bishops leaves a square in order 'Nf5' to be able to go there.
24.Rde2 b6 ( The direct 24... Nd6 25.Nc5 leaves 'e6' way too vulnerable.)
25.Nd2 (25.Nc5 Bxg2 26.Qxf5 bxc5 27.Kxg2 cxd4 28.Re7 Qd5+ was OK for Black.)
25... Bxg2 26.Kxg2 Qd5+ 27.Kg1 ( Step one of Topalov's plan - trading the light-squared Bishops - is accomplished. Thanks to White's control of the 'e' file things are still balanced but in the long run the awkwardly placed 'Bb2' may cause troubles. 27.Kg1 Nxd4 28.Bxd4 Qxd4 29.Qxc6 Qd5+ leads to a draw ending but Black may aspire for more.)
27... b5 Now the White pawn is fixed to 'b4'. Topalov is definitely trying to win this game though this decision involves some risk.
28.Nb3 Bd6 29.Na5 Rc8 30.Rc1 Combining threats, Aronian does not let his opponent to coordinate his pieces.
30... Rc7 31.Qd3 With Queen dominating the whole board, Black is ready even for a kingside expansion - g6 and h5 as if White trades Queens the light squares may become very weak.
31... Rfc8 32.Rec2 Resumes the threat on 'c6' but g7-g6 is anyway part of Black's plan.
32... g6 33.Qf1 Intending Qg2 as the Qd5 can no more be tolerated.
33... Kf7 34.Qg2 Ne7 35.Re1 Not allowing Topalov to place his King on 'd5'.
35... h5 36.h4 Aronian has it hard to find useful moves but this fixes another pawn on a dark square which may be crucial in some endings.
36... f5 Direct consequence of 36.h4 - f5-f4 would be nasty.
37.Bc1 Finally gets rid of this Bishop.
37... f4 38.Rxe7+ ( Positional exchange sacrifice, though 38.Rxe7+ (38.Bxf4 Bxf4 39.gxf4 Qxg2+ 40.Kxg2 Nf5 favors Black) 38... Bxe7 39.Bxf4 Bd6 seems not to let sufficient compensation.)
38... Bxe7 39.Bxf4 Qxg2+ 40.Kxg2 Rd7 In the time trouble the Bulgarian went for 39...Qxg2+ and Aronian can now grab another pawn.
41.Nxc6 All of a sudden Black pieces lack coordination. 42.Ne5+ is a threat and d4-d5 as well in some lines.
41... Kg7 42.d5 It's now Topalov's turn to struggle to draw. Would the Corus scenario - having advantage as Black, he lost an ending being an exchange up - repeat in their encounter?
42... a6 Levon's King should head to e4 and eventually d5 to support the passed pawn.
43.Kf3 Bf6 44.Ke4 Re7+ (44... Re8+ 45.Be5 Bxe5 46.Nxe5 and the Ne5 is as strong as a Rook.)
45.Kd3 Now d5-d6 is coming, the Rc2 may go to 'c5'.
45... Rd7 46.d6 Re8 47.Nd4 (47.Nd4 Kf7 48.Rc6 (48.Rc7 Rxc7 49.dxc7 Ke7 50.Nc6+ Kd7 51.Na7 Bb2 leads to a draw only) 48... Ra7 49.Nb3 gives Aronian good winning chances.)
47... Kf7 48.Nf3 a5 The Knight had to be placed on 'b3' exactly to prevent opening the 'a' file as Black Rooks lack space.
49.Rc5 axb4 50.axb4 Rb7 (50... Ra7 seems better.)
51... Ra8 52.Ne4 Bd8 ( Makes no sense to let White King to 'd4' 52... Ra3+ still leaves some defensive possibilities.)
53.Rd5 ( Aronian evades complications, though 53.Kd4 Bb6 54.Kd5 Bxc5 55.bxc5 b4 56.c6 Rb5+ 57.Kc4 is winning for him.)
53... Ra3+ 54.Kd4 Rb3 55.Kc5 (55.Bd2 followed by Re5 and Kd5 was winning comfortably as well.)
55... Ke6 56.Rd2 Rb1 57.Re2 Kd7 58.Kd5 Rd1+ 59.Rd2 Rxd2+ 60.Bxd2 Ke8 Topalov reached move 60 but this ending is completely hopeless.
61.Ke6 Rb6 62.Bg5 Rc6 63.Bxd8 Kxd8 64.Ng5 Ke8 65.Nf7 Black Resigns as after f2-f3 and g3-g4 another passed pawn is on its way. Topalov played a very good game, outplaying his opponent step by step, until in the time trouble Aronian sacrificed and exchange. This served him right as Veselin miscalculated and made a mistake on move 39. That lead him to a difficult ending. Probably disappointed with such turn of events he made a couple of inaccuracies and suffered his third loss in this tournament. We have to give credit to Levon who was once again a resourceful fighter, ready as always to surprise his opponents.
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