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Good day everyone and welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of the Corus tournament. Today will be the 50th game between Topalov and Ivanchuk. Only in 19 of the games so far Veselin Topalov has been with the white pieces. In 15 of them he started with 1.e4! so we may expect a fierce fight. Ivanchuk had a quiet draw for a start yesterday. He is probably still tired from the Rapid Cup in Odessa, but today we expect top class chess from him. Join us live at 13:30 CET on Chessdom.com!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 ed5 5.cd5 d6 6.e4 g6 Modern Benoni! Not seen that often at supertournaments, but always promissing an interesting game. Obviously Ivanchuk will be agressive today
7.h3 Bg7 8.Nf3 a6 9.a4 Nbd7 10.Be3 A novelty! Again team Topalov produces a novelty in a strong competition. Will it prove to be sound?
10... O-O 11.Be2 Well, it actually turned out to be a simple transposition of moves, a psychological moment used in openings at top level. At least three games have reached this position
11... Qe7 the blitz champion is the first to divert from theory and he does it at blitz pace. The tactical battle starts here!
12.Nd2 Ne8 13.Nc4 while black is aiming at the kingside, white is regrouping on the queenside. The Ng1-f3-d2-c4 is typical for Modern Benoni with g3 and Bg2. Sometimes it even happens before e4 or O-O, as in this case.
13... Rb8 The idea is clear - b5. B:c3 should not be considered in Benoni or Grunfeld. Even if on c3 there is a rook instead of a knight. Ne5 is not proper in this moment because of 14.Nb6 with tempo
14.O-O Ne5 15.Nb6 White has space advantage and will avoid exchanges
15... Nd7 16.Nc8 Rc8 17.Re1 f4 and e5 will come after a certain preparation.
17... Nef6 18.Bg5 Rfe8 19.Bf1 h6 20.Bd2 The bishop would be more natural on h4, sticking to the plan f4, e5.
20... c4 21.a5 At 21... Nc5 could follow 22.e5 de5 23.Bc4 Nce4 and the position will be rather equal
21... Nc5 22.e5 de5 23.Bc4 Red8 Looks like Ivanchuk is taking his time, but this is a bit dangerous. 23... Red8 24.Rc1 gives a slight, but permanent advantage to Topalov and prevents a possibility for Nce4
24.Rc1 +/=
24... Ne8 The right move. The knight is the best blockade piece for the pawn on d6, no other black piece can do it in this moment
25.Bf1 Nd6 26.b4 Nd7 27.b5 Position still looks the same and the variation (27.b5 ab5 28.Nb5 Rc1 29.Qc1 Nb5 30.Bb5 Nf6) does not change much because 31.d6 Qd6 32.Bh6
27... ab5 28.Nb5 Rc1 29.Qc1 Nb5 30.Bb5 Nf6 31.Qb2 Nice move! Idea behind it is Qb3 and Bc4 using the fact that black has no light colored bishop.
31... Nd5 32.Qb3 Qd6 33.Bc4 Rd7 Interesting tactical resource is (33... Rd7 34.Bh6 Bh6 35.Rd1) which leads to an equal game
34.Bb5 Rd8 35.Bc4 Rd7 36.Bb5 Logical outcome of the tactical battle. Topalov was trying to materialize the small advantage, but precise moves by Ivanchuk led to the draw. Join us tommorow at 13:30 CET for round 3 live commentary on Chessdom.com.
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