No Delay

Hikaru Nakamura – Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov
Champions Showdown; match game 2 (30 minutes); Saint Louis, November 9, 2017
3r1k2/5Bp1/3b1nP1/R3B3/8/5K2/8/8 w - - 8 58

Position after 57. ... Be7-d6

And, finally, the Champions Showdown of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, which features four superstars’ matches of rapid and blitz games, with the nuance of a nostalgic return to the past as time control doesn’t include any delay or increment! That’s what can happen when time is almost expired: 58. Bxf6 gxf6 59. Rh5 f5?? Under normal circumstances, Topalov would have certainly played 59. ... Rd7(!) which should hold without any difficulty. 60. Rh8+ 1 : 0. The g-Pawn promotes.

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov – Hikaru Nakamura
Champions Showdown; match game 3 (30 minutes); Saint Louis, November 10, 2017
Caro-Kann Defence B12

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 Ne7 6. c3 h6 7. 0-0 Nd7 8. Nbd2 Qc7 9. Nb3 g5 10. Ne1 c5 11. Bh5 Bg6!? A questionable departure from 11. ... Bg7 12. f4 c4 13. Nd2 gxf4 14. Ndf3 Ng6 15. Bxg6 fxg6 16. Nh4 0-0 (Anand – Giri, 2nd Gashimov Memorial, Şəmkir 2015) and now after 17. Nxf5 Rxf5 18. Rxf4 (Giri) White would regain his Pawn with an edge. 12. f4 c4 13. Nd2 gxf4 14. Rxf4 Bg7

15. Nf1! Topalov seems to have studied deeply the matter. 15. ... 0-0. I guess Black should have invented a way to prepare for Queenside castling, even if it was anything but easy. 16. Ng3 Kh7?! That is surely not a safe place. 17. Rh4! Qd8 18. Nf3 Bd3 19. Bg4! White has a crushing preponderance, which Topalov will convert quite easily into a win through technical means: 19. ... Rh8 20. Nh5 Kg8 21. Rh3 Ng6 22. Be3 Qe7 23. Qd2 Bf8 24. Nf4 Nxf4 25. Bxf4 Bg7 26. Re1 Be4 27. Bxh6 Bxh6 28. Rxh6 Kg7 29. Rxh8 Rxh8 30. Ng5 Bd3 31. g3 Nf8 32. h4 Nh7 33. Nh3 Rg8 34. Kh2 Kh8 35. Bh5 Qf8 36. Nf4 Bf5 37. Qe3 f6 38. Rf1 Qh6 39. Be2 Qg7 40. Nxd5 fxe5 41. dxe5 b5 42. Nf4 Qh6 43. Bh5 Rd8 44. Rd1 Rxd1 45. Bxd1 Ng5 46. Qxa7 Ne4 47. Qa8+ Kh7 48. Bf3 Ng5 49. Qa7+ Kh8 50. Qa8+ Kh7 51. Qb7+ Kh8 52. Qb8+ Kh7 53. Qc7+ 1 : 0.

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (left) vs. Hikaru Nakamura (right). Photo: Lennart Ootes/Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.