All in a Day

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov – Garry Kimovich Kasparov

Champions Showdown Chess960 2018; rapid match game 3 (30+10); Saint Louis, September 12, 2018

rbnnqkbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBNNQKBR w KQkq - 0 1

Position 444

1. d4 d5 2. e4. In the fourth game Kasparov continued 2. f3 f6 3. Nd3 c6 (French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave found out on his own what kind of chaos Fischerandom chess can cause: 3. ... Nd6 4. e4 dxe4 5. fxe4 Bc4 6.Ne3 Ba6 7. Nf5?! Nxf5 8. exf5 Qb5! 9. Bf2?? Qxb2 winning a whole Rook, Vachier-Lagrave – Shankland, Champions Showdown Chess960 2018, Saint Louis 2018, rapid match game 3) 4. e4 (or 4. c3 Bf7 5. e4 0-0 6. Bf2 Bg6 7. 0-0 dxe4 8. fxe4 e5 with approximate equality, Nakamura – Svidler, Champions Showdown Chess960 2018, Saint Louis 2018, rapid match game 4) 4. ... dxe4 5. fxe4 e5 6. dxe5 Bxe5 7. Bc5+ Bd6 8. Bxd6+ Nxd6 9. e5 fxe5 10. 0-0+ Bf7 11. Nxe5 0-0 12. c3 Qe7 13. Nxf7 Rxf7 14. Bc2 Rxf1+ 15. Qxf1 N8f7 16. Nf2 Re8 17. Rd1 Ne5 18. Nd3 Nec4 19. Re1 Qf8 20. Bb3 Qxf1+ 21. Kxf1 Kf8 22. Rxe8+ Kxe8 23. Ke2 Ke7 24. Bxc4 Nxc4 25. b3 Nd6 26. Ke3 g5 27. g4 Ke6 28. c4 h6 29. a4 b6 30. h3 Nb7 31. b4 c5 32. bxc5 Nxc5 33. Nxc5+ bxc5 34. Ke4 a5 35. Kd3 ½ : ½ Kasparov – Topalov, Champions Showdown Chess960 2018, Saint Louis 2018, rapid match game 4. 2. ... dxe4 3. Qxe4 h6 4. Nd3 Bh7 5. Qe2 c6 6. c3 0-0 7. f3 Nb6 8. Bf2 Ne6 9. g3 Bd6 10. Bc2 Qc8 11. Bb3 Nd5 12. Ne3 Ng5 13. 0-0-0! Topalov plays sharp with heterogeneous castling! 13. ... Nxe3 14. Bxe3

14. ... a5? This seems a serious error which allows White to break up the h-file with h2-h4. 14. ... Ne6 15. f4 (idem to say 15. g4) 15. ... a5 offered much better chances for counter-attack. 15. Bxg5 hxg5 16. h4! g4!? A pseudo-positional Pawn sacrifice in the attempt to delay the disaster on the Kingside. If 16. ... a4 there might follow 17. Bc2 [17. hxg5 axb3 18. Rxh7 Kxh7 19. Rh1+ Kg6 20. f4 only leads to a draw by perpetual check after 20. ... bxa2 21. Qh5+ Kf5 22. Qh3+ Ke4 23. Qg2+ Kxd3 24. Rd1+ Kc4 25. Qe2+ Kb3 (25. .. Kd5?? 26. c4 mate) 26. Qc2+ Kc4 27. Qe2+] 17. ... Qe6 18. Qxe6 fxe6 19. hxg5 Bxd3 20. Rxd3 Bxg3 21. Kb1 and White stands better. 17. fxg4 a4 18. Bc2 a3 (18. ... Bxg3 19. g5!→) 19. b4! b6 (19. ... Bxg3 20. g5!→) 20. h5 c5 21. dxc5 bxc5 22. h6! Bxd3 23. Rxd3 g6 24. b5! White dominates both wings. 24. ... c4 25. Rd5 Qc7 26. Rf1 Bxg3. Black finally wins back his Pawn, but with very little satisfaction. 27. Qe3 e6 28. b6 Qe7 29. Rb5 Qh4 30. Qf3 (30. g5!+−) 30. ... Rad8. 30. ... Qxh6+ 31. g5 (or 31. Kb1 Bd6) 31. ... Qh4 seem a little tougher. 31. Rh1 (31. g5! f5 32. gxf6 Rf7 33. b7+−) 31. ... Bf4+! A last-ditch trick, for if 32. Qxf4?? Qxh1+ and mate in two moves. 32. Kb1 Qf6 33. b7 e5 34. Be4 Qa6 35. Rb4 Qd6 36. Qe2 Kh8 37. Qxc4 f5 38. gxf5 gxf5 39. Bc2 e4 40. h7 Be5? 40. ... Qd2! could still give some disturbance to White’s design. 41. Bb3! Threatening Qc4-g8+ followed by mate. 41. ... Kg7? 42. Rb5. Topalov misses mate in two, but it is a detail of little importance: 42. h8=Q+ Rxh8 (42. .. Kg6 43. Qh6 mate) 43. Qf7 mate. 42. .. Qf6 43. Rg1+ Kxh7 44. Qf1 Rd3 45. Qg2 Bf4 46. Rh1+ Bh6 47. b8=Q 1 : 0.

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov – Garry Kimovich Kasparov

Champions Showdown Chess960 2018; blitz match game 3 (5+5); Saint Louis, September 12, 2018

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Position after 35. Ne1xf3

The second day of the blitz didn’t bring good luck to Kasparov. In the position of the diagram Black, anxious of bouncing back, trickily infiltrated with his Bishop by 35. ... Bc2!? Whereas instead it would have been wiser to play 35. ... Bh5! 36. Rd7 Rg6+ 38. Kf2 Bg4! with a draw in sight. After 36. h3! Black would probably have had to take time with something like 36. ... Bb1, but instead he sadly ended up self-trapping his Bishop by 36. ... Rf5?? 37. Rd2 Rb1 38. Rb2 1 : 0.

Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (left) vs. Garry Kimovich Kasparov (right). Photo: Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.