Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Closed Ruy Lopez, C80
2018 Shamkir Chess – Gashimov Memorial, Round 4, Shamkir, 04/22/18
The Gashimov Memorial is one of the biggest events in the chess calendar and it’s held to honor Vugar Gashimov, the chess genius who had unfortunately passed away recently. He was known for his ingenious attacking style and this tournament should honor that. What we’ve seen so far, however, is nothing even remotely close. The first 3 rounds went by without a single decisive result! All draws (and mostly boring ones)!
Round four finally brought an exciting game! Veselin Topalov, the Bulgarian super GM faced world’s number two, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with the white pieces. They entered the Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game) and Mamedyarov chose the Open Ruy, which is a rarely played variation. It’s not worse for black but it leads to complicated positions in which white will often have an attacking edge.
Topalov sacrificed a pawn in a known position in which players will have often gotten compensation already, or simply defended the pawn. His sacrifice didn’t quite work. He was positionally and materially worse but hi attacking pressure kept mounting. Mamedyarov was forced to sack a piece in exchange for 4 pawns (still +1 materially) and he still had a better position. His 3 soon-to-become passed pawns looked menacing. He failed to use that advantage and Topalov seized the opportunity and converted to a winning endgame in which Mamedyarov resigned.
Let’s hope this now forces the rest of the field to push harder for victories, as Topalov is now the man to beat on top of the scoreboard.
Standings after rd.4:
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov 2.5/4
Radoslaw Wojtaszek 2/4
David Navara 2/4
Sergey Karjakin 2/4
Ding Liren 2/4
Rauf Mamedov 2/4
Anish Giri 2/4
Magnus Carlsen 2/4
Teimour Radjabov 2/4
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1.5/4
Game moves:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3
d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Be3 Be7 10.c3 O-O 11.Nbd2 Nxd2 12.Qxd2 Na5
13.Bc2 Nc4 14.Qd3 g6 15.Bh6 Nxb2 16.Qe2 Re8 17.Nd4 Bd7 18.f4
c5 19.Nf3 Qb6 20.Qf2 d4 21.Bg5 dxc3 22.Qh4 c4+ 23.Kh1 Bf8
24.f5 Nd3 25.e6 Bxe6 26.fxe6 Rxe6 27.Rad1 Rae8 28.Bxd3 cxd3
29.Rxd3 Re4 30.Bf4 Be7 31.Qg3 b4 32.Ng5 Bxg5 33.Bxg5 Qe6 34.h3
Qe5 35.Kh2 Qxg3+ 36.Kxg3 h6 37.Bxh6 Re1 38.Rf6 R1e6 39.Rf2 Re2
40.Rd5 Rxf2 41.Kxf2 f6 42.Be3 1-0