chess courses Sick of Losing at Chess? Get Chess Courses from a Grandmaster! Huge Discount! Click here!
Super Pack: The “GM Igor Smirnov’s Super Pack”, a treasure trove of all GM Smirnov's courses available at a fair price. Great opportunity to enhance your skills and master the game of chess.

Candidates Match 2009 – Gata Kamsky versus Veselin Topalov

Veselin Topalov wins Candidates Match 2009 against Gata Kamsky 4,5 / 2,5 in Sofia 2009 (February)

This Chess Match between GM Veselin Topalov (BUL, Elo 2796, world-rank 1) and the steel-nerved GM Gata Kamsky (USA, Elo 2725, world-rank 17) has been played in Sofia/Bulgaria for a sum of $250,000. It is a home match for Topalov who is Bulgarian which has put additional psychological pressure on him. According to general opinion GM Veselin Topalov was the clear favorite to win the match.

He has now the right to challenge Vishwanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2009 title. The match will be in autumn.

Candidates Match 2009, Topalov wins 4,5 / 2,5 in Sofia

Rounds White Black Results Opening
1
Topalov Veselin
Kamsky Gata
0,5/0,5
2
Kamsky Gata
Topalov Veselin
0/1
Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
3
Topalov Veselin
Kamsky Gata
0,5/0,5
Grünfeld defense
4
Kamsky Gata
Topalov Veselin
1/0
5
Topalov Veselin
Kamsky Gata
1/0
6
Kamsky Gata
Topalov Veselin
0,5/0,5
7
Topalov Veselin
Kamsky Gata
1/0
French

Topalov versus Kamsky / Highlights from Game 5

Gata Kamsky suffered a terrible loss in this game as he had a blackout and blundered away two pawns…See diagram

White moves
Candidates Match 2009
1.NxN axN 2.Rxd4 Qxd4 3.RxR
(Kamsky played 2…Qf8 see next position)
White moves
Candidates Match 2009
1.RxRd8 QxR 2.RxR QxR 3.Qa8+ Kh7
4.Qe4+ Kg8 5.Qxb wins a pawn

Topalov wins the last round – game 7

Topalov-Kamsky – Sofia 2009 – Games

Flip Board: Press F-Key (or click e7 or d2 on top) Select a game: Click on grey bar


Go to Chess Strategies – Home