Svidler The Mauler

How else was I suppose to spend a sunny Sunday but to listen to some nice music and watch the games live from Morelia? And what a treat of a game was Svidler - Topalov! The Russian played attack, sacking a pawn on the 16th move thereby creating what later turned out to be a future madonna.

Linares-Morelia
Peter Svidler
Veselin Topalov
C67

After 15...h4

16. f5! Nxe5 17. f6 Rh5 18. Ne4 g6 19. Bf4 c5 20. Nf3 Nxf3+ 21. Rxf3 Be6 22. Rfd3 "He [Svidler] has a serious advantage," said GM Seirawan, on the playchess.com site. It is hard to disagree. 22...c4 23.R3d2 c6 c4 23. R3d2 c6 24. Ng5 Bc5+ 25. Kh2 Bd5 26. Re2+ Kf8 27. Rde1 b5 28. c3 a5 29. a3 Rc8 30. g4 hxg3+ 31. Kxg3 Be6 32. h4 Kg8 33. Re5 Bf8 34. Nxe6 fxe6 35. Rd1 Rh7 36. Rxe6 Rb7 37. Re4 Kf7 38. Bg5 Re8 39. Rxe8 Kxe8 40. Kg4 Rh7 41. Re1+ Kd7 42. a4 bxa4 43. Re5 c5 44. Bf4 Rh8 45. Bg3 Bh6 46. Re7+ Kc6 47. Bf4 Bxf4 48. Kxf4 Rh5 49. Re5 Rxh4+ 50. Kg5 Rh5+ 51. Kxg6! Rxe5 52. f7 Re6+ 53. Kg5 Re5+ 54. Kg4 Of course not 54. Kf4. Re4+ 55. Kg3 Re3+ 56. Kf2 a3 57. f8=Q axb2 58. Qc8+ Kb5 59. Qb7+ Ka4 60. Kxe3 Ka3 61. Qb5 a4 62. Qxc5+ Kb3 63. Qb4+ Kc2 64. Qxa4+ Kxc3 65. Qa5+ Here, GM Greg Kaidanov, commentating on Chess FM suddenly noticed that 65. Qb5?? is simply met by 65...b1Q!! 66. Qxb1 stalemate. Kc2 66. Qf5+ Kc1 67. Qf1+ 1-0

And the punters welcomed, if sarcastically, Peter Leko's win today against Francisco Vallejo. But let's see the Hungarian's playing attitude against the 2700's.