Sunday, September 24, 2006

Kramnik - Topalov, 1-0

In the first of their 12-game "reunification" match, Russia's Vladimir Kramnik drew first blood by defeating Bulgarian and world number one Veselin Topalov.

There were signs of an early draw in the game but the Bulgarian pressed and sadly blundered. Quoted by The Associated Press, Topalov said:

Actually it was a dream position for any chess player...Black was clearly better, although I had significant technical difficulties in converting the advantage. Vlad (Kramnik) defended well, and I eventually made a blunder.

Readers can, of course, download PGNs from the usual sources like CB and TWIC. Chessbase has some brief analysis available. But a couple of bloggers have already posted some extensive examination of game one. See for example Chess Vault and e3 e5.

And don't forget to pop into the high quality chesspro.ru - mostly in Russian but there is English coverage. These guys set the standard for the San Luis online analysis last year.

Sydney readers should note that the match will be covered by Peter Parr in his column for the Sydney Morning Herald. The SMH will publish special match reports by Parr on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't the SMH hire a real chess player such as Ian Rogers to comment on the World Championship match!

Anonymous said...

Ian used to write for an australian newspaper,the Financial Review if my memory serves me correctly.

Anonymous said...

second anonymous - unless it was a chess column that would be the other Ian Rogers - not the same person.

Anonymous said...

Is there another "Ian Rogers" who isnt a chess player ,Kevin?

Rogers did have a chess column in the Financial Review.