Games: Chess

Veselin Topalov found a neat way to finish off his attack against Anatoly Karpov at Wijk aan Zee. In the diagram it was Topalov, White, to move. His rooks look strong on the h-file, but they need reinforcements if they are to break through. With White's queen tied to the defence of f4, it is not obvious how he can make progress.

The safe move is 1.R1h4, protecting f4 and renewing the threats of Qd5 or Qh2. Topalov, however, found a far more incisive continuation with 1.Ng5! At first sight this looks like a blunder. After 1...Nxg5 2.fxg5 Bxe5+ Black must be winning. But White does not recapture on g5. he meets 1...Nxg5 with 2.Qd5+! Now 2...Qf7 loses to 3.Qd8+ Qf8 4.Rh8+, while 2...Nf7 leaves Black helpless after 3.e6! Any knight move will lose to 4.e7+, while otherwise the threat of 4.exf7+ Qxf7 5.Rh8+ cannot be met.

In view of all this, Karpov played 1...Ra6 but resigned when 2.Rh8+! was played. He is mated after 2...Bxh8 3.Rxh8+ Kxh8 4.Qh2+ Kg7 5.Qh7.

Returning to the diagram, there is another strong move that you may have spotted. White can also solve the problems of the threat to f4 by playing 1.f5!

After 1...gxf5 2.Qd7 f4+ 3.Kg4 Black has no good defence to the threat of 4.Rh8+ Bxh8 5.Qh7 mate, while if he plays 1...Qxf5, then 2.Rxg7+! wins after either 2...Kxg7 3.Qd7+ Kg8 4.Qh7+ Kf8 5.Qh8+ Ke7 6.Rh7+ or 2...Nxg7 3.Qd8+ Kf7 (or 3...Qf8 4.Rh8+) 4.Ng5+. Here are the full moves of the game

White: Veselin Topalov

Black: Anatoly Karpov

1 d4 d5 26 Reg1 Re8

2 c4 e6 27 Rh3 Ne6

3 Nc3 Be7 28 Rgh1 Bg7

4 cxd5 exd5 29 Qc2 Nf8

5 Bf4 c6 30 Nce2 Qe7

6 Qc2 g6 31 Nf3 Qb4

7 e3 Bf5 32 Rg3 c5

8 Qd2 Nf6 33 Nh4 Re6

9 f3 h5 34 Nc3 d4

10 Bd3 Bxd3 35 Nd5 Qb5

11 Qxd3 Na6 36 e4 c4

12 Nge2 Nc7 37 Nf3 d3

13 0-0 Ne6 38 Qc3 Ra6

14 Be5 h4 39 Nd4 Qc5

15 Rae1 0-0 40 Rxd3 Rxa2

16 g4 hxg3 41 Rdh3 b5

17 hxg3 Nd7 42 Nf3 Ne6

18 Kg2 Nxe5 43 Kg3 b4

19 dxe5 Qd7 44 Qd2 Rf8

20 f4 f5 45 Nf6+ Rxf6

21 g4 Rf7 46 exf6 Bxf6

22 Rh1 Bf8 47 e5 Bg7

23 gxf5 Nc5 48 Rh7 Qf8

24 Qd1 Qxf5 49 Ng5 Ra6

25 Nd4 Qd7 50 Rh8+ 1-0