By Webmaster
Salt Lake City

May 11, 2010

A huge congratulations to Vishwanathan Anand, who successfully defended his World Champion title by beating Veselin Topalov in the final round of the World Chess Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria. Going into the final round with a 4-4 tie, Anand executed a brilliant finish to beat Topalov with the black pieces.

Anand won the title in 2000 in the knock-out format, in 2007 in tournament format, then in 2008 in match format against Vladimir Kramnik – and now has defended his title.

Game 12: Topalov,Veselin (2805) - Anand,Viswanathan (2787)
World Chess Championship - Sofia, Bulgaria

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Be2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.0-0 b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Qc2 Nf6 17.dxc5 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 bxc5 19.Qc2N Bb7 20.Nd2 Rfd8 21.f3 Ba6 22.Rf2 Rd7 23.g3 Rbd8 24.Kg2 Bd3 25.Qc1 Ba6 26.Ra3 Bb7 27.Nb3 Rc7 28.Na5 Ba8 29.Nc4 e5 30.e4 f5 31.exf5 e4 32.fxe4??

Topalov loses his nerve here, and now it is all over...

32...Qxe4+ 33.Kh3 Rd4 34.Ne3 Qe8! And Anand plays the rest of the game nearly flawlessly.

35.g4 h5 36.Kh4 g5+ 37.fxg6 Qxg6 38.Qf1 Rxg4+ 39.Kh3 Re7 40.Rf8+ Kg7 41.Nf5+ Kh7 42.Rg3 Rxg3+ 43.hxg3 Qg4+ 44.Kh2 Re2+ 45.Kg1 Rg2+ 46.Qxg2 Bxg2 47.Kxg2 Qe2+ 48.Kh3 c4 49.a4 a5 50.Rf6 Kg8 51.Nh6+ Kg7 52.Rb6 Qe4 53.Kh2 Kh7 54.Rd6 Qe5 55.Nf7 Qxb2+ 56.Kh3 Qg7 0-1

Anand, you rock. Please come to Utah.