The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Topalov's gamble pays off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 28, 2004

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Sport - Chess

Topalov's gamble pays off

TRIPOLI, JUNE 27. Top-seeded Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria was lucky to score a win over Grandmaster Zdenko Kozul of Croatia in the first game of their pre-quarterfinal match in the World chess championship at Almahay hotel here. Draws were the order of the day on most of the boards in the round of 16 and as many as four out of five games ended in truce.

With most of the players going for a safety first approach, Topalov's gamble against Kozul paid dividends as the Croatian misplayed a promising position against the highest rated player in the event.

Going for a sharp variation in the Slav defence, Topalov left his king unattended and it could have backfired but for Kozul's inadequate piece play in the middlegame.

Another bloodless draw was played out between Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Pavel Smirnov of Russia in a Sicilian Sveshnikov where the former played black. Radjabov's homework in the opening came in handy as Pavel failed to establish a worthwhile initiative and the draw was agreed in just 24 moves.

The results (fourth round, game 1): Zdenko Kozul (Cro) lost to Veselin Topalov (Bul); Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Rom) drew with Andrei Kharlov (Rus); Alexander Grischuk (Rus) drew with Alexander Beliavsky (Slo); Zoltan Almasi (Hun) lost to Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb); Pavel Smirnov (Rus) drew with Teimour Radjabov (Aze); Alexey Dreev (Rus) drew with Leneir Dominguez (Cub); Michael Adams (Eng) bt Hikaru Nakamura (U.S.); Michal Krasenkow (Pol) drew with Vladimir Akopian (Arm). — PTI

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