[Event "Sparkassen sf Playoff"]
[Site "Dortmund GER"]
[Date "2002.07.17"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Bareev, Evgeny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Hathaway, Mark"]
[BlackElo "2726"]
[ECO "C11"]
[EventDate "2002.07.17"]
[WhiteElo "2745"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 { French Defense, Classical Variation, He's hoping for e4-e5 to create a fixed blocked pawn structure where Black has ...c7-c5 to create queen-side play. } ( 3... dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 { French Defense, Rubinstein Variation, could give Bareev the quiet maneuvering game he would probably have a chance to win. } ) 4. Bg5 dxe4 ( 4... Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 { has also been a popular variation, but Topalov is likely to play the tactically confusing Alekhine-Chatard Attack (6. h4) to prevent a sterile quiet game. } ) 5. Nxe4 Nbd7 { So, it transposes to a Rubinstein Variation after all. This has been quite popular among GMs in recent years, though Ponomariov beat Ivanchuk in the first game of their FIDE wch match. Black aims to not have any pawn weaknesses and to have a very secure king, hoping to trade minor pieces to achieve a draw. White has to fight piece on piece and be creative to force weaknesses in Black's position, so he can attack. To that end White has often, in recent years, aimed for Bf1-d3, Qd1-e2, O-O-O to bring the rook to the center quickly and to enable more free-wheeling king-side aggression. } 6. Nf3 ( 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. Nf3 h6 8. Bh4 Be7 9. Bd3 ) 6... Be7 { Allowing Black to oppose both Ne4 and Bg5 seems to assure he will be able to trade several minor pieces to achieve the simplification he desires. } 7. Nxf6+ ( 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 ) 7... Bxf6 8. h4 { This allows White to maintain some tension, but would appear to commit the king to the queen-side. Black, on the other hand, is probably wondering if his king would truly be safe on the king-side. } 8... c5 { Black usually aims to play ...Qd8-a5+ to get out of a pin on the g5-d8 diagonal. It helps in some cases to get rid of White's Pd4 to prevent White from having complete control of e5. It also limits Black's freedom to ...O-O-O and it takes a tempo away from piece development. } ( 8... h6 { kicks the bishop,but makes Ph6 a target for later } 9. Be3 ) ( 8... Qe7 9. Qd2 b6 10. O-O-O ( 10. Bb5 Bb7 11. Bxf6 gxf6 ) ( 10. Ne5 Bxg5 11. hxg5 Nxe5 12. dxe5 Bb7 13. Bb5+ c6 14. Ba4 Rd8 15. Qf4 b5 16. Bb3 c5 17. c3 ) 10... Bb7 11. Ne5 O-O-O ) 9. Qd2 cxd4 10. Nxd4 h6 { Without Nf3 to defend Ph4 White has to think twice about retreating Bg5-e3. } 11. Bxf6 ( 11. Be3 $6 Bxh4 ) 11... Nxf6 ( 11... Qxf6 12. Qb4 Qf4 13. Bb5 a6 14. Qa4 Rb8 15. Nf3 Qf6 ) 12. Qb4 { White takes control of the queen-side dark squares and Qd8 now appears exposed on the open d-file (after O-O-O) , so ...Qd8-e7 seems sensible. } 12... Nd5 { I'm not so certain the knight is better here. It blocks the d-file and chases Qb4, but it also loses contact with d7, where it was useful preventing difficulties on the a4-e8 diagonal. } ( 12... Qe7 ) 13. Qa3 { Black already has some difficulties. } 13... Qe7 14. Bb5+ Bd7 15. Bxd7+ ( 15. Qxe7+ Kxe7 16. Bxd7 Kxd7 17. Rd1 $11 ) 15... Kxd7 { Fritz 4 "thinks" this position is equal! That it doesn't "see" any problems for Kd7 is interesting. Topalov certainly saw possibilities. } ( 15... Qxd7 $14 ) 16. Qa4+ Kc7 17. Rh3 a6 { This is an obvious, if highly risky, attempt to get Ra8 developed before Kc7 has to go back behind the pawns. Fritz 4 suggests ...Rh8-c8 and ...Kc7-b8, but what would become of Ra8? Black has to be very careful to properly balance his king's safety with attempts to achieve piece activity. } ( 17... Qb4+ 18. Qxb4 Nxb4 $14 { A slight development lead and the vulnerable Pg7 & Pf7 gives White reason to play, but there's no more direct attack on Kc7, so Black should have reasonable hopes to draw. } ) 18. Rb3 { preventing ...Qe7-b4+. Ph4 is indirectly defended by Qa4. } 18... Qc5 ( 18... Qxh4 $4 19. Nxe6+ fxe6 20. Qxh4 $18 ) 19. O-O-O { Clearly both players see the queen-side is where all the action is to occur and they're bringing all their forces to that area. The exposed Kc7 draws a crowd. } 19... b5 $2 { There's no good reason to do this. It might not be immediately obvious, but the open area around Kc7 should have concerned Bareev -- on principle if not in light of concrete variations. } ( 19... Rac8 ) 20. Qa5+ Qb6 21. Qe1 { Topalov was not about to trade queens when he had a chance to go at Kc7 directly. } 21... Kb7 22. Qe2 { threatening Nxb5 to open the b-file } 22... Ka7 ( 22... Qc7 23. Nxb5 axb5 24. Qxb5+ Kc8 25. Rxd5 exd5 26. Rc3 Qxc3 27. bxc3 $18 ) 23. Nxb5+ $1 { This move might seem a little speculative, but on principle Ka7 will never be safe and White's pieces have more open lines to go get him. Black won't have time to develop his rooks, so their value is almost nil, until you get a simplified endgame. } 23... axb5 24. Rxb5 Qc6 25. Rdxd5 exd5 26. Qe7+ Ka6 27. Rb3 { This at least wins Black's queen. Black hasn't maintained his king's safety and that lead to him having to defend rather than developing Rh8 and Ra8. Although White is behind a rook it's the one he has on b3 which is more useful than both of Blacks! It also helps that his king is rock solid safe. } 1-0