Hail King Topalov!

Topalov is the new world champion with a round to spare. As expected his phenomenol performance in the first leg of the tournament sealed the crown for him. Anand and Svidler finished second with 1.5 points behind Topalov.

Topalov has demonstrated some great talent here. He outplayed his opponents in all areas of the game. Quite a feat against this field.

Topalov is a worthy champ. Let's see if Kramnik agrees to play him. I doubt it! I am sure Kramnik would not have even managed a +2 score against this field.

San Luis, Round 9 preview

Round 9 promises to a slugfest between Anand and Topalov. Anand will be desperate for this win here and if Topalov can win or draw this game, he can start polishing the trophy (if he has not done so already!) So stay tuned for this incredible match. You can catch it live on http://wwww.chessgames.com

No stops on the T-train

The Topalov superfast express shows no signs of slowing down. Round 6 saw him systematically take Judit Polgar apart with black pieces while employing the Berlin defense! I think he is getting too good for humans and should only play Hydra from now on! He is already 2 points ahead of this field and it is only the 6th round. I doubt that anyone can stop him from winning this championship from here on. What is even more spectacular is that this performance comes against the very best chess players in the business. Sheer dominance!

The rest 3 games were hard fought draws. Anand and Svidler trail Topa by 2 points!

I am leaving town for some time, so I might not be able to report the other rounds. However, I think, Topalov is the champ!

Topalov, Topalov!

San Luis, Round 5 saw hurricane Topalov routing everything in its path. He scored the full point after defeating Svidler with black pieces. He is now 1.5 points ahead of the competition. 4.5/5.0 against this field! This is stuff that world champions are made of!

All other 3 games were draws. Anand had a good position against Leko but failed to capitalize on it. If he wants to challenge Topalov's dominance, he has to convert these opportunities.

Well, only 5 rounds are over and a lot of Chess is still remains to be played in this exciting tournament. However, Topalov is the man of the hour. He has the momentum and it will be very difficult to stop him from here.

San Luis, Round 4

Another great day at San Luis. All 4 games were decisive.

Kasim-Anand match saw the Indian going down to Kasim. I think Anand played a very bad game and Kasim deserved the win. The Indian is now in the third position and trails Topalov by a full point.

Topalov-Adams match again saw Topa walk home with a full point. Topa has 3.5/4.0 in a 2700+ field! He is red-hot. If he keeps this up, no one can even touch him.

Leko-Polgar game saw Leko defeat his country-woman. Both players had an error-prone game and they definitely need to raise their game to be in any serious contention.

Morozevich-Svidler saw Svidler defeat the dynamic Moro. Svidler has been the surprise package of this event. No one was giving him much chances but he is the clear second, behind Topalov.

Today is a rest day for the players. Anand clearly needs to win his game against Leko. Good news is that he has white in the game. Let us see if the Indian can rise to the challenge. We will find out on Monday.

San Luis, Round 3

What a session! All 4 games were decisive.

The Polgar-Kasim match was crazy! She played her typical aggressive game and sacrificed a few pieces to generate a deadly attack. However, I cannot figure out why she did not play Rxe8+ on the 22nd move. That was a definite blunder but Kasim failed to capitalize on it with Be5! It was curtains after that for Kasim, earning Judit her first win.

Anand-Adams was another wonderful game played by the mercurial Indian. He employed a very aggressive Ruy Lopez and marched home with a fine win.

Svidler-Leko game saw Svidler walk away with a win. This has not been Leko's tournament so far. -2 score in 3 games. He 20th move (d6) was a major blunder and Svidler did not falter in bringing home the full point.

That brings us to the game of the day: Morozevich-Topalov. What can I say about Topalov? The more I watch him, the more I am convinced that he is going to eventually win this championship! He grinded Morozevich down in this game. I thought the game was headed for a draw but he just beat Moro with brute force!

Well, after 3 rounds Anand and Topalov are tied for the first place. I am pretty sure one of these two will bring home the championship. However, it is still early and we could see the other 5 bounce right back into the match!

Stay tuned for further reports on this incredible tournament.