The World Chess Championship 2010 match pitted the defending world champion, Viswanathan Anand, against challenger Veselin Topalov, for the title of World Chess Champion. The match took place in Sofia, Bulgaria from 24 April to 13 May 2010, with a prize fund of million euros (60% to the winner).World Championship match Anand – Topalov: contract signed in Sofia , FIDE, 16 December 09 Anand won the final game to win the match 6½–5½ and retain the title.

The match was to be twelve games, with tie-breaks if necessary, the same format and length as the 2006 and 2008 matches.

Background

Qualifying In early 2006, FIDE announced that the World Chess Championship 2007 for the title of FIDE World Chess Champion would be an eight-player tournament. At the time there were two rival World Champions, 2005 FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, and "Classical" World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. The list of the eight players for the tournament included Topalov, but not Kramnik. To unify the two World Champion titles, FIDE later organised a match between Kramnik and Topalov (the World Chess Championship 2006). Kramnik was to take Topalov's place in the World Chess Championship 2007 if he won the match, which he did. Topalov was hence excluded from the 2007 World Chess Championship, a tournament eventually won by Indian GM Viswanathan Anand to become the World Champion. Anand subsequently defended his title in a one-off match against Kramnik, the World Chess Championship 2008.

The World Chess Championship format then returned to its original form, wherein a match between the current champion and a challenger would decide the World Champion. To choose the challenger, FIDE organized the Chess World Cup 2007. Topalov was compensated for missing the 2007 tournament by getting direct entry to a Challenger Match against the winner of the Chess World Cup.Veselin Topalov and the new FIDE world championship cycle, Chessbase, 24 June 2007 The winner of the Challenger Match would then be the official challenger to Anand.

Gata Kamsky earned the right to play in the Challenger Match by winning the Chess World Cup 2007.

Challenger Match

The Challenger Match was an eight-game match between Topalov and Kamsky. It was played in Sofia, Bulgaria, between 16 and 28 February 2009.FIDE Press Release on Topalov-Kamsky Challenger Match FIDE online, Wednesday, 19 November 2008 13:27

After Kamsky won the World Cup, there was ongoing uncertainty about the location for the Challenger match. Topalov preferred his home country of Bulgaria, while Kamsky wanted to play in a neutral country,FIDE extends deadline for Topalov-Kamsky, Bulgarians protest, Chessbase, 10 April 2008, with a timeline of events. and his manager organised a bid from Lviv, Ukraine. FIDE awarded the match to Bulgaria in February 2008, to Ukraine in June 2008, then back to Bulgaria in November 2008 because of problems with finances from Ukraine.Challenge Match back on track , FIDE online, 6 November 2008 Kamsky got a new manager, and met with FIDE and Topalov representatives during the Chess Olympiad,It's on! Kamsky-Topalov, Sofia, February, Macauley Peterson, Internet Chess Club, 18 November 2008 and on 19 November 2008, FIDE announced that the players had agreed to play in Bulgaria, despite Kamsky's preference to play elsewhere.Kamsky-Topalov to be held in Bulgaria, 16–28 Feb 2009, Chessbase, 19 November 2008, with links to several earlier news stories on match negotiations The match was originally scheduled for November 2008, but the late change to Bulgaria forced the match to be rescheduled for 16–28 February 2009.

On 26 February 2009, Topalov defeated Kamsky in game 7 to win the match 4½–2½, earning the right to challenge Anand for the World Chess Championship. The championship match was moved from September 2009 to April 2010 after Anand requested a postponement.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+Challenger Match 2009 |- ! !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! Total |- style="background:#ccffcc;" | align=left | || 2796 | ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 1 || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || 1 ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 1 || 4½ |- | align=left | || 2725 |style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 0 ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 1 ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || 2½

The match

Match conditions The match format was the best of 12 games. Players scored one point for a win and half a point for a draw. The match ended once either player scored 6½ points. Time control was 120 minutes, with 60 minutes added after move 40, 15 minutes added after move 60, and 30 additional seconds per move starting from move 61.

The match regulations specify a series of tie breaks. If the score is tied after 12 games, colors will be drawn and four rapid games will be played. The time control for these games will be 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the score is tied after the four rapid tie break games, colors will be drawn and two blitz games (5 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move) will be played. If the score is tied after two blitz games, another two-game blitz match will be played, under the same terms. The process will repeat, if necessary, until five blitz matches have been played. If the score is tied after ten blitz games, a single sudden-death "Armageddon game" will determine the champion. The winner of a drawing of lots gets to choose the colour to play, with White given 5 minutes and Black 4 minutes. Beginning with move 61, a three-second increment will be added following each move. If the game is drawn then the player with the Black pieces is declared champion.

Topalov demanded that the match be played in silence, which would occur if the players followed the Sofia Rules, which were introduced to curb draw offers in some tournaments from 2005. Anand replied that he would not comply, prompting Silvio Danailov, Topalov's manager, to say "If Vishy doesn't agree to the rules he will be forced to, because Topalov will not offer him a draw and he will not speak to him."

Seconds and help Anand had the same group of seconds who helped his preparation in World Chess Championship 2008: Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Surya Ganguly and Radosław Wojtaszek. In a post-match interview Anand mentioned that Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov had also helped him in preparation and that Vladimir Kramnik helped during the match.

Topalov's seconds were Jan Smeets, Erwin l'Ami, Ivan Cheparinov and Jiri Dufek. For preparation, Topalov also used a state-owned IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer with 8192 processors, running the latest version of Rybka.

Previous head-to-head record Before the 2010 match, Anand and Topalov played 67 games against each other at classical time control with the following statistics: Anand winsDrawsTopalov winsTotalAnand (White) – Topalov (Black)1316433Topalov (White) – Anand (Black)421934Total17371367

Schedule and results GameDate Topalov Anand Standing1 24 April 1 0 Topalov leads 1–02 25 April 0 1 Match tied 1–13 27 April ½ ½ Match tied 1½–1½4 28 April 0 1 Anand leads 2½–1½5 30 April ½ ½ Anand leads 3–26 1 May ½ ½ Anand leads 3½–2½7 3 May ½ ½ Anand leads 4–38 4 May 1 0 Match tied 4–49 6 May ½ ½ Match tied 4½–4½10 7 May ½ ½ Match tied 5–511 9 May ½ ½ Match tied 5½–5½12 11 May 0 1 Anand wins 6½ – 5½Tie Breaks13 May Not required

The start of the match was delayed one day due to air travel disruptions caused by the volcanic ash emissions from Eyjafjallajökull. Anand was to fly from Frankfurt to Sofia on 16 April and was stranded because of the eruption. He asked for a three-day postponement, which was refused by the organisers on 19 April. Anand finally reached Sofia on 20 April, after a 40-hour road journey. The first game was consequently delayed by one day.

All games started at 3.00 pm EEST (UTC+3), except Game 1, which began at EEST.

Former FIDE World Chess Champion Alexander Khalifman, who analysed the 2010 Anand–Topalov World Championship match for the Russian chess magazine 64, stated in a subsequent interview that "The chess was very good, and in sporting terms it was always a heated struggle with no short draws. While the result was fair. Despite the fact that Topalov had prepared superbly, it has to be admitted that in terms of talent he is still inferior to Anand. And even the age difference didn’t tell. Anand is a genius. He emanates light."“Anand is a genius. He emanates light”, Chess in Translation, 17 August 2010

Games

Game 1, Topalov–Anand, 1–0

Grünfeld Defence, Exchange Variation, D86 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 0-0 10. 0-0 Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4 h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7? 24. Nxf6!! Kxf6 25. Rh3! Rg8 26. Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+ Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1–0

Anand admitted he forgot his preparation (23...Bd7 prior to Kf7) while considering his 23rd move, leading to his blunder 23...Kf7?

Game 2, Anand–Topalov, 1–0

Catalan Opening, Open Defense, E03

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 9. 0-0 0-0 10. Bd2 Nd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Ba5 Qe7 14. Qb3 Rb8 15. Qa3!? Qxa3 16. bxa3 N7f6 17. Nce5 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20. Rfc1 Rbd8 21. f4!? Bb8 22. a4 a5 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 h5?! 25. R1c4 Ne3? 26. Bxe3 dxe3 27. Bf3 g6 28. Rxb6 Ba7 29. Rb3 Rd4 30. Rc7 Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32. Rxa5 Rc8 33. Kg2 Rc2 34. a3 Ra2 35. Nb4 Bxb4 36. axb4 Nd5 37. b5 Raxa4 38. Rxa4 Rxa4 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 1–0

The move 16...Nc5 removing White's blockading knight was much better for Topalov, with Black doing well after 17. Nd6 b6. Anand noted that Black started to lose his grip on the position after 25...Ne3?

Game 3, Topalov–Anand, ½–½ Slav Defense, Wiesbaden variation, D17

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 c5 8.e4 Bg6 9.Be3 cxd4 10.Qxd4 Qxd4 11.Bxd4 Nfd7! 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bxc4 a6 14.Rc1 Rg8! 15.h4 h6 16.Ke2 Bd6 17.h5 Bh7 18.a5! Ke7 19.Na4 f6 20.b4! Rgc8 21.Bc5 Bxc5 22.bxc5 Rc7 23.Nb6 Rd8 24.Nxd7 Rdxd7 25.Bd3 Bg8 26.c6 Rd6 27.cxb7 Rxb7 28.Rc3 Bf7 29.Ke3 Be8 30.g4 e5 31.Rhc1 Bd7 32.Rc5 Bb5! 33.Bxb5 axb5 34.Rb1 b4 35.Rb3 Ra6 36.Kd3 Rba7 37.Rxb4 Rxa5 38.Rxa5 Rxa5 39.Rb7+ Kf8 40.Ke2 Ra2+ 41.Ke3 Ra3+ 42.Kf2 Ra2+ 43.Ke3 Ra3+ 44.Kf2 Ra2+ 45.Ke3 Ra3+ 46.Kf2 ½–½A draw by threefold repetition.

14...Rg8! Black plans Bd6, Ke7, f6, Rgc8, Bg8, etc. White actually has to hurry up and do something against it, which is not easy, since his knight on c3 is misplaced.

20. b4! Topalov activates quickly before Black manages to get all his pieces into play.

32...Bb5! Anand manages to neutralize his only weakness, the pawn on a6.

There was no handshake at the end of the third game. At the press conference both players admitted that they simply forgot to shake hands.

Game 4, Anand–Topalov, 1–0

Catalan Opening, Open, 5. Nf3, E04

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.Qc2 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2!? c6 9.a4 b5 10.Na3! Bd7 11.Ne5 Nd5 12.e4! Nb4 13.0-0 0-0 14.Rfd1 Be8 15.d5! Qd6 16.Ng4 Qc5 17.Ne3 N8a6?! 18.dxc6 bxa4 19.Naxc4 Bxc6 20.Rac1 h6?! 21.Nd6 Qa7? 22.Ng4! Rad8 23.Nxh6+!! gxh6 24.Qxh6 f6 25.e5! Bxg2 26.exf6! Rxd6 27.Rxd6 Be4 28.Rxe6 Nd3 29.Rc2! Qh7 30.f7+! Qxf7 31.Rxe4 Qf5 32.Re7 1–0

10. Na3! is a strong novelty, developing without winning back the pawn. In order to protect the pawn, Black is forced to place his pieces in awkward positions. The day before the fourth game, the 10.Na3! novelty was independently found by Levon Aronian, who was at that time carrying out a training camp in Armenia. Anand won "Yearbook Novelty Award of 2010" for this move.

With 15. d5! Anand is finally ready and starts his breakthrough attack.