Topalov winnning Match in Novy Bor

Topalov finished the 6 game match against Laznicka with a nice positional game. The final score is 4-2. Topalov is known for his tactical attacking style, but in this game he showed also great positional skills.

Early Resign?

Yesterday, in the FIDE Grand Prix in Paris, Vassily Ivanchuk resigned in the following position. Black is certainly worse after 33. Ke3, but material is still even. Wasn't it too early to resign?

Carlsen winning Sinquefield Cup

Carlsen only needed a draw today against Aronian to win the first Sinquefield Cup, while Aronian had to win. While pushing hard for a win and getting a good chance towards that, Aronian lost the initiative and ended up losing. 

The interesting move was after Aronian played 30. ... Rd4 offering an exchange and Carlsen responded with the brilliant move 31. Ne1!!. Few moves later Aronian should have repeated moves and taken the draw but instead he was looking for a win, when his position was getting worse.

Sinquefield Cup

Another interesting tournament started yesterday in Saint Louis. This tournament is a round robin that brings together the top two players in the world, Carlsen and Aronian, with the top two US players, Nakamura and Kamsky. It's not very common to have players at the level of Carlsen and Aronian playing in the US.

All games so far have been exciting, although with a lot of mistakes.

Kramnik winning the 2013 FIDE World Cup

After more than 3 weeks in Norway, the 128-player knockout tournament ended with Kramnik as the winner. Although, Kramnik not always playing the most exciting chess compared to current younger players, his experience and consistency prevailed in a match format, where upsets for top players are common and any mis-steps may not provide a chance for a come back!

In his last game, Andreikin was in a must-win situation to tie the match and move to tie-break, but Kramnik defended well and actually reached a winning position before accepting the draw that was sufficient for winning the tournament.