Anand takes lead

Just like Berlin defence for Garry Kasparov against Vladimir Kramnik, is the Catalan going to prove the Achilles’ heel of Veselin Topalov in the World Chess Championship 2010 match against Viswanathan Anand?
Anand won the second game in Catalan and was once again successful in the fourth game, beating Topalov in their World Chess Championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria on Wednesday. The victory gave the 40-year-old Indian Grandmaster a 2.5-1.5 lead in their 12-game match in which the player first reaching 6.5 points will emerge winner and pocked a top prize of 1.2 million euro.
It was a beautiful game and a lesson for Topalov that you can play aggressive moves only after making your position safe. Anand sacrificed a pawn early as he had done in the second game and though Topalov changed the sequence of moves and avoided the line that led to defeat in the second game, Anand proved that he had prepared well enough to not only to overcome any loopholes found by his rival’s team but also force a win. Topalov again played aggressive as he usually does but his tactics proved futile as Anand played flawless chess to overcome the challenges thrown by his opponent. After gaining the pawn back, Anand had to find the right continuation to force victory. Topalov, already under pressure as his pieces were not well developed compared to Anand ended his misery by a blunder that landed him a mating trap. He resigned immediately after Anand played the right continuation.
Anand had gained slight edge in the middle game after Topalov played a wrong rook move. Anand took a piece offered by Topalov and then opened his defence with a brilliant move (e5) after which Topalov’s position worsened. He compounded his misery by trying to attack Anand’s pieces but the Indian GM kept his nerves and did not allow his opponent any chances.
Topalov was clearly under pressure in the fourth game as he missed a chance with the white pieces in the previous game. The draw would have been quite frustrating for the Bulgarian, especially the solid and simple manner in which Anand achieved it without falling for Topalov’s attempts to take the game into complicated and unclear positions. He seemed eager to strike back and take lead but committed mistakes by being too aggressive with black pieces.
Anand also kept Topalov guessing by playing fast, especially whenever the Bulgarian tried to create complications, as if telling his rival that he had anticipated the move and was ready with the reply. This gave an impression that Topalov run some into home preparation by Anand and the Bulgarian seemed to have succumbed to the mind games.
Another defeat going into a rest day would give Anand more psychological edge and now he would like to consolidate his position in the fifth game on Friday. It will be interesting to see what Topalov throws at his opponent with white pieces. He has to come up with something spectacular as Anand will have white pieces in the next two games (6th and 7th as the sequence of colours will change at the half-way stage) and some advantage for the Indian. The onus is now on Topalov to come up with something spectacular, till now he has only benefitted from the mistakes of his opponent in the first game and could not do much when Anand played solidly in the third game.