Chess Warrior's Site

Anand holds Topalov in game three with black pieces. Topalov repeated 1. d4 from the first game of the match but Anand archived the Gruenfeld Indian and took up the solid Slav defence.

Instead of jumping into complications after 7. f3 Bb4, Black opted to shake the White center with 7...c5 and exchange the annoying Ne5 as soon as possible. He obtained a slightly passive, but very resisting position, in which the Queens were exchanged early on.

Topalov tried to create some play on the queenside, while Anand carefully avoided conceding any weaknesses and slowly improved the position of the pieces.

A pair of pawns from the queenside went off as Topalov intended to extend the scope of his Rooks and press on the a6-pawn. At that time, Black Bishop was still on g8 and out of play.

But Topalov then played solidifying moves in succession, aiming to prevent opponent's counterplay, and Anand used this time to fully reactivate the Bishop via f7-e8-d7.

Following the further piece exchange on b5, the draw became inevitable. Peace treaty was signed on move 46.

Game-3
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