The Chess Mind

Incredibly, Veselin Topalov has yet again come back from a poor start to wind up in first, crushing round 8 leader Gata Kamsky with the Black pieces. It was a rather strange game: Kamsky played 6.Bg5 vs. the Najdorf, Topalov replied with the Poisoned Pawn, and Kamsky kept the pawn with 7.Nb3. This retreat is widely considered innocuous, as White's attacking prospects are dramatically decreased without the knight on d4, yet Kamsky has played this line repeatedly in the last six months. The decision to play 7.Nb3 instead of 7.Qd2 and heading for one of the many drawing lines was also an impractical decision, as such an approach would keep his full-point lead over Topalov and guarantee him at least a tie for first. (I'm generally not a fan of quick draws in such events, but when they guarantee first place my hostility towards them goes out the window - the goal is to win the tournament.)

At any rate, Kamsky apparently forgot his intended move order when he played 13.Qh3 rather than 13.Kb1, and although his move wasn't a blunder, his position disintegrated rapidly. (The game can be replayed here, with some brief notes.) That leaves Topalov and Kamsky tied for first, half a point ahead of Anand. Anand could have caught them with a win over Svidler, but in the event he had slightly the more nervous half of their draw. Finally, tailenders Bacrot and Ponomariov split the point.

Standings after Round 9:

Topalov, Kamsky 5.5
Anand 5
Svidler 4.5
Bacrot 3.5
Ponomariov 3

Pairings for Round 10 (the final round):

Topalov-Bacrot
Ponomariov-Anand
Svidler-Kamsky

It's possible for the tournament to conclude with a four-way tie for first, but objectively speaking, the pairings clearly give Topalov good chances for clear first.