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 April 24 to May 13, 2010, with a prize fund of 2 million euros (60% to the winner). In a dramatic finish, Anand won the match 6½–5½ to 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.

Sofia rules, volcano and postponement

Before the match Topalov's manager Silvia Danailov, declared that Topalov will play the match accroding to Sofia rules (eventhough they were not official). Anand responded that he doesn't mind playing the positions out, but he will play the match according to the world championship rules (where draws are offered directly to the opponent and not through the arbiter).

In a period before the match there were series of eruptions by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. As a consequence of these eruptions air-traffic was suspended throughout most of Europe. This happenend just when Anand was about to take the flight from Germany to Bulgaria. Since it was unclear when the air-traffic will resume, Anand had to travel by bus from Germany to Bulgaria. It took him and his team some 40 hours to get to Sofia. They requested a 3 day postponement of the match because of this. Organizers refused, stating that everything is set, that all the contracts connected with opening ceremonies and the games are set, and that there would be heavy financial penalties for them if they would rearange the whole thing. FIDE had to step in and eventually a compromise of a 1 day postponement was reached. The opening ceremony was held as planned, but all games were rescheduled by 1 day.

Players

Viswanathan Anand the reigning World Champion.

Veselin Topalov the challenger.

Match conditions:

• match was played from April 21st to May 13th, 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria
• total prize fund was 2 milion EURO (60% for the winner, 40% for loser)
• the time controls were 120 minutes for first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for next 20 moves, followed by 15 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds per move increment starting with move 61
• best of 12 games
• in case of 6-6 tie, four rapid games (25min+10sec) will be played. If still tied a blitz (5min+3sec) match of 2 games will be played, if still tied another 2-game blitz match will be played. If still there is no winner after 5 such matches (total 10 games), one decisive armageddon game (white gets 5 minutes, black gets 4 minutes, both get 3 sec increment from move 61. White has to win.) will be played to determine the winner.

The Match

Download gamess in PGN

The match started perfectly for Topalov. Anand later explained that he just mixed up the moves in the opening and it was just all over. Topalov got a horrendous applause from his home crowd after a convincing win. Next day Anand imediatelly striked back to tie the match. End of game 3 was interesting because of the way it ended. Soon after the opening phase a very drawish position was reached. In spirit of the Sofia rules Topalov played on. There was no way to make any progress so eventually the players repeated their moves. But neither Anand nor Topalov claimed a 3-fold repetition draw at the first opporunity. It was like noone wanted to be the one to ask for a draw. Topalov then did ask for a draw, but not directly to Anand, but through the arbiter (like Sofia rules demand). Arbiter approached the table, Anand gave a nod and game was declared drawn. But there was no handshake between the players. When being asked about it at the press conference Topalov was unsure whether they shoke hands or not, and then said that they just forgot, and Anand jokingly added that maybe he shoke arbiter's hand  This was the only "incident" of the match. Players shoke hands before and after every other game.

Game 4 was won briliantly by Anand. He used the same opening as in game 2 (which he also won). Games 5 and 6 were drawn, both were played out until 3-fold repetition draw. Game 7 was also drawn, but it was one of the most interesting games. Topalov sacrificed material for activity and eventhough he had no clear attack and was down material (he had a pawn for a knight), it was him who was calling the shots. So Anand had to find some critical non-obvious defending moves. He found them all and the draw was inevitable. In game 8 a notoriously drawish ending of opposite colour bishops was reached. Topalov had the obvious advantage, but no clear path to a win. Anand defended well and just about when a draw was expected, Anand made a wrong move and imediatelly resigned afterwards. With 4 games to go, the match was tied. Game 9 was very entertaining, and because of material and positional imbalancies both players had chances to win. It eventually swung in Anand's way and when it was just about to be over, Anand missed the winning combination and let Topalov to get away with a draw. Games 10 and 11 were drawn. Because Topalov adhered to the Sofia rule, there were no short draws. All games lasted for several hours and were played out, putting strain on both players. Both players begun to tire, which can be clearly seen by their play. There were much more inacuracies on both sides than there were in the first few games. For the last game Topalov had the advantage of playing with white. He didn't get any real advantage from the opening and then got too optimistic. He compromised his kingside and then simply threw the game away by making two crucial pawn captures which he executed practically without thinking. Anand grabbed his chance and although not playing optimally the win was never in doubt. True to his style Topalov played on until it was totally hopeless.

Anand won and this whole post re-unification issues can finally be put aside.

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