Praggnanandhaa beats the highest rated player of his career - Veselin Topalov (2738)

by Sagar Shah - 26/01/2020

He was the strongest chess player on the planet at one point of time and in 2005 he showed his true power when he won the San Luis World Championship ahead of all the top players to become the FIDE World Champion. Veselin Topalov is now nowhere close to what he was as a player some years ago, but with a rating of 2738, he is still quite a potent as a competitor. Pragg faced him in the 6th round of the Gibraltar Masters 2020. Playing with the white pieces, the youngster gave his opponent absolutely no chances and won the game with some powerful moves. This is the highest rated player that Pragg has ever beaten in his classical chess career. We bring you the detailed analysis of the game with PGN, video analysis and Pragg's interview after the win.

"One game at a time" has been the mantra for Praggnanandhaa after his first round loss at the Gibraltar Masters 2020. After winning four games in a row, he faced a real challenge in round 6. Pragg was up against the former FIDE World Champion and World Championship 2006 and 2010 challenger Veselin Topalov. Topalov is no longer as good as he used to be at one point of time. But he is still a very competent player. If his rating of 2738 is not a good enough proof then you must know that in July 2019 (five months ago) Topalov managed to eliminate Hikaru Nakamura at the first round of the Riga FIDE Grand Prix. How did Pragg fare against Topalov? Let's have a look at this epic encounter, step by step.

One of the great players of the past versus a future world class player! The game between Topalov and Praggnanandhaa was eagerly anticipated by the spectators | Photo: John Saunders

How Pragg managed to beat Topalov

Praggnanandhaa vs Topalov, Round 6

Topalov's main weapon has always been the Sicilian. Next he prefers the king's pawn opening with e4-e5. However, against Pragg he went for the French. Also the system chosen by Veselin is slightly off-beat as the knight has not been developed on c6. Black wants to take his time and use the knight on b8 to play b6 and exchange the light squared bishops.

Developmentally, this looked bad, but Black has the idea of exchanging the light squared bishop.

A move like f5 is possible and is powerful only because the knight on a6 is out of the game for the time being. Topalov could have gone Bg5 here. Instead he took exf5, which was clearly a mistake.

The knight took the pawn on d5 and with c4 coming up, it is a dominating piece

The move Qh4 was a very tricky one. The rook is coming to d1 and the knight along with the queen create some very menacing kingside threats.

Topalov blinks and plays his queen to d8. How do you continue with White? White to play and win!

Pragg managed to find Nf6+ gxf6 and now...

Rad1! This move is easy to miss as it is an intermediate move!

Very impressive was how Pragg did not relax in the better position. Here it is White to play and find the most direct way to win.

g4! A powerful stroke. The strength and purpose of this move becomes absolutely clear once you see it!

Pragg has a queen for a rook and forced his opponent to resign

Absolutely brilliant sportsman's spirit by Topalov that he agreed to analyze the game in spite of losing | Photo: Niki Riga

IM Sagar Shah analyzes Praggnanandhaa's win over Topalov

Pragg now moves closer to the leaders with 5.0/6. To reach this score after losing the first round is simply amazing! | Photo: Niki Riga

Pragg analyzes his win over Topalov in the studio with IM Tania Sachdev

Results of round 6:

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	11	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	2686	4½	0 - 1	4½	GM	Esipenko Andrey	2654	16
2	13	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2674	4½	½ - ½	4½	GM	Paravyan David	2629	22
3	31	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	2602	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Topalov Veselin	2738	4
4	47	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.	2562	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Jones Gawain C B	2679	12
5	21	GM	Narayanan.S.L	2637	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Yuffa Daniil	2566	46
6	27	GM	Kobalia Mikhail	2609	4	1 - 0	4	GM	Hjartarson Johann	2524	64
7	63	GM	Kotronias Vasilios	2526	4	0 - 1	4	GM	Pichot Alan	2606	30
8	1	GM	Mamedyarov Shakhriyar	2770	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Aryan Chopra	2562	48
9	2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	2770	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Peralta Fernando	2574	43
10	45	GM	Sanal Vahap	2569	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Le Quang Liem	2713	6
11	7	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	2704	3½	1 - 0	3½	GM	Kaidanov Gregory	2546	54
12	50	GM	Lalith Babu M R	2558	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Adams Michael	2694	10
13	51	GM	Maze Sebastien	2550	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Saric Ivan	2655	14
14	15	GM	Adhiban B.	2654	3½	1 - 0	3½	IM	Flom Gabriel	2510	69
15	17	GM	Lagarde Maxime	2651	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Gagare Shardul	2481	80

Standings after round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1
1	16	GM	Esipenko Andrey	RUS	2654	5,5	2941
2	47	GM	Antipov Mikhail Al.	RUS	2562	5,0	2913
3	3	GM	Wang Hao	CHN	2758	5,0	2884
4	13	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	IRI	2674	5,0	2798
5	22	GM	Paravyan David	RUS	2629	5,0	2788
6	27	GM	Kobalia Mikhail	RUS	2609	5,0	2737
7	31	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2602	5,0	2697
8	30	GM	Pichot Alan	ARG	2606	5,0	2694
9	52	GM	Ibarra Jerez Jose Carlos	ESP	2548	4,5	2774
10	11	GM	Cheparinov Ivan	GEO	2686	4,5	2764
11	56	GM	Werle Jan	NED	2545	4,5	2757
12	46	GM	Yuffa Daniil	RUS	2566	4,5	2725
13	2	GM	Vachier-Lagrave Maxime	FRA	2770	4,5	2723
14	80	GM	Gagare Shardul	IND	2481	4,5	2718
15	7	GM	Alekseenko Kirill	RUS	2704	4,5	2714

The sole leader of the tournament with 5.5/6 - the young Russian talent Andrey Esipenko | Photo: John Saunders

Esipenko beat Ivan Cheparinov with the black pieces and moved to 5.5/6 | Photo: John Saunders

Adhiban played an aggressive game against Gabriel Flom (2510) and won in style! | Photo: John Saunders

Another great result for Indian players was youngster Aryan Chopra holding Shakhriyar Mamedyarov to a draw.

Mikhail Antipov managed to beat Gawain Jones | Photo: John Saunders

S.L. Narayanan drew his game against Daniil Yuffa and is now on 4.5/6 | Photo: John Saunders

Raunak Sadhwani managed to win a nice game against IM Lawrence Trent. Raunak is now on 4.5/6. | Photo: Niki Riga

Pratyusha Bodda beat IM Jovanka Houska | Photo: Niki Riga

IM Rishi Sardana has been showing some solid chess at the event and is on 3.5/6. The sixth round loss to Donchenko was his first loss of the event. | Photo: Niki Riga

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