Topalov beat Anand in game 8 last night to equal the overall score to 4-4. I was about to write an early draft about the match situation which seems to start to look boring because of the frequency of the draw (4 draws from 7 game). Topalov however had other idea. True to his style and his principle to play under the Sofia rules, he stubbornly plays a drawish looking endgame (opposite color bishop) against Anand last night. Anand who looks overconfident - he keeps living the table, made a blunder on the 54th move and had to resign a few moves later.
With this win, Topalov had more or less shut his critics mouth regarding his strategy to play under the Sofia Rules. Although many would expect last night endgame would ended in a draw, Topalov who is a pawn up try his best to pressure Anand and it the end his strategy paid dividend handsomely.
Another important observation is after 8 game have been played, both players have only play three openings - The Catalan Opening - 4, Slav - 3 and Gruenfeld - 1. After his first round lost with the Gruenfled Defense, Anand opt to use a`la Kramnik strategy. Anand used Kramnik’s opening repertoire which Kramnik used successfully against Topalov at the 2006 Elista World Championship Final . However, Anand probably will reconsider the strategy although i think his lost last night had nothing to do with the strategy.
Below is the game:-
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