Third Game Drawn, World Chess Ch 2010, Bulgaria

27 April 2010 – Last night the third game in the World Chess Championship between GM Anand and GM Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria got underway with the Slav Defence where Topalov as white chose to move 1.d4 again.

The game ended with a three fold repetition at the 46th move with the pieces shown in the diagram below. Each have identical 4 pawns and one rook. Anand forced the three fold repetition onto white.

The overall score is now 1.5:1.5 between Anand and Topalov. Tomorrow the fourth game will be played at the same time, 8 pm local Malaysian time. Anand will play white.

Here is a copy of the third game of the World Chess Championship courtesy of Internet Chess Club which was played on the evening of the 27th April 2010.

[Event "ICC - World Chess Championship"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2010.04.27"]
[Round "3"]
[White "*GM_Topalov"]
[Black "*GM_Anand"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2787"]
{D17: Slav Defence: 5 a4 Bf5: Lines with 6 Nh4 and 6 Ne5} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6  4. c3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 c5 8. e4 Bg6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Bxd4 Nfd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. Bxc4 a6 14. Rc1 {last book move} Rg8 15.h4 h6 16. Ke2 {White loses the right to castle} Bd6 17. h5 {White threatens to win material: h5xg6} Bh7 18. a5 Ke7 {Black loses the right to castle} 19. Na4 f6 {Covers e5} 20. b4 (20. Rhd1 Rac8 $14) 20... Rgc8 $11 21. Bc5 Bxc5 22. bxc5 {Black has a new backward pawn: b7} ({Instead of} 22. Nxc5 Nxc5 23. bxc5 Rxc5 $15) 22... Rc7 ({Inferior is} 22... Nxc5 23. Nb6 Rab8 24. Nxc8+ Rxc8 25. g4 $18) 23. Nb6 Rd8 24. Nxd7 Rdxd7 25. Bd3 Bg8 26. c6 {White threatens to win
material: c6xd7} Rd6 27. cxb7 Rxb7 28. Rc3 Bf7 29. Ke3 Be8 30. g4 e5 31. Rhc1 Bd7     32. Rc5 Bb5 33. Bxb5 axb5 {A double rook endgame occured} 34. Rb1 b4 35.Rb3 Ra6 36. Kd3 Rba7 37. Rxb4 Rxa5 38. Rxa5 Rxa5 39. Rb7+ Kf8 40. Ke2 Ra2+ 41.Ke3 Ra3+ 42. Ke2 Ra2+ 43. Ke3 Ra3+ {Twofold repetition} 44. Ke2 Ra2+ 1/2-1/2