 Veslin Topolov joins us in our studio here at the Gibraltar Masters after his dynamic win with the white pieces here in round 3. Veslin, a win against Fabian, an exchange sacrifice, typical of your style, but it was not, it was quite a complicated game. Well, it is absolutely true. The exchange sacrifice was my only chance actually, but I would say my opening was kind of okay, but then I got over-optimistic. And especially my last move, knight g5, I believe is a mistake. And then, for example, here, black had this very strong move, f6. And, you know, what happened was I was calculating that this move, and then the light went down. So, or maybe first Fabian played 94, which a move I also missed, you know? But again, I didn't have to, I didn't have time to consider the move f6. So what I missed was that for some reason I believe that bishop g8 is my threat, but in fact black has knight d3 or bishop d3. But in fact, I do have the idea to take first and then a typical bishop g8 idea. So you mean after f6? Now, but now it doesn't work because I know the time he takes. Yes. And then black is practically winning. So the point is that, but it's a really nice idea because if you take on c5, then you've got this bishop g8. Exactly. And white actually wins this game because of the threat of queen at 7. Exactly. So 94 was another move I missed because, for example, if I take with the knight, then black has a very strong move, bishop f2 now, and black is better again, I believe. So I didn't want to put my king on d1. And it looked to me like not natural place. And for sure if king moves to d1, then black is fine. So what I had to do then was to sacrifice an exchange, but that was not my original idea. As I said, I believe that here it was better for me to play first a4 to kick out the bishop. So there's no knight d3 or bishop d3 in any line. Exactly. But the other idea was not to weaken my pawn structure with b3 earlier. And explain this to us after a4. Black was to retreat with the bishop, let's say. For example, to e8. To e8 or to d7? Yeah, but now probably I just return. So I play positionally. And I don't believe it's a good idea to exchange my knight because especially black's square bishop is a problem. White's square bishop is a problem for black and I'm kind of pushing my pawns. Very fast. Right. And then the moment where you actually sacrificed the exchange. Yes. Well, I believe that Fabian, he made a mistake because... So you played bishop d4. Yes. Okay. And here. He took. Yeah. Castle. Bishop, it's correct. Bishop d3. Of course, bishop d3. I have to exchange. Yes. So my vice mate might be coming. So you didn't really have an option here? No, because, well, queen f2, but then I somehow felt my king shouldn't stay on d2. And it's also true that white has absolutely no threat. Right. So it can only... So this is thanks to my good pawn structure, I believe... Did you feel you had enough compensation here? Yes, but I... Of course, I was not happy with my position. And here, I believe, black has to take. And it's followed by queen d5 and maybe b5, b4, and it's in clear position. I don't think white is worse, but I was even considered to take with the g-pawn because sometimes my rook is active on the f-file. You mean the f-pawn instead of the h-pawn? Yeah. It was also possible, yes. And here, for example, after rook h2, let's say here, king moves to b2. So the thing is that I don't always want to take because then... Because of g6. Yes, so sometimes I first want to play a f5, f6. But let's show that because the first move that comes to mind in such a position is to take on h6. No, yes. But the problem is that black always has this defensive resource. Now somehow, can you say if he can put it on h7? So white... But of course I can always take. So first I have to... black has a clear simple threat. So I have to move my king now. And then I considered that b5 would be the move. And I didn't know what to do exactly because, for example... Well, my idea was to put my queen on e3 because b4, in fact, for the moment is not a problem. I might just go something like f5. And if black takes, then I continue to... Put pressure on the king side because you want to go f6 next. But the game is far from over. I believe that now after queen d3, without queens, black shouldn't lose. Right. But here he did not play bishop g5 trading this knight. And after that, after you got knight e4, did you feel you were better now? Yes, yes, for sure. But of course, I'm not sure I did correct all the good moves. For example... So let's just go queen d5. It took me some time, king d2, and here I expected him to play b5. But this is a mistake because it runs to all kinds of checks. And okay, I really considered to start with the move f5, but then I thought he might take. And somehow I believe this pawn was important. So I decided to play positionally with h5. And here I believe white is already clearly better. You know, you say white is already clearly better. If in words, how would you explain this to our viewers? Why would you say white is clearly better here despite... I do have several options. First, black rook is a bit passive. And then the other thing is that even b5 and b4 is not really a threat because I can close with c4. And of course I have all kinds of... my opening of his... For example, here after b5, I thought this is dangerous because I take and I play, let's say, like this. So I believe that opening the king was... It's very dangerous for black. While black cannot put pressure on your king in any way, so... No, my king is much safer. It's very safe. Because if he takes two times, then I just move my knight to gp, take him with check on f5. And that's the reason I believe king g7 was a big mistake. Although, procedure was probably worse anyway. And after king g7 h5... Bishop c5, you know. I believe this is a strong move. And here, white is dominating with the move. Rd6, take, take. And now my next move is Qd4 and black is not able to stop it because after Qd5, c4... And Qd1 and then check. So I'm entering all these squares. The dark squares. And then I believe after Rd6, or even before, of course, white is already winning. But this was really nice to open this diagonal for your queen to come into play. Yes, and after the move... Rf8. Rf8, check, f6. Okay, d7 was also... I mean, d7, Qd5. And here, that's kind of last trick that black has, that after king moving to... And probably if you take on e8, you make another knight. Of course, of course. So you make another knight, not the queen. No, in fact, that's also winning. Even what I showed was also winning because in this position, after taking, black is able to defend. Very nice. But even... This is winning. Well, I don't know because g7 is losing and... So you have to move... Well, but of course... Rg8 and rook f4, everything is done. So it's completely... Although after rook f4, maybe you have knight h5. Yeah, but then check. And then the king comes in. It makes no sense to go for these complications. In fact, I believe here, knight f6 was also winning, but I think I just made a simple move, stopping the move, Qd5. And of course, between other ideas, now I want to take... I want to push d7 and I also want to play g5 and after g5... A very nice finish with d7. So now you're threatening d8 and the f6 pawn is hanging in every line. But we know that exchange sacrifices have been your style of play. I know you think in this game it was forced. But tell us from where did you... How did this start, this inspiration to play for initiative? Well, normally, of course, it doesn't always work. Honestly, I just don't know why that happens like this, that I've made so many exchange sacrifices in my life. But even, for example, Petros and he has this famous move, rook e6, which is quite typical. But I believe I have many more exchange sacrifices. And well, maybe there's something wrong with counting the pieces. I just thought that rook is stronger than bishop or knight. In your games it works differently. Sometimes I forget it. Right, and we've got a blitz event tonight, one of our social calendar event. You're not going to be participating, but will you be there watching? Yeah, for sure. But I'm not good in blitz and I'm not going to play. So it will be fun to watch. We also had you yesterday at the master class that Shakriar gave us. That was very nice of you to attend that. Did you enjoy yourself? A lot, yeah, a lot. I even guessed one move correctly. Which was the move knight g6, because I believe that somehow only a pawn is not a problem to give only a pawn. But of course it was a brilliant game. A brilliant game, but actually this knight g6 idea was probably what started this trade of knight g6 and bishop e5. Yeah, otherwise, of course, white is clearly better because he has an easy play pushing the pawns on the queen side. Right, now Wesleyan, I remember we were having this conversation. I think it was with Brian, where you because there is such a big social calendar around the Gibraltar chess festival. You actually told Brian that maybe the only side event that's missing in Gibraltar is a wedding. Well, exactly, engagement. It could be just an engagement, but it will not be for sure, but I'm sure that it will eventually happen somehow. And you actually have some ideas to encourage that as well. No, no, okay, it's just a joke, because I never had all this kind of tinder or mythic stuff. So that's why I'm inviting and I'm talking always about it, but I don't even know how it looks like. Well, it makes for an interesting conversation, but the games that you've been playing so far have also been very interesting. Happy with your play so far? Today I'm not happy, and yesterday maybe I chose a wrong opening, but of course with the black pieces, if white wants to force a draw to play solidly, it's extremely difficult. And somehow I didn't expect my opponent to choose exactly this line. And okay, it's a normal game, but still with seven rounds to go. Long tournament. Long tournament, we wish you all the best. Thank you for your time, Wesleyan. Thank you.