The momentum shifts

Having posted a couple of days ago about how both players were 'digging in' in the Topalov v Anand World Championship Match, Topalov immediately turned around and won Game 8. In fact when I was typing that post, Game 8 was in progress and Topalov already had an advantage in the middle game. Nonetheless the decisive mistake for Anand did not come until move 54, and he resigned 2 moves later. At the post game press conference Anand indicated he wasn't happy with how he had played the game leading up to that move, and I wonder whether his blunder was a function having already written off the game.
After a rest day the players played Game 9, and eventually a complicated 2RvQ game ended in a draw. Although it appears that Anand missed a winning continuation late in the game, I'll resist the "OMG Anand misses Win" type exclamations, as such claims from armchair critics seem somewhat juvenile in an age where everyone has GM strength computer programs running in the background.



Topalov,Veselin (2805) - Anand,Viswanathan (2787) [D17]
WCh Sofia BUL (8), 04.05.2010

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 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 Rc8 14.Bb5 a6 15.Bxd7+ Kxd7 16.Ke2 f6 17.Rhd1 Ke8 18.a5 Be7 19.Bb6 Rf8 20.Rac1 f5 21.e5 Bg5 22.Be3 f4 23.Ne4 Rxc1 24.Nd6+ Kd7 25.Bxc1 Kc6 26.Bd2 Be7 27.Rc1+ Kd7 28.Bc3 Bxd6 29.Rd1 Bf5 30.h4 g6 31.Rxd6+ Kc8 32.Bd2 Rd8 33.Bxf4 Rxd6 34.exd6 Kd7 35.Ke3 Bc2 36.Kd4 Ke8 37.Ke5 Kf7 38.Be3 Ba4 39.Kf4 Bb5 40.Bc5 Kf6 41.Bd4+ Kf7 42.Kg5 Bc6 43.Kh6 Kg8 44.h5 Be8 45.Kg5 Kf7 46.Kh6 Kg8 47.Bc5 gxh5 48.Kg5 Kg7 49.Bd4+ Kf7 50.Be5 h4 51.Kxh4 Kg6 52.Kg4 Bb5 53.Kf4 Kf7 54.Kg5 Bc6 (D)
55.Kh6 Kg8 56.g4 1-0