Queen's Gambit Declined appeared to signal his willingness to accept a draw, which would have tied the match at 6–6 and forced a rapid chess playoff. Most people believed that such a playoff would have greatly favoured Anand, due to his superior rapid chess resume, and Topalov in the postgame press conference noted his desire to avoid a rapid playoff, given his loss in the World Chess Championship 2006 playoff to Vladimir Kramnik. Consequently, Topalov chose to play for complications, but Anand's 16...Nf6!? allowed Anand active piece play in return for his weak pawn on c5. After Topalov responded to 30...f5! with 31.exf5? e4! 32.fxe4??, Anand decisively seized the initiative. Topalov admitted he had overlooked Anand's strong reply 34...Qe8! Thus, Anand retained his World Champion title once again. Match stats {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+World Chess Championship Match 2010 |- ! !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! Total |- | align=left | || 2787|style="background:black; color:white"| 0 ||1 || style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 1 || style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || ½ || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| 1 || 6½''' |- | align=left | || 2805 |1 || style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || ½ || style="background:black; color:white"| 0 || ½ || style="background:black; color:white"| ½ ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 1 ||style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || ½ |style="background:black; color:white"| ½ || 0 || 5½ |} References External links 500+ photos from the World Championship 2010 Video Recaps of 2010 Championship Match 2010 2010 in chess Chess in Bulgaria Sports competitions in Sofia 2010 in Bulgarian sport 2010s in Sofia