Evidently not.

I don't like this very much. Of course White can bale by taking on b4 but then I think Black can force queens off and he must be better. And otherwise - I'm not sure which way White goes. Where's Castlerock? He had a computer yesterday....

Ah there you are Castlerock. What's Fritzy say?

He'making me feel nervous

Nah, if Nxd8 was forced he'd surely play it so as to analyse the right alternative after Black replies. Let's just hope he hasn't suddenly noticed some hidden reef. It's never a good sign when the player who's made a sacrifice starts thinking.

gone to the toilet?  Just kidding...

Toppy's taken the bait at last. Now lets see what happens.

So that's what he's going to do - 16...Be7; of course, White had no threat. Kramnik renews the offer of two pieces for rook with 17 Rfc1, but now of course the king doesn't have to move. But if 17..Bxc6 18 Nxc6 Qxa4 19 Nxd8 Bxd8 b4 hangs, of course. 

It's all been so natural it's hard to believe this isn't theory and/or preparation. But who's caught whom?

Yes i think i remember a Wells-Habu game in NIC yearbook. which went something like 9... Bd6 10. e4!? Nxe4 11. Qc2 f5 12. Ng5!? Nxg5 13. Qxc6 (forking both Ra8 and Bd6- now that knight is decoyed from e4). 
complicated stuff. 

16. Bc6 Be7!? is a surprise.. but maybe Topalov has calculated everything..

Hello, abit late to this,  8. Be2 is rare so has reasonable surprise value. i guess the idea is to annoy Black by discouraging c5, and exploit the slight looseness in Black's position if he goes c5 anyway. For example 8... b4 (Topalov's 8... Bb7 move order allows four queens line with 9. e4 b4 10. e5 bc3 11. ef6 etc which Kramnik understandably declines) 9. Na4 Bb7 10. 0-0 Be7 11. a3 a5 12. Qc2 0-0 13. Rd1, which is i believe a recent Lautier-Flear game (found in Flear's TWIC THEORY article). It seems Topalov chose to liberate fast with 10... c5 so Kramnik's 11. dxc5 is probably consistent to take advantage of possible looseness in Black's position.

Remember the most dangerous novelties are those which punish the opponent if he tries the "standard recipe". So perhaps Kramnik thinks 8. Be2 is a good antidote against the standard Meran dxc4/b5 plan?!

From Flear's TWIC THEORY article:
"In the Meran the move 8 Be2 has fallen out of fashion overall but it still seems to crop up in my
games with both colours! Black has to play precisely in order to get out of the opening with
anything like equality. I can’t always agree with some of the assessments given by ECO, which
are sometimes too hasty to give equality when White still has chances for an edge.
As I recently had this variation twice in two days (one with each colour) I thought you might like to
share my feelings that things are not so simple for Black."-Flear