Corus Wijk aan Zee, 14-29 Jan 2006
Last Edited: Saturday January 14, 2006 9:03 PM
On the Eve
Steve Giddins reports from Wijk aan Zee
This year, BCM is delighted to bring you day-by-day coverage from the
68th Corus tournament, which was officially opened yesterday, here in
the small coastal town of Wijk aan Zee, a short distance from Amsterdam.
Your present correspondent will be here throughout the event, which runs
until Sunday 29th January, bringing you round-by-reports on all the action,
plus news and gossip from in and around the tournament.
The Wijk aan Zee tournament has long since established itself as the
best and most important event in the annual calendar, thanks largely to
the generous sponsorship of Corus, the European steel giant formed a few
years ago by the merger of British Steel with the Dutch company, Hoogovens.
To those who have not been here, it is almost impossible to do justice
to the atmosphere, and to the quality of the organisation. The event comprises
not one, but three Grandmaster all-play-all tournaments, even the weakest
of which contains 8 GMs. There is also a huge amateur festival, in which
well over 1,000 players take part, all playing in the gigantic hall of
the de Moriaan sports complex.
Our daily reports will of course concentrate on the A group, but on the
three designated rest days (Wednesday 18th, Monday 23rd and Thursday 26th
January), I will bring you an update of goings on in the B and C groups.
The A group contains virtually all of the world's leading active players,
and promises to be another great tournament. Leading the field is the
man of the moment, Veselin Topalov, whose outstanding 2005 was capped
by his brilliant win in the FIDE world championship event in St Luis,
Argentina. His main rivals are expected to be Vishy Anand, a 4-time Corus
winner, and last year's winner, Peter Leko. But if any of the top three
falter, there is no shortage of class acts waiting to replace them. This
year, they include the mercurial Ukrainian genius, Vasyl "Chukky"
Ivanchuk, and the new world no 5, Lev Aronian from Armenia.
Boris Gelfand, whose best games collection was published last year and
served to remind everyone just what a quality player he is, makes a very
welcome return to an elite tournament, whilst many eyes will be focussed
on the return to top-flight chess of Gata Kamsky. The mega-talented young
GM, who was perhaps more famous for his volatile father than for anything
else, quit professional chess in 1996 to qualify as a doctor, but returned
to the game last year. Now a respectable lawyer (the medical studies were
dropped after a year), and seemingly no longer accompanied by his father,
Kamsky showed in the FIDE World Cup in December last year that he remains
a very strong GM, but Corus will be the true test of whether he can still
compete with the very best.
Britain is represented by Michael Adams, who will be looking to forget
2005, and re-establish his place in the pecking order. Nor should it be
forgotten that Corus 2006 also sees its youngest ever competitor in the
A group, in Sergey Kariakin. British chess fans may remember seeing him
in the Hastings Premier in 2002-3. The Ukrainian talent, who turned 16
only the day before yesterday, won last year's Corus B group, to earn
himself a place amongst the elite this year.
One top player who is missing from this year's event is world champion
Vladimir Kramnik, who was forced to withdraw from the tournament last
week, due to illness. Despite his relatively young age, Kramnik is apparently
suffering from some form of arthritis, and one of my spies tells me that
in the recent Russian championship in Moscow just before Christmas, he
was hobbling around like an old man, such is the pain he was suffering
in his knees. Kramnik is due to undergo several months of intensive treatment,
and I am sure that all chess fans will join with me in wishing him well
for a full and speedy recovery. Here at Corus, he is replaced by Shakriyar
Mamedyarov, the new World Junior champion, from Azerbaijan. BCM readers
will be familiar with him from the January 2006 issue of the magazine,
which contains three of his highly impressive wins in the World Junior.
It will be fascinating to see how he does against such strong opposition.
Yesterday's drawing of lots provided some amusement, when the first seven
players to draw out their numbers all chose ones which conferred the white
pieces in round one. Today's opening round sees Kariakin take on Anand
with White, whilst Adams has Black against Sergey Tiviakov. Kamsky's chances
against the very best players receive an early litmus test, as he faces
Topalov with Black, whilst Aronian, who has just won the FIDE World Cup
in Siberia and was another of the hottest players of 2005, has White in
what should be a fascinating clash with Ivanchuk.
So, the stage is set. Can Topalov maintain his domination of elite tournaments?
Can Vishy Anand re-establish himself as the top player in the world, absent
Kasparov? Will Peter Leko be able to recover from his St Luis disappointment
and show the form which won him last year's Corus? Will Steve Giddins
ever stop posing rhetorical questions? Visit the BCM website any time
after 10.00pm UK time tonight, and you should be able to find out the
answers to these and many other questions. See you then!
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