Corus Wijk aan Zee, 14-29 Jan 2006
Last Edited:
Friday September 1, 2006 2:26 PM
Round 8:
Round 8 (2006.01.22)
Topalov, Veselin - Gelfand, Boris 1/2 72 C42 Petroff defence
Adams, Michael - Leko, Peter 1/2 24 B22 Sicilian 2 c3
Van Wely, Loek - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 46 E34 Nimzo Indian
Tiviakov, Sergei - Kariakin, Sergey 1/2 44 B22 Sicilian 2 c3
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Aronian, Levon 0-1 58 E15 Queen's indian
Sokolov, Ivan - Kamsky, Gata 1/2 23 D15 Slav defence
Bacrot, Etienne - Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 62 E15 Queen's indian
Corus Wijk aan Zee (NED), I 2006 cat. 19 (2716)
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Positions after Round 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
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1 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2792 * . 1 = . 1 . 1 = . . = 0 1 5.5 2851
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2801 . * . 0 = . 1 . . = = 1 1 1 5.5 2834
3 Kariakin, Sergey g UKR 2660 0 . * = . . = = . = 1 . 1 1 5.0 2803
4 Adams, Michael g ENG 2707 = 1 = * 0 1 . = = = . . . . 4.5 2776
5 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2723 . = . 1 * . = = . = = . 0 1 4.5 2752
6 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2729 0 . . 0 . * = = 1 . . 1 1 = 4.5 2759
7 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2647 . 0 = . = = * . 1 = = = . . 4.0 2716
8 Leko, Peter g HUN 2740 0 . = = = = . * = . . = 1 . 4.0 2717
9 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2752 = . . = . 0 0 = * . 1 . 1 = 4.0 2715
10 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2669 . = = = = . = . . * = = . 0 3.5 2663
11 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2709 . = 0 . = . = . 0 = * = . = 3.0 2620
12 Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2689 = 0 . . . 0 = = . = = * = . 3.0 2634
13 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2686 1 0 0 . 1 0 . 0 0 . . = * . 2.5 2594
14 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2717 0 0 0 . 0 = . . = 1 = . . * 2.5 2588
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Steve Giddins reports direct from Wijk aan Zee -
Superficially, one might expect that the round before the rest day would
produce more aggressive play than usual, as players give all their energy,
knowing that they will have a day off to recover. In practice, though,
the opposite tends to be the case. Perhaps because nobody wants to have
to spend the free day brooding on a loss, play is frequently rather more
cautious than usual, and such was the case here today.
The first to draw stumps were Sokolov and Kamsky. The latter surprised
his opponent with the very rarely-played 4...Qb6 in the Slav, a line which
I have long suspected is better than its reputation. On the few occasions
when it has been played between GMs, White has usually chosen to prevent
Black's planned 5...Bf5 by 5 Qc2, one example being the game Kasparov-Morozevich,
Moscow 2004. Sokolov chose otherwise, but despite trying to develop some
pressure by Ne5 and b4-b5, he achieved nothing. The forced liquidation
commenced by 19 Ba5 led to a dead draw and the handshake came just 4 moves
later. For Kamsky, this represents his first draw of the event, and also
the first time he has avoided defeat as Black.
Adams-Leko was also not a game to bring the spectators to fever pitch.
Adams avoided a theoretical clash in the Sicilian by adopting 2 c3, and
then played the innovation 10 axb3, instead of 10 Qxb3, which is known
to give a small advantage. However, he admitted later than he had not
expected Leko's excellent 13...g6!, after which Black solved his problems
easily. With no advantage at all, Adams saw no good reason to avoid the
repetition at move 24.
Van Wely-Ivanchuk was a hard game to fathom. The latter equalized reasonably
easily as Black in a well-known line of the 4 Qc2 Nimzo. Van Wely then
simply dropped a pawn with 21 Nb3?, but after long thought on his 26th
move, Ivanchuk launched a sequence in which he gave the pawn back to reach
a rook ending with equal pawns. His active rook gave him the chance to
torture his opponent, but Loek defended accurately and held the draw.
It is not clear why Ivanchuk rejected the obvious 28...Rxc5, retaining
his extra pawn, when he must surely have better winning chances than in
the game.
Tiviakov added yet another to what is becoming an increasingly large
collection of missed opportunities at this tournament. He lured Kariakin
into a line of the 2 c3 Sicilian which has scored well for White, and
after the latter's novelty 11...Bg4, he secured a large advantage with
the excellent zwischenzug 15 e6!. The temporary pawn sacrifice left Black
with numerous pawn weaknesses and serious development problems, and White
soon regained his pawn, and then another, seemingly with an overwhelming
position. However, Kariakin defended with great ingenuity, and the brilliant
pawn sacrifice 38...c4! allowed him to create enough counterplay to draw.
After the game, a desperately disappointed Tiviakov showed that 20 Rc1!
Rc8 21 Rc4! would have gained several tempi over the game and given an
overwhelming advantage. He added that, if he had converted all his chances
in the tournament, he could by now have won 4 or 5 games.
The session was 5 hours old before the first full point was registered,
by Aronian. His opponent, Mamedyarov, repeated the opening of van Wely-Kariakin
from round 6, but tried to improve by omitting the move Re1. Given the
pressure on his e2-pawn, it always seemed a little unlikely that this
could work, and sure enough, Aronian quickly seized the advantage. Mamedyarov
sacrificed the exchange to eliminate the powerful steed on c3, and proceeded
to put up stout resistance in the ending. Indeed, around move 45, Mickey
Adams expressed the view that a draw was the most likely result, but Mamedyarov
later lost patience with 50 g4, and when he later dropped his f4-pawn,
it was all over. Gata Kamsky later summed up the winning process as "just
shuffle, shuffle the pieces, until he blunders!".
One of Vishy Anand's first comments after his game was "Poor guy,
I spoilt his birthday!". Indeed, Etienne Bacrot today turns 23, but
he will certainly not have enjoyed the day so far. Black equalized in
the opening, but after the error 17...dxe4?! (17...c6 is equal), White
obtained some advantage. Anand kept the edge within the drawing zone fairly
easily, and as Bacrot fell into time-trouble, the position started to
turn against him. He could have drawn easily with 32 Rxc5 and 38 Ne7+,
but as so often happens in such cases, he failed to realise what was happening,
until it was too late. By move 41, Black was already slightly better,
since the a-pawn is under control and Black's pieces are active. White
could still have held with 49 Kh2, but after his choice 49 g4?, he was
left with too many weaknesses and went down to a demoralising defeat.
The longest game of the day was the clash between tournament leader Veselin
Topalov, and the experienced Boris Gelfand:
Topalov versus Gelfand, Rd 8 (Photo: Steve Giddins)
Topalov - Gelfand [C42]
Corus Wijk aan Zee
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 Nc3 Nxc3 6 dxc3 Be7 7 Bf4
0-0 8 Qd2 Nd7 9 0-0-0 Nc5 10 h4 c6 11 Bxd6N
Yet again, Topalov uncorks a novelty. 11 Bg5 led to a short draw in Rozentalis-Arencibia,
Elista Ol 1998.
11...Bxd6 12 Qxd6 Qxd6 13 Rxd6 Ne4 14 Rd4 Nxf2 15 Rg1
This position arises by force after White's 11th move. It looks at first
as though Black should have no problems, but in fact, he needs some time
to complete his development, and he must ensure that White does not penetrate
to the 7th rank. Topalov's team had clearly done some work here and concluded
that White has prospects of an advantage.
15...Ng4 16 Bc4 Bf5 17 Bd3 Bxd3 18 cxd3 Nf6
White has managed to undouble his pawns and retain a small advantage.
He has several plans, such as g4-g5, or Rb4
19 Re1!?
A slightly surprising choice, since it allows Black to exchange a pair
of rooks and bring his king into the centre.
19...Rfe8 20 Rxe8+ Rxe8 21 Kd2 Kf8 22 a4 Ke7 23 b4 Rc8 24 b5 c5 25
Rf4 Ne8 26 Re4+ Kf8 27 Ne5
White continues to exert some pressure, but Black is very solid and has
no real weaknesses, so it is hard to believe that he should lose such
a position.
27...Rd8 28 Rf4 Nd6 29 c4 Ke7 30 Ng4 h5 31 Ne3 Ke6 32 a5
This sets up the permanent threat of a subsequent a6 or b6 break, so
Black decides that the time has come to seek counterplay on the other
flank. The main difficulty in defending such positions is choosing the
right balance between defending passively and striking out for counterplay.
Gelfand does a good job in that respect.
32...f6 33 Kc3 g5 34 Rf1 gxh4
Weakening his own pawns, but also creating the possibility of counterplay
down the g-file.
35 Re1 Nf5 36 Nd5+ Kf7 37 Rf1 Kg6 38 Nf4+ Kf7 39 Nxh5 Kg6 40 Nf4+
Kf7 41 Nd5 Kg6 42 Re1 Kf7 43 Re2 Rd7 44 Re4 Rd8 45 Rf4 Kg6 46 Rf2
White struggles to find a plan. On the Russian Chesspro site, Sergey
Shipov suggseted 46 b6 a6 (46...axb6 is worse, since White can use the
a-file) and then manoeuvering the knight to e6, to attack the c5 pawn.
This may give slightly more chances than the game continuation, but it
is hard to believe that White is really in danger of winning.
46...Re8 47 Kd2 Kg5 48 Re2 Rxe2+ 49 Kxe2 Nd4+ 50 Kf2 Kf5 51 Ne7+ Ke6
52 Ng6 Nb3
52 ..a6!= is probably a slightly cleaner draw, as advocated by Gelfand's
second, Alexander Huzman. However, the text move is also sufficient for
the draw.
53 a6 bxa6 54 bxa6 Nd4 55 Nxh4 Nc2 56 Nf3 Nb4 Nc2 56 Nf3 Nb4 57 Ke3
Nxa6 58 Nd2 Nb8 59 Kf4 Nd7 60 Nb3 a6 61 g3 Kd6 62 Kf5 Ke7 63 g4 Kd6 64
Na5 Ne5 65 Nb3 Nd7 66 Ke4 Ke6 67 Na5 Kd6 68 Kf4
Topalov does his best to defy Euclid with the number of permutations
of squares he finds for his pieces, but try as he might, he cannot change
the fact that the position is drawn.
68...Ne5 69 Kf5 Nd7 70 Ke4 Nf8 71 Kf5 Nd7 72 Ke4 ½-½
At 6 hours and 40 minutes, the longest game of the tournament so far.
As mentioned earlier, tomorrow is a rest day, but the BCM site will have
a report, updating on events in the B and C Groups, plus other news from
Wijk.
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