Corus Wijk aan Zee, 14-29 Jan 2006
Last Edited:
Friday September 1, 2006 2:26 PM
Round 9: Electronic Gremlins and Distinguished Visitors
Round 9 (2006.01.24)
Anand, Viswanathan - Van Wely, Loek 1-0 42 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Gelfand, Boris - Sokolov, Ivan 1-0 31 D45 Queen's gambit
Kariakin, Sergey - Topalov, Veselin 0-1 50 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 1/2 27 C76 Ruy Lopez
Leko, Peter - Bacrot, Etienne 1/2 49 C42 Petroff defence
Aronian, Levon - Tiviakov, Sergei 1/2 52 E09 Nimzo Indian
Kamsky, Gata - Adams, Michael 0-1 40 E17 Queen's indian
Corus Wijk aan Zee (NED), I 2006 cat. 19 (2716)
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Positions after Round 9 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 = . 1 . 1 = 0 6.5 2869
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2801 . * 0 = 1 . . . = 1 = 1 1 1 6.5 2855
3 Adams, Michael g ENG 2707 = 1 * 0 = 1 = = = . . . . 1 5.5 2808
4 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2723 . = 1 * . . = . = = = 1 1 0 5.5 2787
5 Kariakin, Sergey g UKR 2660 0 0 = . * . = . = = 1 1 . 1 5.0 2761
6 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2729 0 . 0 . . * = 1 . = = = 1 1 5.0 2758
7 Leko, Peter g HUN 2740 0 . = = = = * = . . . = = 1 4.5 2717
8 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2752 = . = . . 0 = * = 0 1 = . 1 4.5 2710
9 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2669 . = = = = . . = * = = 0 = . 4.0 2668
10 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2647 0 0 . = = = . 1 = * = . = . 4.0 2681
11 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2709 . = . = 0 = . 0 = = * = = . 3.5 2629
12 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2717 0 0 . 0 0 = = = 1 . = * . . 3.0 2605
13 Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2689 = 0 . 0 . 0 = . = = = . * = 3.0 2596
14 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2686 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 . . . . = * 2.5 2566
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Steve Giddins reports direct from Wijk aan Zee -
The rest day clearly served to reinvigorate the players, after Sunday's
relatively uninteresting round. The result of today's play has strengthened
the two leaders' grip on the tournament, whilst Mickey Adams has also
made a significant stride forwards. In the process, he (or, rather, the
electronic board monitors) gave all of us in the Press Room heart failure,
for reasons which will be explained below. The other excitement of the
day was the visit to the tournament of the Dutch Prime Minister, who even
popped into the Press Room, where Veselin Topalov was demonstrating his
game. The Bulgarian interrupted his lecture to shake hands with the PM,
and also to point out that although this is his 8th appearance at the
tournament, he has never yet won it! He now has the public backing of
the Dutch Prime Minister, so we will see if this helps or hinders the
FIDE world champion.
Left to right: Vladimir Tukmakov, Veselin Topalov and Genna Sosonko
The first game to finish was Ivanchuk-Mamedyarov. Despite his bad experience
against Kariakin two rounds earlier, the world junior champion repeated
the Deferred Steinitz Defence, with what appears to be the entirely new
plan 9...exd4. After long thought, Ivanchuk stole a very hot-looking pawn
with 15 Nxb5, allowing his K-side to be broken up. Mamedyarov created
enough counterplay to force a draw by repetition, but with the rest of
his position decaying around him, he could not manage more.
Gelfand-Ivanchuk was a case of death by misadventure. Black secured a
reasonable position with the currently popular 5...a6 in the Meran. There
appears to be nothing wrong with 17...Nxa2, when White has no more than
adequate compensation for the pawn. However, Sokolov's choice was also
satisfactory, and his position remained fine until 25...Qxa2?. A Sokolov
defeat always means no post-mortem, so it is not possible to be certain
what exactly he overlooked. However, after the forced sequence 26 Re2
Qxb3 27 h3, he was suddenly forced into a despairing knight sacrifice
on f2, since 27...Nf6 28 Rxf6 forces mate. He actually had three pawns
for his piece, but White's pieces swept into his position and mate followed
almost immediately.
Leko had another disappointing day and remains locked on 50%, with only
one win. Today, he faced Bacrot, who chose the dreaded Petroff Defence.
In one of the most popular variations, Leko produced the novelty 17 Nf1,
and after the following exchange of queens, he soon won a pawn, but Black
had quite good compensation and it never looked as though White would
get more than a 3 v 2 rook ending. In the event, he did not even manage
that, and soon found himself defending a very slightly worse 3 v 3 position,
where Black had the stronger passed pawn. Fortunately, Black's advantage
was microscopic, and the draw was soon agreed.
Aronian-Tiviakov was a long positional struggle in a Queen's Indian turned
Catalan. Tiviakov has vast experience in such positions, and although
he was always slightly worse, he never really looked as though he had
serious problems. The players fought their way down to an ending with
bishop versus knight, and equal pawns, which was agreed drawn at move
52.
Mickey Adams made a significant step forward, by beating Kamsky with
Black. Departing from his customary 4...Ba6 in the Queen's Indian, Adams
instead played 4...Bb7, and 6...0-0, a line which is regarded as slightly
risky for Black. It was tested several times in the first Karpov-Korchnoi
match back in 1974, when it at one point yielded one of Karpov's most
disastrous ever losses (coincidentally, the 12th world champion was one
of the guests at the tournament today!). However, Kamsky played 9 Nh4,
rather than Korchnoi's 9 Ng5, and followed up with the rather feeble 10
b3. He soon stood much worse, and was also massively behind on the clock.
With White's position falling apart, and Kamsky having just 5 minutes
for 20 moves, there was then huge excitement in the Press Room, as the
monitors showed Adams repeatedly miss simple wins and finally arrive at
a position after 39 moves where he was a rook down for nothing. At this
point, the monitors shut down altogether, leaving us all wondering whether
Kamsky had lost on time, or had won. It eventually transpired that the
monitors had been wrong since move 29, when they had missed out two moves,
and none of the excitement we had witnessed had actually happened! Adams
had in fact wrapped up the game without any problems.
The two leaders found themselves on opposite sides of the Sveshnikov
Sicilian. Vishy Anand, on the white side against van Wely, played a positional
exchange sacrifice which has been seen in a few games, and scored very
well for White. Vishy later said that he was surprised that Black players
allow it, since "he loses 70% of the games, draws 30%, and suffers
in all of them". So it proved today. Van Wely played the novelty
19...Qe8?!, but this looks like it is simply bad, and watching GM Matthew
Sadler said after the game, that it appears Black is already lost after
this. Anand's play was highly impressive, however, with the moves 29 Re1
and 30 Re2! being the key. White leaves the Black pawn on e4, so as to
make it more difficult for him to open the b8-h2 diagonal, so as to defend
the b8 square with his bishop. The final touch was 34 h5!, after which
White is able to mop up the h7-pawn and win all the endings.
The day's other Sveshnikov brought together the reigning FIDE world champion,
and the young Ukrainian talent, Sergey Kariakin:
Kariakin - Topalov [B33]
Wijk aan Zee, 2006, round 9
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Bg5 a6
8 Na3 b5 9 Nd5 Be7 10 Bxf6 Bxf6 11 c3 Bg5 12 Nc2 0-0 13 a4 bxa4 14 Rxa4
a5 15 Bc4 Rb8 16 Ra2
This is nowadays a Sveshnikov tabiya. White has a choice between the
text move and 16 b3. The difference is that after the latter move, Black
can head for a very sharp position after 16 b3 Kh8 17 Nce3 g6 18 h4 Bxh4
19 g3 Bg5 20 f4 exf4 21 gxf4, which was the scene of an incredible game
between Ponomariev and Kramnik at last year's Corus tournament.
16...Kh8 17 Nce3 Bxe3
With White's rook already on a2, playing as in the variation given above
would be less good, since White will play b2-b4 in a single move, effectively
gaining a tempo.
18 Nxe3 Ne7 19 b3
This seems to be a novelty. Topalov considered the position equal after
19 0-0 f5 20 exf5 Nxf5.
19...f5 20 exf5 Nxf5 21 Nd5 Bb7 22 0-0 Rc8
The position is about equal, although full of dynamism. On c8, the rook
stands well, having the possibility of coming to c5, from where it defends
the weakness on a5 and attacks the important d5 square. Black also has
potential tactics against the c4 Bishop, with the move a5-a4.
23 Qd3 Nh4
23...Rc5 was also possible here, when Topalov assessed the position after
24 b4 axb4 25 cxb4 Rc8 26 Ba6 as unclear.
24 Rd1 h6 25 Qg3
25 Rad2? a4! 26 bxa4 Qg5 is an example of the tactic mentioned in the
note to Black's 22nd move.
25...Nf5 26 Qg4
Round about here, White has several chances to oiffer a repetition, but
Black does not have to agree, and Topalov's post-game comments suggested
that he would not have done so.
26...Rc5
Another option was 26 ..Bxd5!? 27 Rxd5 Ne7 28 Rdxa5 d5 29 Bf1 Rxc3, with
unclear play.
27 Rad2 Bc8 28 Qe4 Bb7 29 h3?! Nh4
29 ..h5!? was an interesting idea here, aiming to deprive the white queen
af access to the g4 square.
30 Bd3 Rf5!?
31 Bb1??
The turning point. Sergey simply missed that the pawn on c3 now hangs.
He must either return the bishop to c4, or play 31 c4, with roughly equal
chances.
31...Rxc3 32 Qg4?!
A further mistake. Both here, and on the next move, he could put up stronger
resistance with 32 Qxf5 Nxf5 33 Nxc3, although Black retains a clear advantage.
32...h5 33 Qe2?! Qg5 34 f4 Rxf4 35 Kh1
35 Nxf4 Nf3+ 36 Kh1 Qxf4 wins
35...Nxg2! 36 Qxg2 Rg3?
36...Qh4! wins much more quickly. When playing the text move, Topalov
had overlooked that after 37 Nxf4, he cannot reply 37...exf4 because of
38 Qxb7, and the white rook on d2 defends the second rank. Now the win
is made rather more difficult, although Black is still winning.
37 Nxf4 Bxg2+ 38 Nxg2 Rxh3+ 39 Kg1 Rg3 40 Rf2 Kg8 41 Rxd6 h4
41...Rxg2+ 42 Rxg2 Qc1+ 43 Kh2 Qxb1 44 Rdg6 would be much less clear.
42 Rc6 Qg4 43 Bf5
There is no other effective defence to the threat of 43...h3
43...Rxg2+ 44 Rxg2 Qxf5 45 Rcg6 Qf7 46 R6g4 Qf6 47 Kh2 Kf7 48 Kh3
e4 49 Rg5 e3 50 Kxh4 g6! 0-1
The nice final point is 51 Kg4 Qf2!
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