Corus Wijk aan Zee, 14-29 Jan 2006
Last Edited:
Friday September 1, 2006 2:26 PM
Rest Day 3
Round 10 (2006.01.25)
Topalov, Veselin - Aronian, Levon 1-0 44 E15 Queen's indian
Gelfand, Boris - Kariakin, Sergey 1/2 22 E05 Nimzo Indian
Van Wely, Loek - Leko, Peter 1-0 47 E32 Nimzo Indian
Tiviakov, Sergei - Ivanchuk, Vassily 1/2 40 C77 Ruy Lopez
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 26 E15 Queen's indian
Bacrot, Etienne - Kamsky, Gata 1-0 46 B42 Sicilian
Sokolov, Ivan - Adams, Michael 1/2 33 E14 Queen's indian
Corus Wijk aan Zee (NED), I 2006 cat. 19 (2716)
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Positions after Round 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
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1 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2801 * . 0 = 1 . 1 = . 1 = 1 1 1 7.5 2888
2 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2792 . * = . 1 1 1 . 1 = = 1 = 0 7.0 2852
3 Adams, Michael g ENG 2707 1 = * 0 = 1 . = = = . . = 1 6.0 2796
4 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2723 = . 1 * = . = = = . = 1 1 0 6.0 2774
5 Kariakin, Sergey g UKR 2660 0 0 = = * . = = = . 1 1 . 1 5.5 2755
6 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2729 . 0 0 . . * = = = 1 = = 1 1 5.5 2746
7 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2647 0 0 . = = = * = 1 1 = . = . 5.0 2726
8 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2669 = . = = = = = * . = = 0 = . 4.5 2677
9 Leko, Peter g HUN 2740 . 0 = = = = 0 . * = . = = 1 4.5 2674
10 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2752 0 = = . . 0 0 = = * 1 = . 1 4.5 2683
11 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2709 = = . = 0 = = = . 0 * = = . 4.0 2645
12 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2717 0 0 . 0 0 = . 1 = = = * . 1 4.0 2654
13 Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2689 0 = = 0 . 0 = = = . = . * = 3.5 2610
14 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2686 0 1 0 1 0 0 . . 0 0 . 0 = * 2.5 2538
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Steve Giddins reports direct from Wijk aan Zee -
It seems a little strange to have another rest day so soon after the
last, but I am sure that the players will not be complaining. By this
stage of the event, everybody is feeling tired, and every spare moment
of rest is welcome.
The parade of GM visitors to the tournament shows no sign of diminishing.
Yesterday, it was the turn of Swedish legend Ulf Andersson, whose friendly
demeanour gives no outward clue to the ruthlessness with which he used
to grind down opponents on the chessboard. During his heyday in the late
1970s and early 1980s, Ulf was one of the most feared of players, due
to his love of exchanging queens early and grinding opponents down in
marathon endgames. I still treasure a story told to me by John Nunn, concerning
a simultaneous display Andersson gave during a tournament in South Africa
in 1980. The 30-board display took him a total of 8 hours! When John asked
him why it had taken so long, Ulfie smiled mischievously, and in his high-pitched
voice, said "Well, I like to press them a bit"! It turned out
that he had gone round the room, lopping off queens at every opportunity,
and had then ground all of the poor devils down in an average of 70-odd
moves apiece!
Endgames have been the theme of the last day or so, because last night,
the tournament hosted a special radio programme, recorded live in the
de Moriaan Centre, and devoted to chess composition. Presented by Hans
Bohm, the Dutch IM-turned TV/radio broadcaster, it featured Harold van
der Heijden, the world's leading authority on endgame studies. Harold's
study database contains over 60,000 endgame studies, a large proportion
of those ever published, and is an indispensable tool for endgame study
enthusiasts and judges everywhere. After he had finished, Harold joined
a group of us in the bar, including myself and Yochanan Afek, the Israeli
IM and one of the world's leading study composers. Inevitably, a crowd
gathered and Harold was soon entertaining everybody, by showing some of
his favourite studies. Harold himself has composed over 100 studies, and
here is a very nice example of his work:
H van der Heijden
White to play and win
Solution tomorrow!
Back at the tournament, the race between Topalov and Anand continues
to enthrall. Yesterday, Topalov took a half-point lead by beating Aronian,
whilst Anand could only draw as Black against Mamedyarov. However, Anand
has two Whites in the last three rounds, whereas Topalov has two Blacks,
against Ivanchuk and Leko. The one White that he does have, though, comes
in round 12, when his opponent will be Anand! The draw has worked out
so as to provide a perfect finish.
The chase for top spot in the B group is also brewing up to an exciting
finish. Magnus Carlsen still leads, but now by just half a point, with
Almasi and Navara still hot on his tail. In the C Group, there is no stopping
Suat Atalik, who has been a class above the field, right from the very
beginning. From lower down the C Group table comes the following exciting
game. Overall, Yochanan Afek has had a wretched tournament, but here he
wins a highly interesting battle against German GM, Klaus Bischoff:
Afek - Bischoff [C02]
Wijk Aan Zee C Group, 2006
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 Na3 cxd4 8
cxd4 Nc8!?
Not unknown, but unusual in this position. 8...Nf5 is much more common,
but routing the knights to the queenside is a typical plan in similar
French positions.
9 Nc2 Be7?!
In view of White's next, I think 9...a5 is more accurate here.
10 a3!
Technically a novelty, and certainly the most accurate, in my opinion.
In such positions, White does best to put his pawns on a3 and b3, so as
to meet a later a4 by Black with b4, keeping lines closed on the queenside.
Black still gets the c4 square for a knight, but it is hard to achieve
much counterplay on the queenside, since Black has no pawn breaks.
10...a5 11 b3 a4 12 b4 N6a7 13 h4 h6 14 h5 Nb6 15 Rh3 Nb5
Now comes a move of which Afek was rightly proud after the game.
16 Ng1!
A superb multi-purpose move. It frees the f-pawn to advance, allows the
white queen out to g4, opens the third rank for the rook on h3 to stop
the immediate threat of Nc3, and allows the knight itself to redeploy
to e2, protecting c3 again. Not bad for one move!
16...Rc8 17 Bd3 Nc3 18 Qg4 Bf8 19 Ne2 Ne4 20 f3 Ng5 21 Rg3 Nc4 22
Ra2!
Covering b2 against a black knight raid, in anticipation of a later Bxg5.
22...Qb6 23 Bxg5 hxg5 24 Qxg5 Bb5?!
Black should probably seize the chance to plunge into the complications
of 24...Nxa3!?, when the position would still be rather unclear after
a line such as 25 Nxa3 Qxb4+ 26 Kf2 Qb3 27 Bb1 Bxa3 28 Qxg7, etc. Bischoff's
move was the result of underestimating White's position after the ensuing
few moves.
25 f4 Be7 26 Qxg7!
The German GM had expected only 26 Qg4, but the text is stronger. Black's
counterplay down the h-file proves much less significant than White's
attack.
26...Rxh5 27 f5! Rh1+ 28 Kf2 Nd2 29 Qg8+ Kd7 30 Qxf7 Rf1+ 31 Ke3
A picturesque position. The white king is safe enough on e3, and Black's
position is collapsing. 31...Bxd3 is hopeless after 32 fxe6+, so Bischoff
throws some more wood on the fire, but his desperation attack is soon
driven off.
31...Rxf5 32 Bxf5 Nc4+ 33 Kf2 Rf8 34 Qh7 Rxf5+ 35 Rf3 Rxf3+ 36 gxf3
Nxe5 37 Nf4 Bc4 38 Ra1 Bb3 39 Ne2
Calmly protecting d4, after which there are no more tricks.
39...Nc4 40 Ne1 Qc7 41 Rc1 b6 42 Nd3 1-0
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