exd5!

16.01.2010
– Loek van Wely, playing in Wijk an Zee for the 19th time is succession, started
off with a fine text-book victory over Nigel Short, while Alexei Shirov, playing
the black side of Ruy Lopez Moeller, punished Peter Leko's exchange sacrifice
in a fine endgame performance. Live coverage with audio commentary is available
on the Playchess server. Big pictorial report.

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Yasser Seirawan:
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Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
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Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round one report

Report by Steve Giddins

It was a fairly uneventful start to Corus 2010, with only two decisive games
in the top group. World no. one Magnus Carlsen drew a quiet game against Tiviakov's
favourite 5.Qe2 Spanish, whilst Kramnik's trusty Petroff led to an early draw
with Dominguez. World champion Vishy Anand wheeled out the New Archangel against
last year's tournament winner, Sergey Kariakin. A balanced struggle seemed to
swing in Anand's favour in the run-up to the time control, but the result was
a theoretically drawn queen ending, which Anand made no attempt to win.

Karjakin,Sergey (2720) - Anand,V (2790) [C78]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 16.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.a4
Rb8 9.d4 Bb6 10.axb5 axb5 11.Na3 0-0 12.Nxb5 Bg4 13.Bc2 exd4 14.Nbxd4 Nxd4 15.cxd4
Bxf3 16.gxf3 Nh5 17.Kh1 Qf6 18.Ra4 Ra8 19.Be3 Rxa4 20.Bxa4 Nf4 21.Rg1 g6 22.Bb3
Rb8 23.Rg4 Ne6 24.Bxe6 Qxe6 25.Rg1 c5 26.d5 Qf6 27.b3 c4 28.Bxb6 Rxb6 29.bxc4
Rb2 30.c5 Rxf2 31.Rf1 Rb2 32.Qe1 dxc5 33.e5 Qf4 34.Rf2 Rxf2 35.Qxf2

35...c4 36.d6 Qxe5 37.d7 Qc7 38.Qd4 Qd8 39.Kg2 c3 40.Qxc3 Qxd7 draw.

Smeets-Nakamura and  Caruana-Ivanchuk were also both drawn, leaving van
Wely and Shirov to take the lead, by becoming the day's only two winners. The
Dutchman beat Short with a textbook minority attack:

Van Wely,L (2641) - Short,N (2696) [D37]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 16.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 Be7 8.Qc2
0-0 9.Bd3 Re8 10.h3 Nf8 11.Bf4 a5 12.0-0 Ng6 13.Bh2 Bd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Rfe1
Be6 16.a3 Re7 17.Rab1 Rae8 18.b4 axb4 19.axb4 Bd7 20.b5 Ne4 21.bxc6 bxc6

22.Rb6 Nxc3 23.Qxc3 Qf6 24.Bxg6 Qxg6 25.Kf1 f6 26.Ra1 Qh5 27.Ne1 Qf5
28.Kg1 Qg5 29.Kh2 Qf5 30.Nd3 Qe6 31.Kg1 Rc8 32.Rb7 Rf7 33.Raa7 Be8 34.Qb4 Rd8
35.Nc5 Qc8 36.Qb6 h5 37.Rc7 Rxc7 38.Rxc7 Qa8 39.Ra7 Qc8 40.Rb7 Bf7 41.Qa7 Rf8
42.Nd7 Re8

43.Nxf6+ gxf6 44.Rxf7 Qf5 45.Rg7+ Kh8 46.Qf7 1-0.

In the day's longest game, Shirov ground out a long endgame win against Leko,
who never justified his exchange sacrifice:

Leko,P (2739) - Shirov,A (2723) [C78]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 16.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.Nxe5
Nxe5 9.d4 Bxd4 10.Qxd4 d6 11.f4 Nc6 12.Qc3 Ne7 13.Qd3 0-0 14.Nc3 b4 15.e5 Bf5
16.Qxa6 Nd7 17.exd6 bxc3 18.dxe7 Qxe7 19.bxc3 Nc5 20.Qc4 Rfd8 21.Ba2 Bxc2

22.f5 Bd3 23.f6 gxf6 24.Qg4+ Kh8 25.Bh6 Rg8 26.Qd4 Bxf1 27.Rxf1 Rg6
28.Be3 Nxa4 29.Bf2 Nb6 30.Bb1 Rg7 31.Re1 Qd6 32.Bf5 Nd5 33.g4 Rgg8 34.c4 Nf4
35.Qxd6 cxd6 36.Bg3 Nh3+ 37.Kg2 Ng5 38.Bxd6 Rb2+ 39.Kg3 Ra8 40.Re3 Kg7 41.h4
Ne6 42.g5 Raa2 43.gxf6+ Kxf6 44.Bxh7 Re2 45.Rf3+ Kg7 46.Bd3 Re1 47.Be7 Rd2 48.Bf6+
Kg8 49.Kg4 Nc5 50.Bf5 Ne4

51.Bxe4 Rxe4+ 52.Kh5 Rxc4 53.Rg3+ Kf8 54.Bg7+ Ke7 55.Re3+ Kd7 56.Bf6
Rf2 57.Be5 Rf5+ 58.Kh6 Rxh4+ 59.Kg7 Rg4+ 60.Kf8 Rf1 61.Rd3+ Ke6 62.Bc7 Rc4 63.Rd6+
Kf5 64.Rd7 Kg4 0-1.

In the B Group, the youthful Dutch champion Anish Giri got off to a fine start,
by beating Harakrishna, whilst there were also wins for Nisipeanu and Sutovsky.
The C Group, or Kindergarten Group, as Nigel Short described it, saw wins for
Robson, Chao, Vocaturo and Grandelius.

Results of the day

Pictures Gallery by Jeroen van den Belt

Before the start of round one

Can't wait for the start of round one: Anish Giri

Pentala Harikrishna, himself a former child prodigy,...

... was badly mangled by this one, 15-year-old Anish, reigning Dutch Champion

Straight in the eye: Vladimir Kramnik was the first to finish his game in
round one

Hikaru Nakamura, who drew Jan Smeets with black in 34 moves

The typical deep thinking pose of Vassily Ivanchuk

Nigel Short of Greece trying to weather the cold in windswept Wijk

Nigel wore his scarf even during part of the game

His opponent, Dutch GM Loek van Wely, played a model game in round one

Alexei Shirov, one of the great endgame artists in top international chess

Shirov punished Leko's exchange sacrifice in a 64-move victory with the
black pieces
Tiviakov vs Carlsen, which ended in a 27-move draw

Karjakin vs Anand, with Muzychuk vs Akobian in the foreground

US GM Varuzhan Akobian played a 20-move draw with black against...

... Anna Muzychuk, the only female player in Group B

Tomi Nyback lost the white side of a Bogo Indian to Romania's Liviu Nisipeanu

Indian GM Parimarjan Negi drew with black against British Champion David
Howell

GM Peng Zhaoqin drew a Slav against IM Robin van Kampen in 35 moves

IM Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine lost with white against Nils Grandelius in
73 moves

WGM Soumya Swaminathan, World Junior Champion 2009, lost against GM Ray
Robson

The amateur tournament takes place in the same hall, the top groups are
in the background

The public can watch the A, B and C groups from the amateur section

GM Ivan Sokolov commenting in the Chess Tent a few hundred yards from the venue

He'll gladly tell you! An arbiter reading a book entitled "What's wrong,
Mr. Kasparov?"

Video reports by Europe Echecs

Europe Echecs video
report by GM Robert Fontaine

Live commentary on Playchess

Naturally the games of the Wijk aan Zee tournament were broadcast live on Playchess.
Anyone who used Fritz 12 to log into the server was able to appreciate the new
features, like the following:

In the broadcast room the different events are listed as separate tournaments.

Double-clicking "Important broadcasts" loads eight top games into
one window. You can start an analysis engine, which follows any game you click.
Naturally all boards are kept up-to-date as the moves come in.

Live audio commentary today was by FM Tiger Lilov of Bularia

There were over 7000 members online at peak hours on Playchess.com. Each
dot on the map represents a player and his or her place of residence. The dots
in the middle of the ocean are people who have not given their location correctly

Schedule of commentators

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group A

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group B

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group C

Schedule (playing days)

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‘The best game of the last 20 years’…

Posted in ChessBase on Янв 16, 2010

16.01.2010
– ... Jan Timman wrote about this encounter between two absolute top grandmasters of the 70s and 80s. Here Black played
21...Bb5 and later succumbed in a remarkable attack. How would you assess the position after
21...Nxc7 instead?
A) The second player maintains his plus pawn without risk;
B) White gets the advantage;
C) the result is a draw by perpetual check.

The solution is here, but first ponder over it with a larger version of the diagram.

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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games
Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
More information...

Tactics, Openings, Endgames - Visit ChessBase Magazine Online

How would you assess the position if Black played 21...Nxc7 in the diagrammed position?

A) The second player maintains his plus pawn without risk;
B) White gets the advantage;
C) the result is a draw by perpetual check.

Chessbase.com

Read Full Post »

Chessmile – orthodontic braces with a difference

Posted in ChessBase on Янв 16, 2010

16.01.2010
– What if you are a young chess fan – with crooked teeth? Braces is the answer, but now an orthodontic doctor has come up with a way to combine a healthy set of straight teeth with your love for the game. Chessmile offers braces in the form of chess pieces. You can set up endgames, puzzles and even checkmates. And this is the brainchild of? WIM Dr Carolina Blanco,
that's who.

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Yasser Seirawan:
My best games
Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
More information...

Chessmile – orthodontic braces with a difference

It is quite a coincidence that a complete set of permanent teeth in a human
being numbers 32 and a game of chess begins with 32 pieces. The beauty of chess
lies in the harmonious patterns the pieces are arranged in. Likewise, a healthy
set of straight teeth gives one a beautiful smile. Dr. Carolina Blanco, a Women
International Master in chess and an orthodontist in normal life, had developed
a new product for chess-loving kids with dental irregularities.

Chessmile TM is offering braces can be worn by kids and adults in any phase
of orthodontic treatment. Anyone who needs braces can have them in the shape
of any combination of chess pieces, such as a rook and pawn endgame, a winning
position from your favourite game, or even a checkmate.

We assume that legality and soundness of the chess tactics will be checked
by Dr Blanco

A smile with a difference: with a little imagination you can set up a checkmate
position

Chessmile braces work the same as other vestibular braces,
and feel just like regular braces in your mouth.

---

Dr Carolina Blanco, WIM and orthodontist

Dr Carolina Blanco is an orthodontic specialist who received her dental training
at the University of Carabobo in Venezuela. She earned her specialist degree
in Orthodontics from the University of Campinas in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Yep, that's her, WIM Dr Carolina Blanco, in a 2007 glamour shoot

Carolina is also a chess player who has been representing her native country
in international tournaments since she was eight years old. This activity gave
her the opportunity to visit more than 35 countries around the world and has
had "the marvelous luck to meet exceptional people throughout my life,
people who combine a high level of competence in their professional life with
an equally high level of competition in sports." Which pretty much sums
up Carolina Blanco herself, who has always tried to combine her two passions
– dentistry and chess – in an expedient way.

Posing with one of the tools of her trade

Dr Carolina has a brother, IM Cristobal José Blanco, who happens to
be a medical doctor working on a PhD in neurosurgery at the Univeristy of Cordoba,
Spain.

IM Cristobal José Blanco, working on a PhD in neurosurgery

Christobal is an IM with a rating of 2379. He has been living in Spain for
four years now, doing his medical residence, but he is also active in chess.
Actually Cristobal Blanco is a world champion – in chess for doctors,
having won the World Medical Games in Germany in 2008.

The winner of the chess section of the World Medical and Health Games 2008

he has a great performance in the Continental tournament last year with the
7th place and he plays often there in Sevilla, Barcelona and the Spain ligue.
i Would love to include him in the article since we are very close and always
from our childhood we were supporting each other and combining our chess tournaments
with our strict medical profession and was very challenging. also a picture
of my parents in which we feel very proud too.

Carolina with her brother IM Cristobal José Blanco

January 2010
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

So how do you get Chessmile braces on your teeth? A patient can order them or ask their orthodontist to contact Chessmile to order them. The braces will be deliverd to any place in the world. While ordering you get to choose which braces you want. Chessmile gives you several options to ensure a truly unique orthodontic smile with your own chess puzzle position. Visit the Chesssmile site for further details Dr Carolina Blanco's home page

Chessbase.com

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