25.01.2010 – We have heard many excuses before: illness, missed flight, or Oscar Wilde's classy "I have to decline due to a subsequent engagement". But this one is new: I cannot attend the Gibtel Masters because I am taking part in the opera Tannhäuser (by Richard Wagner). Still, even without the singing, dancing, soccer-playing GM the event has a great field. Preview.
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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?
2010 Gibtelecom Masters: A Knight at the Opera
By John Saunders
The list
of players at the 2010 Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar is quite illustrious.
Unfortunately, we have lost a few prospective participants. Sadly, ex-women's
world champion Zhu Chen and her husband Mohamad Al-Modiahki won't be coming
after all due to a family illness. Three Russian GMs, Vitiugov, Romanov and
Andreikin, have run into off-board time trouble – their visa applications
have not been processed in time for them to appear.
But
the most intriguing withdrawal is Simen
Agdestein's, who has the most original reason for not being in Gibraltar:
he is going to be taking part in an opera!
Is there no end to the talents of the Norwegian grandmaster? It is well known
that he was a soccer international (photo left) and that he took part in Dancing
with the Stars (see photo, right) on Norwegian TV.
But is he now an all-singing, all-dancing grandmaster? Well, very nearly.
Here is Simen himself on his off-board career after Dancing with the Stars:
"I must admit it was enormous fun taking part in that program and very
inspirational. Afterwards I started on amateur theatricals and also became interested
in singing and such things. But I’m not going to sing [in the opera],
just play a very minor role in the background."
The opera is Richard Wagner's Tannhauser and it is being performed at the Norwegian
Opera in Oslo. As usual, Simen believes in starting at the top. Next stop Bayreuth?
Trivia question: the children of which strong, active grandmaster actually
sing in Tannhäuser?
You can listen to the famous Pilgrim's Chorus from Tannhäuser. Set your
loudspeaker volume at the beginning and then try not to change it during the
entire piece. The good bit comes when the strings go pom-pom-pom-pom at around
two minutes. If you are hooked you can listen to the overture .
Same loudspeaker volume strategy as above. Listen to the strings in the background
– it will send shivers down your back. And if you still haven't had enough
here's an amazing piano
version of the overture
by Wagner's father-in-law Franz Liszt.
With Kasparov and Carlsen in Marrakech
by Alice Mascarenhas, Gibraltar Chronicle
As the 2010 Gibtelecom Chess Festival opens next week, Brian Callaghan, organizer
of the Gibtelecom Chess Festival met up with two of the most famous world chess
players in Marrakech, Morocco, this past week, former World Chess Champion Russian
Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian grandmaster and chess prodigy currently
ranked number one in the world. These two world chess stars being together provided
an opportunity to brief them on the development of chess in Gibraltar.
In the picture with Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov are representatives
from the local tournament sponsors; Tim Bristow, Gibtelecom, James Humphreys,
Tradewise, and Pepe Canilla, Canillas.
The next Gibraltar Gibtelecom International Chess Festival starts on Tuesday
26th January for ten days and will see some 40 countries presented with some
of the world’s leading chess players, including Etienne Bacrot from France,
Sergei Movsesian Czech Republic, leading Spanish player Francisco Vallejo Pons,
Gata Kamsky from the USA, with the British challenge led by Michael Adams. The
current top women world players include World Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk from
Russia, and the highest rated woman player Humpy Koneru.
The in Gibraltar
again plays host to the Gibtelecom International Chess Festival which offers
a friendly gathering to this series of tournaments which run simultaneously:
the Masters, the Challengers and the Amateurs.
The Festival is now the leading tournament of its type in the world, with a
prize fund of over £100,000 and is sponsored by the Gibraltar Government
Sports and Leisure Authority, Gibtelecom, Anglo Hispano Co. Ltd., Bentley Property
Services Ltd., Canillas, Casais, Gibmaroc Ltd., Deloitte, Gibro Group, Isolas,
Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, Party Gaming, Saccone & Speed, The Caleta
Hotel and Tradewise Insurance Company Ltd.
A selection of games will be broadcast live on the official web site
and on the chess server .
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!
24.01.2010 – Four white wins, one a fateful victory by Vladimir Kramnik over Hikaru Nakamura, left the former in equal 2nd/3rd place and demoted the latter to fourth. Alexei Shirov drew Magnus Carlsen to remain in the lead, by just half a point. Sergey Karjakin, Peter Leko and Fabiano Caruana won. In Group B Anish Giri scored again to lead the field by 1½ points. Big illustrated report from snow-covered Wijk.
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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?
Round eight of Wijk aan Zee 2010 looked, on paper, to be the most exciting
so far, featuring as it did three clashes among the faourites. However, two
of these proved rather disappointing. The World Champion, Vishy Anand, has failed
to get going at all in this year's tournament, and he got nowhere against Ivanchuk's
Accelerated Dragon.
The board, the pieces, the clocks, the flags – everything in place?
Vassily Ivanchuk
The start of the game between these two veterans ended in a 25-move draw
World Champion Vishy Anand in ninth place with 4.0/8 and a 2727 performance
Shirov-Carlsen was full of fascinating complications, but with the board still
full of pieces and the position as unclear as ever, the players repeated moves.
22...Bc3. The same position arose in the same players' game at the M-Tel
tournament of 2008, which 22...Be5 was played and the game was won by White.
Carlsen subsequently offered the repeat the line, against Topalov at Nanjing
2009, so it was clear that he had an improvement ready, although we never got
to see it, since Topalov deviated first with 21.Rc1. Now we finally get to see
Carlsen's (or was it Kasparov's?) idea. 23.Qh3 Qf6 24.Be2 d4 25.Bc4 Rg8 26.g3
Rbe8 27.Rd1 e3 28.fxe3 dxe3 29.Be2 Re4 30.Qg2 Re7 31.Qh3 Re4 32.Qg2 Re7 33.Qh3
½½. []
Leading: Spanish GM Alexei Shirov, with 6.0/8 and a 2889 performance
Top seed Magnus Carlsen, 19, in second place with 5.5/8 and a 2840 performance
The third big clash lived up to expectations, and saw Kramnik inflict Nakamura's
first defeat of the event.
Vladimir Kramnik now in second-third place, with 5.5/8 and a 2823 performance
Hikaru Nakamura has slipped to fourth place, with 5.0/8 and a 2820 performance
22...Qf6? Black's creative opening play looked a little risky, but
the position would remain unclear after 22...fxg3 23.Rxd5 Qf6 24.hxg3 Be6. As
Yasser Seirawan pointed out in his live commentary on Playchess, Nakamura was
probably reluctant on principle to exchange on g3, preferring to keep the g2
bishop imprisoned. However, he must have overlooked, or miscalculated the consequences
of, White's 24th.
23.Rxd5 Be6 24.Nxf4! gxf4. 24...Bxd5 25.Ng6+ is no better. 25.R5xd4
fxg3 26.hxg3 White has two extra pawns and the remainder presents no particular
technical difficulties. 26...Rg8 27.Rf4 Qg5 28.Rh4 Rg6 29.Qc3+ Kh7 30.f4
Qxg3 31.Qxg3 Rxg3 32.Bxb7 Rb8 33.Be4+ Kg7 34.Kh2 Re3 35.Rg1+ Kf7 36.Bg6+ Ke7
37.Bd3 Rb2 38.Rg2 Rxa2 39.Rxh6 Bf7 40.Rh7 Kf6 41.c5 Ra4 42.c6 Rxf4 43.c7 Re8
44.Rxf7+ 1-0. []
Leko beat Smeets, after the latter suffered a tactical accident in the middlegame.
18...fxe5. When entering this variation, Smeets had presumably missed
the blow 18...dxe5 19.Bxa6! He now thought for a long time, but the damage to
his position is already fairly serious, and he eventually succumbed after a
time-scramble. 19.Qa7 Qf7 20.Qa8+ Kd7 21.Qxb7 Rb8 22.Qxa6 Qxf2 23.Bc4 Bf5
24.Bd3 Be6 25.Bc4 Bf5 26.Bb3 Qb6 27.Qxb6 Rxb6 28.Rhf1 g6 29.Bd5 c6 30.Bf3 Ra8
31.Kc1 Ke7 32.h5 d5 33.hxg6 Bxg6 34.Rh1 Rh8 35.b4 e4 36.Be2 Ke6 37.Rh3 Rb7 38.Rdh1
Rbh7 39.a4 Bf5 40.Rh4 Ke5 41.Rh5 Kf4 42.Rf1+ Ke3 43.Rhxf5 Kxe2 44.R5f2+ Ke3
45.Kd1 1-0. []
Kariakin opened his winning account at the expense of Nigel Short, who once
again had cause to curse the fickle finger of fate. Some creative play saw the
Englishman trade his queen for assorted wood, but the position was far too tactically
difficult for any carbon-based organism to handle accurately, and he went fatally
astray.
35.Bd1. Fritz 12 gives as its main line here the extraordinary move
35.Re4!? after which it continues 35...R8xe4 36.Bxe4 Re2 37.Qf4 fxe4 38.Qb8
Rxg2+ 39.Kh1 Nd6 40.Qxd6 Bxh3, with a position that it assesses as dead equal!
35...cxd4? Once again, it is easy if one is armed with Fritz. One simply
plays the "obvious" 35...R1e2 and draws after 36.Bxe2 fxe2 37.Nf6+
gxf6 38.Qxh6 cxd4 39.Qg6+ Kf8 40.Qxf6+ Kg8 41.Qg6+ Kf8. What could be simpler? 36.Bxf3 Nd6 37.Qxd4 R1e7 38.Qb6 Ne4 39.Nf4 Rb7 40.Qc6 Nf6
Now the smoke has cleared, it becomes clear that White's queen and passed d-pawn
are too strong for the black rooks. 41.Nh5 Rf8 42.Nxf6+ gxf6 43.Qxa6 Kg7
44.d6 Rd7 45.Qxb5 Rxd6 46.a4 Kg6 47.a5 Rfd8 48.b4 Ba6 49.Bh5+ Kg5 50.h4+ Kf4
51.Qc5 Bd3 52.b5 Rd5 53.Qc7+ Ke3 54.b6 Be4 55.b7 Rg8 56.b8Q Rxg2+ 57.Kh3 Rd3
58.Qc4 Rg1 59.Qxd3+ Kxd3 60.Qb3+ Kd2 61.Qb2+ 1-0. [Click
to replay]
Dominguez and van Wely battled to a draw in a rook and opposite-coloured
bishops ending
Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez Perez, with 4.5/8 points and a 2752 performance
Dutch GM Loek van Wely, cheerful in spite of his dismal 2.0/8 score
The day's longest game was Caruana-Tiviakov. When the latter gave up the bishop
pair in the opening, he doubtless anticipated the possibility of a certain amount
of subsequent torture, but, like Monty Python before him, I am sure he didn't
expect the Spanish Inquisition. However, Caruana turned the screws with an efficiency
that would have done credit to Torquemada himself, and was eventually rewarded
with his first victory of the tournament.
17.dxe6!N This novelty may well bury the entire variation. Instead,
17.Qxe4 fxe4 18.dxe6 Bxe6 19.Nd2 eventually led to a draw in Moiseenko-Petrosian
Ohrid 2009. 17...Bxe6 18.Ng5 Qxe2+ 19.Kxe2 Bxa2 20.Ra1. At this point,
Fritz 12 was already announcing a near-decisive advantage for White, as Black
cannot avoid serious trouble on the a2-g8 diagonal. An additional irony was
that Giri's clock showed 1:44 at this point, some four minutes more than he
started the game with!20...Bf7 21.Rhd1 Rc8 22.Nxf7 Kxf7 23.Bc4+ Ke8
24.Be6 Nc6 25.Ra6 Ne7 26.Bd7+ Kf8 27.Bxc8 Rxc8 28.Rxa7 Bxc3 29.Bg5 Nc6 30.Rxh7
Be5
It is clear that White is winning comfortably. 31.Rdd7 c4 32.Bf4 Bb2 33.Rc7
Nd4+ 34.Kd2 Rxc7 35.Rxc7 c3+ 36.Kd3 Ne6 37.Bd6+ Kg8 38.Rc8+ Kf7 39.Be5 Ba3 40.Kxc3
1-0. []
British Champion David Howell with 4.5/8 points and a 2680 performance
US GM Ray Robson, 15, leads Group C with 6.0/8 points and a 2578 performance
Snow in Wijk
Remember the Hotel-Restaurant Zeeduin, from Friday's round six report?
This is what the hotel, where all the top players stay, looked like on Sunday
... and this the village of Wijk, covered in snow at sub-zero (Centigrade) temperatures
The beach, where in summer the bikini-clad beauties romp
It's a tough life for Wijk kids, who have to climb the steep snow-covered
inclines...
...forced to drag sleds up the dunes, and then race down at break-neck speed
Curiously their cruel life on the slopes is accompanied by laughter and merriment
Standings
Group A
Group B
Group C
Video reports by Europe Echecs
video
report by GM Robert Fontaine
Live commentary on Playchess by Yasser Seirawan
Today on the server Playchess.com GM Yasser Seirawan entertained the visitors
with three hours of live commentary. He will doing live commentary again on
Tuesday, January 26 and then for the last two rounds (Jan. 30 and 31). Yasser
begins his lectures approximately 45 minutes after play has started. For a charge
of ten Ducats (about one Euro) a visitor gets a twelve hour pass to listen to
the live commentary.
Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan
Ducats are the currency used on Playchess.com. You can purchase Ducats .
The amount will be credited to your playchess.com account. You need to allow at
least one working day for processing. If you want your Ducats immediately you
can order them using our
service. Ducats can also be used to buy ChessBase products. Note that you can
also purchase Ducats directly from Fritz or the Playchess client using the menu
"Edit Payments Fill up account". This takes you to a special purchase
page with your account name automatically passed on, to simplify the process.
23.01.2010 – Detractors had pointed out that Alexei Shirov's blistering 5.0/5 start was achieved without playing any of the tournament favourites. Today the Latvian GM encountered one, Hikaru Nakamura and dropped the full point. Magnus Carlsen scored his third win, against Vassily Ivanchuk, who self-destructed on move eight. Nigel Short came tantalizing close to beating Vladimir Kramnik. Full report.
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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?
As the tournament passed its halfway point, the big story of the day was the
defeat of the leader, Alexey Shirov, at the hands of Hikaru Nakamura. The Latvian's
detractors had already pointed out that his blistering 5/5 start had been achieved
without playing any of the tournament favourites, and today was his first encounter
with one such. The opening, an old-style Pelikan, seemed satisfactory enough,
but once his early initiative was extinguished, he was left with a permanently
exposed king, which eventually proved his undoing.
Alexei Shirov with a first defeat, now at 5.5/7 points with a 2908 performance
One of the "big boys" Shirov had to face: Hikaru Nakamura, 5.0/7,
2882 performance
Explaining his fine win against Shirov to the journalists in the press center
The other main clash of the day was Carlsen-Ivanchuk, which the former won
with unexpected ease. Ivanchuk had one of those notorious off-days, with which
his career has been punctuated.
Magnus Carlsen, top seed in Wijk aan Zee, at the start of his game against...
Vassily Ivanchuk, who today self-destructed on move eight
Carlsen,M (2810) - Ivanchuk,V (2749) [D10]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (7), 23.01.2010 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Qc2 g6 6.Bd3 Be6 7.b3 Bg7 8.Nge2
8...c5? In the light of what follows, this has to be condemned as inadequate.
9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Bxd5 11.e4 Be6 12.Qxc5 Nc6 13.Be3 Rc8 14.Qa3 00. It
looks as though Black should be able to regain his pawn. But the tactics are
all against him, one example being 14...Nxd4?? 15.Bxd4 Bxd4 16.Qa4+. 15.Rd1
Nxd4? This walks into a fatal pin, but other moves just leave Black a pawn
down. 16.Bxd4 Bxd4 17.Bb1 Bc5 18.b4
18...Qxd1+? 18...Bxf2+ 19.Kxf2 Qb6+ offers slightly better chances,
although it is still insifficient. 19.Kxd1 Bxf2. White only has to find
a couple of accurate moves to defuse the black initiative, and Magnus duly "tiptoes
through the tulips" without undue trouble. 20.Nf4 Bc4 21.Bd3 Rfd8 22.Ke2
Bxd3+ 23.Kxf2 Rc2+ 24.Kf3 Bc4 25.Rc1 Rxa2 26.Qc3 b5 27.Ra1 Rdd2 28.Rxa2 Rxa2
29.h4 h5 30.g4 hxg4+ 31.Kxg4 f6 32.e5 Kf7 33.exf6 exf6 34.Qe3 Rc2 35.Qa7+ 1-0.
[]
Some of the day's best entertainment was provided by Smeets-Dominguez, even
though it was a draw in 30 moves, 20 of which had been seen before!
21.Qxe3 Amazingly, this is the first new move. A 2008 blitz game Fier-Aveskulov
saw White acquiesce in the perpetual check after 21.Ke1. 21...Qxa1+ 22.Kd2
Qxh1 23.Bxd6 Rxh2+ 24.Be2 Qb1 25.Nf6+ Kd8 26.Qd4 c5 27.Bxc5+ Kc7 28.Qd6+ Kb7
29.Qe7+ Kc6 30.Qd6+ ½½. [Click
to replay]
The games Caruana-Anand and Tiviakov-Leko were both fairly uneventful draws
–
for the World Champion, his seventh draw in succession.
Van Wely-Kariakin had the unenviable distinction of being the shortest
draw of the tournament so far, just 16 moves of theory, and barely 20 minutes'
play. But for the Dutchman, it did at least break a five-game losing streak.
Sergey Karjakin, like World Champion Anand, has drawn all seven games so far
Finally, in the day's longest game, Nigel Short was agonisingly close to inflicting
a rare defeat on Kramnik's Petroff, but the win slipped through his fingers
in a long ending.
Short,N (2696) - Kramnik,V (2788) [C43]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (7), 23.01.2010 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2. For more on this slightly
unusual method of combatting the Petroff, see the article by Alexey Kuzmin in Chessbase
Magazine 132. 5...Nc5 6.a3 a5 7.Be2 Be7 8.00 00 9.Re1 Nc6 10.Nf1 Bf5
11.Ng3 Bg6 12.Be3 a4 13.Bb5 Na5 14.Nd4 c6 15.Bf1 f6 16.exf6 Bxf6 17.Nxc6 bxc6
18.Bxc5 Re8 19.Qd2 Rxe1 20.Rxe1 Nc4
61...g6+ 62.Ke5 Qg5+ 63.fxg5 stalemate: ½½. Tiago Sizenando of Belo
Horizonte, Brazil, pointed out that Black had a another option in the diagram
position: 61...Qxf4 62.Kxf4 g5+ and stalemate. Cute. [Click
to replay]
Nigel Short, 44, oldest player in the A Group, came within a hair's breadth
of beating Kramnik
The youthful leaders of the B and C Groups both suffered partial setbacks today,
but retain their overall lead. Giri salvaged a draw a pawn down in a rook ending
against L'Ami, whilst Ray Robson was defeated by Vocaturo.
Today on the server Playchess.com GM Yasser Seirawan entertained the visitors
with three hours of live commentary. He will doing live commentary again tomorrow,
Sunday, January 24, on Tuesday, January 26 and then for the last two rounds
(Jan. 30 and 31). Yasser begins his lectures approximately 45 minutes after
play has started. For a charge of ten Ducats (about one Euro) a visitor gets
a twelve hour pass to listen to the live commentary.
Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan
Ducats are the currency used on Playchess.com. You can purchase Ducats .
The amount will be credited to your playchess.com account. You need to allow at
least one working day for processing. If you want your Ducats immediately you
can order them using our
service. Ducats can also be used to buy ChessBase products. Note that you can
also purchase Ducats directly from Fritz or the Playchess client using the menu
"Edit Payments Fill up account". This takes you to a special purchase
page with your account name automatically passed on, to simplify the process.
22.01.2010 – At last: Nigel Short chose a favourite variation of the main line Spanish and held a comfortable draw against Alexei Shirov. The Spaniard is now at 5.5/6, with his performance rating at "just" 3094. With his second win Vladimir Kramnik has joined the follower group 1.5 points behind Shirov. In Group B it is Anish Giri and Group C Ray Robson who are dominating. Both are 15. Round six report.
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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?
Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round six report
Report by Steve Giddins
Photos by Nadja Woisin and Gallina Tiviakova
On paper, round six should have been one of the most exciting so far, since
it featured two mouth-watering clashes between the favourites: Anand-Carlsen
and Ivanchuk-Nakamura. Sad to relate, though, both turned out to be what Harry
Golombek once described as "games not calculated to add greatly to the
sum total of human happiness". The latter was the first real GM-draw of
the event, lasting just 16 theoretical moves and barely 30 minutes' playing
time, whilst the former was a 26-move draw in a theoretical Dragon Sicilian.
14.b3. 14.dxc5 dxc5 15.e5 lead to a white brilliancy in Smeets-Short,
Staunton Memorial 2008: 15...Nf8 16.Qe2 Bb7 17.Ne4 Ne6 18.h4 Qc7 19.Neg5 Bxg5
20.Nxg5 Nxg5 21.Bxg5 h6 22.Qd3 hxg5 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Qh8+ Ke7 25.Qxg7 Rg8 26.Qf6+
Kf8 27.e6 Nc6 28.hxg5 Rd8 29.Qh6+ Rg7 30.g6 fxg6 31.Qh8+ Rg8 32.Qf6+ Ke8 33.Bxg6+
Rxg6 34.Qxg6+ Kf8 35.Re3 10 However, Short has repeated the opening at least
twice since then, so he is clearly confident in an improvement, and Shirov presumably
agrees with him.
Lenier Dominguez has been less conspicuous in this event than last year, but
today he heaped more misery on the Dutch contingent, by opening his winning
account at the expense of Tiviakov.
White has a large space advantage for his pawn, and Black is passive, if very
solid. Such pawn sacrifices are standard in the Catalan, and in this game, Black
never solves his queenside development problems. 16...Nb6 17.Ne5 Nd7 18.Nd3
Qb6 19.Be3 Be7 20.Qc2 Qd8 21.Rfd1 Nf6 22.h3 Ne8 23.Qb3 Nc7 24.Ne5 Bb4 25.Nd3
Qe7 26.Nxb4 Qxb4 27.Qc2
27...Re8? 27...Na6 seems essential. The text allows a decisive breakthrough. 28.d5 exd5 29.exd5 Na6 30.dxc6 bxc6 31.Qxc6 Bf5 32.Qb5 Be4 33.Rc4 Qxb5 34.axb5
Bxg2 35.Kxg2 Nb4 36.b6 Rab8 37.Rd7 h6 38.b7 1-0. [Click
to replay]
Peter Leko also opened his winning account, at the expense of Caruana. Obscure
complications left the Hungarian with a piece for several pawns, and he eventually
managed to consolidate everything and win.
Finally, in the day's longest game, Kramnik won again, ain the process condemning
his sometime second Loek van Wely, to his fifth straight loss. In a typical
KID structure, the Dutchman's 39th allowed a thematic piece sacrifice on c5,
and then failed to find a way to stop the pawns.
With play being relatively quiet in the A Group, the two young guns of the
B and C Groups can take centre stage. Both Giri and Robson won, taking their
scores to 5/6 and 5.5/6 respectively. Giri showed considerable audacity and
should probably have been punished, but his opponent 's position collapsed completely,
in the run up to the time control.
Anish Giri, 15, Dutch Champion 2010, who has now scored 5.0/6 with a 2926
performance
Full marks for creativity. This looks very risky, but Black manages to shelter
his king behind the dark-square central blockade, whilst it is the white monarch
which comes under deadly attack. 22.a3 Qa4 23.Rd3 b5 24.Rc3 Rhc8 25.Be2 Ne5
26.Kd2 b4 27.Rc2 bxa3 28.bxa3 Rab8 29.Rhc1 c4 30.Rc3 Rb2+ 31.R1c2 Qb5 32.Rxb2
Qxb2+ 33.Rc2 Qb1 34.Qc3 Rc5 35.g3 f5 36.Rb2 Qxe4 37.Kc1 Nd3+
0-1. []
Anish Giri discusses his game in the press center
Ray Robson's win was the result of a sharp tactical eye.
22.e5. The engines are initially very sceptical of this double pawn
sacrifice, clearly believing, along with the poet John
Keats, that "a thing of booty is a joy forever". However, they
start to change their view, after White's 25th move. 22...dxe5 23.Ne4 Bxd4
24.Nf6+ Kh8 25.Bc2 g4 26.Nh7 f5. 26...Rd8 27.Rxf7 Qxf7 28.Qxh6 Qg7 29.Qh4
wins. 27.Nxf8 Qxf8 28.Be4 c5 29.Qc2 f4 30.gxf4 exf4
21.01.2010 – Can anything stop this man? A fifth consecutive win, with the black pieces against Loek van Wely, put Alexei Shirov a point and a half ahead of the field. Vladimir Kramnik scored his first victory in this tournament, while World Champion Vishy Anand is stuck at 50%. In Group B 15-year-old GM Anish Giri leads, as does 15-year-old GM Ray Robson in Group C.
Big report with pictures by Fred Lucas.
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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?
Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round five report
Report by Steve Giddins / photos by Fred Lucas
As well as being a former world championship challenger, and one of the very
greatest players England has ever produced, Nigel Short has always been noted
for his entertaining and witty comments on his games. With just one point from
his first four games, Wijk aan Zee 2010 has not been his best start to a major
tournament. However, despite his troubles, the English GM continues to uphold
his reputation as just about the best provider of quotes to the assembled pack
of chess journalists. After scrambling a draw from a thoroughly dubious position
against Magnus Carlsen in round four, Nigel explained his choice of 1.e4 d5
2.exd5 Nf6 as Black: "The thing was, I suspected he would play the Scottish
against an Englishman, so I decided to play the Scandinavian against a Norwegian!
He also raised a further laugh with his response, when asked whether he was
satisfied with a draw against the world no. one: Satisfied? Why should I be
satisfied with a draw against a kid? Im a grandmaster with 25 years of experience!.
As another very quotable chess great, Savielly Tartakower, was wont to say,
"Bravo!"
Alexey Shirov continues to make the headlines over the board. Today he won
his fifth (!) straight game, the third with Black, after a fascinating battle
with van Wely.
Van Wely,L (2641) - Shirov,A (2723) [A29]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 21.01.2010 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7
8.a3
7...g5!? This violent thrust has been played by Korchnoi in the analogous
position after 8.Rb1, and serves as evidence of the Latvian's intentions. 9.d3
g4 10.Nd2 h5 11.b4 h4 12.Nc4 hxg3 13.hxg3 Nxc4 14.dxc4 Nd4 15.Nb5 Ne6
16.Qc2?! A committal decision, presumably made with the ensuing exchange
sacrifice in mind. The simple 16.Qxd8+ looks enough for a solid and safe plus. 16...c6 17.Rd1 Bd7 18.Nd6+ Bxd6 19.Rxd6 Qe7 20.Qd3 Nd4 21.Rxd4 exd4 22.Qxd4
Rh5 23.Bf4 Qxe2 24.Rd1 Be6 25.b5 Kf8 26.Bf1 Qf3 27.Bg2 Qe2 28.Bf1 Qc2 29.bxc6
bxc6 30.Re1 Kg8 31.Bd3 Qb3 32.Bd2 c5 33.Qd6
33...Bxc4? Now starts a tale of two bishop moves. Fritz 12 prefers the
remarkable 33...Bd5!! 34.cxd5 Qxd3 with a big advantage.34.Be4? Not
surprisingly missing the equally remarkable zwischenzug 34.Bg6!! Rh3 and only
now 35.Be4 when Black no longer has the reply 35...Bd5. 34...Bd5 35.Qf4 Bxe4
36.Rxe4 Qd1+ 37.Be1 Qf3 38.Qxg4+ Qxg4 39.Rxg4+ Kf8 40.Bd2 Rc8. The smoke
of time-trouble has cleared and Black has a clear extra exchange.41.Rc4
Ke7 42.g4 Rd5 43.Be3 Kd6 44.Kf1 Rd1+ 45.Ke2 Ra1 46.Ra4 c4 47.Kd2 c3+ 48.Kc2
Ra2+ 49.Kd3 c2 50.Bc1 Ra1 51.Rd4+ Ke6 52.Re4+ Kf6 53.Re1 Rb1 54.Kd2 Rb7 55.Re3
Kg5
With White tied down on the other flank, the entry of the black king decides.56.f3
Kf4 57.Rd3 Kg3 58.Ke2 Re7+ 59.Kd2 Kf2 0-1.
Many-times Dutch champion Loek van Wely, 37, playing in Wijk for the 20th
time, lost to...
the remarkable Mr Shirov, who is now at 5.0/5 points with a 3474 performance
An editorial note with regard to Shirov's performance:
this was assigned by the table generator of the ChessBase database program.
Such performance calculations are not fully meaningful for players scoring 100%
(or 0%). Mathematically Shirov's performance is infinite – we could expect
a player rated 4000 or even 40,000 for that matter to achive no more than he
has done. To obtain a practical value the program assumes he has scored 99%
and adds up to 800 points to his nominal rating. If Shirov does not win a game
– yes, Virginia, such things can happen – then the performance will
be more realistic.
To the relief of most spectators, Vladimir Kramnik abandoned his customary
Petroff, in favour of the Pirc, in search of his first win of the event. The
surprise worked, and Jan Smeets, for whom time-trouble has been his besetting
sin this year, was soon a mile behind on the clock, as well as objectively worse
on the board.
By now Smeets was down to just three minutes, plus increments, to reach move
40.21.e6 c5 22.exf7 Nc6 23.Rbxb2 Rad8 24.Ke4 Kxf7 25.Rc3 Nd4 26.Ne5+
Ke8 27.Rb6 Nb5 28.Rc2 R5d6 29.Nc4 Rd3 30.Ne3 Ra3 31.Rb2 c4 32.Ke5 c3 33.Rc2
Rd2 34.Rc1 Rxf2 35.Nd5 c2 36.Nb4 Re3+ 37.Kd5 Rd2+ 38.Kc6 Rc3+ 39.Kb7 Nd6+ 40.Ka8
a5 0-1.
Of the five draws, the biggest battle of the day was between Nakamura and Carlsen.
The latter was under the cosh for much of the game, but eventually salvaged
a draw, in an an ending with three pawns for a piece.
Hikaru Nakamura in round five against his big rival...
...Magnus Carlsen, who was in serious trouble but defended to a draw
23...Nxd5. Initiating a sequence which sees Black net three pawns for
a piece. 24.Rab1 Qb4 25.Bc1 Qxa4 26.exd5 Qxh4 27.Nxh4 Bxd5 28.Ba3 Re3 29.Ra1
Rd3. Commentating live on Playchess, Grandmaster Danny King felt that White
should have reasonable winning chances, if he can coordinate his wayward and
unstable minor pieces. 30.Rfd1 a5 31.Nhf3 a4 32.Rdc1 Kg8 33.Kf2 c4 34.Bxf8
Kxf8 35.Nxc4 Rb3 36.Nfd2 Rb4 37.Ra3 Rc8 38.Rac3 Be6 39.Na3 Rd8 40.Nf3 Rb3 41.Rxb3
axb3 42.Rc6 Bd5 43.Rb6 Rc8 44.Nb5 Rc2+ 45.Kg3 h5 46.Nbd4 Ra2 47.Ne6+ Kf7 48.Nf4
Be4
49.Rb4?! Here, Fritz 12 still strongly prefers White after 49.h4. The
text seems finally to mislay any remaining winning chances. 49...h4+ 50.Kg4
b2 51.Nd2 Ba8 52.Nc4 g5 53.Rxb2 Rxb2 54.Nxb2 gxf4 55.Kxf4 Bxg2 56.Kg4 f5+ 57.Kxf5
Bxh3+ 58.Kg5 Be6 59.Kxh4 ½½.
In his blog on Arctic
Securities Magnus writes: "Today I played H. Nakamura, USA (2708).
He is rated as number eight in the tournament, but following his good result
in the recent World Championship for National teams in Turkey and his shared
second place here after four rounds, I did not expect an easy game. He avoided
mainline theory in the opening. I did not have any real problems, but got a
bit too optimistic early on and underestimated maybe his ensuing attacking chances.
At a critical junction I could have given an exchange for two pawns and an unclear
position, but chose instead to give a knight for three pawns. In a fairly equal
ending I offered a draw. He somewhat surprisingly declined, but after I had
made a few inaccurate moves, he was seriously playing for a win. In the end
I found a way to defend and after swapping most pieces and all pawns the game
was drawn after five and a half hours. A tough fight. I’ll have the black
pieces two rounds in row, facing reigning World Champion V.Anand Thursday."
Vassily Ivanchuk struggling against Nigel Short
Nigel Short had a frustrating day, having Ivanchuk firmly on the rack for almost
the entire afternoon, but being unable to extract the final surrender. Caruana
will be similarly disappointed, having failed to convert what should have been
a winning advantage against Dominguez.
Highest ranked player in the Americas: Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez
Leko-Anand was a fairly quiet draw, whilst Tiviakov-Kariakin saw Black unable
to make anything of his early structural superiority.
Peter Leko vs Vishy Anand in round five ended in a 28-move draw
World Champion Viswanathan Anand with five draws at 50%
In the B Group, Anish Giri claimed his third strong GM scalp of the event,
by beating Sutovsky in mature fashion, in the ending arising from the Karpov
Variation of the Grunfeld.
15-year-old Anish Giri, leading the B Group with 4.0/5 and a 2888 performance
21...Na5? A fatal decentralisation, from which Black's position
never fully recovers. 22.Rc7 R5d7 23.Rc5 Rd5 24.Rxd5 Rxd5 25.Rb6 Kf7
26.Bd2 Bf8? Recycling the knight by 27...Nc6 28.Bc3 Nd8 was a better
chance. 27.Bc3 e6
28.Ne1! Shockingly simple – there is no good defence
to Nc2-e3. 28...Be7 29.Nc2 Bd8 30.Bxa5 Rxa5 31.Rxb7+ Ke8 32.Rb4 Rd5
33.Rc4 Rd7 34.Rc6 Kf7 35.Rxa6 Rb7 36.a5 Rb2 37.Kd3 Ra2 38.Ra7+ 1-0.
Philippine GM Wesley So, 16, with five drawn games in eighth place
In the C Group, the equally precocious American talent, 15-year-old Ray Robson,
is also putting up a marvellous show, with today's win as Black against Peng
Zhaoqin taking his score onto a superb 4.5 / 5.
GM Ray Robson, 15, with 4.5/5 points and a 2783 performance
The trauma of being mated by IM Hans Bohm in a simultaneous exhibition
In his blog on
Magnus writes: "On the free day Wednesday I was invited to play a football
match against a Dutch team. Together with GM Kjetil Lie (who is a former 3rd
division goal-getter), we played against Van Wely and Smeets, whom I beat in
round two and three of the chess tournament. Dutch Television was present and
duly documented our short but intense match, ending in a Norwegian 5-1 victory."
Holland vs Norway, Jan Smeets vs Magnus Carlsen in the free day soccer match
"My relation with chess is simple," says Fred Lucas. "I'm a photographer who
is very fond of the game, loves the atmosphere at tournaments it's if you
can really feel all the ideas coming up on all those boards and I love to
make pictures, especially with available light. What I like most when photographing
chess players is to get their emotions that are otherwise hard to see, because
life immediately proceeds to the next moment. Before the start of a game most
players are busy with themselves, concentrating and some give you the impression
that they really don't want to pay attention to anything else than the game
to come."
Naturally the games of the Wijk aan Zee tournament are being broadcast live
on Playchess. Anyone who uses Fritz 12 to log into the server will appreciate
the new features, like the following:
In the broadcast room the different events are listed as separate tournaments.
Click one if the tournaments and the games that are being broadcast are displayed
below, so you can load any that is of interest.
If you double-click the tournament all the games – or at least the eight
most important – all the are loaded in one window. You can start an analysis
engine, which follows any board you click. Naturally all boards are kept up-to-date
as the moves come in.
Live audio commentary today was by GM Daniel King, who discussed the games
with the kibitzers
Playchess (and ChessBase Magazine) commentator GM Daniel King
During round five in Wijk at 6:00 p.m. there were 7500 members online 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, or have entered weird geo coordinates. We suspected that one of them
might be Katie
Spotz, but she is probably too busy rowing and tweeting. The bright bell-shaped
area shows where the sun is currently shining on the globe.
The
But
