Corus 2003 at Wijk aan Zee, Round 7

by Aviv Friedman

Corus chess tournament round 7:

As part of the intensive media coverage, local and international, one of the local Dutch papers has been carrying a series called "Chess by the sea", profiling the personalities of people who have been coming here for many years. One of those profiled, is long time journalist and player IM Gert Ligterink from Groningen. A player for the Dutch Olympic team in the past and a full time journalist with a daily column in one of the major newspapers, the Volkskrant, Gert has been coming to Wijk Aan Zee for the past 30 or so years. Appropriately to the theme of the series, the interviewer also wanted to take a photo of Gert on the beach (Wijk Aan Zee rests by the shores of the North Sea) with a nice wooden chessboard that the reporter received from his father. So… Gert stood in the sand, with the board lying there, all ready for his shot, when the photographer opined that he should move closer to the sea. Gert complied and the photographer was adjusting his equipment in a serene and pleasant environment. Not for long… Perhaps angered by the intrusion of humans on his kingdom in midwinter, Neptune decided to teach them a lesson. A strong wave changed the pastoral scenery into a comic stance: All of a sudden Gert found himself in water up to his knees. Did I mention it is very cold and windy in Wijk Aan Zee? J No less alarming, the proud old chessboard was now 'sailing' in the sea, slowly disappearing, much like Mr. Wilson, Tom Hanks' volleyball- friend in the film castaway. In a valiant effort to retrieve it, Gert took a step and tried to reach it but a second hearty wave swept him away into what can only be described as a second Baptism. Astonishingly, the photographer did not cease his chance for a once in a lifetime hilarious shot! Needless to say, Gert had enough of this stunt and left for a shower. The board was saved in one piece too. Telling the story after drying off Gert was still in his usual good spirits to suggest that the series should now be called "Chess IN the sea" instead of 'By the sea'. And you thoughts us journalists have it easy huh?!J

Games time!

Grischuk - Krasenkov: The first of 3(!) Sveshnikov's in this round! We saw some heavy-duty theory, with Krasenkov blitzing and deviating first from theory, 17…Qb6 seems like a new idea.Black decided to force a crisis on move 22…b4!? (?! Maybe?) changing the character of the game completely. Often times the risk of opening the position when your opponent's K is safer is an accelerated access to it! Here black also had R and B of opposite color like in two of the other games today, but the presence of Q accentuated the chances of attack. With Q on also the B play the extra role of an attacking piece without anything to counter it. So black suffered a bit, and after the horrid 36…Rc5? had to give up a pawn for nothing at all and as expected, with his K getting worse and worse had to drop his weapon on move 48.

GM Shirov

Shirov - Bareev: The quick double trade on d4 in this classical French has been known for many years, but in the last 20 years or so fell out of favor to ideas such as 9…a6 or 9…Bxd4 without the second capture. Normally, white has a headache-free game in this line with 12.0-0-0 or 12.Nb5 and perhaps Bareev was hoping to take his over-aggressive opponent into some such peaceful line. Not surprisingly, Shirov did not care for the Q trade and immediately offered a pawn, which Evgeny promptly snatched. Last year such pawn hunting brought him a 19-move disaster against Khalifman, and against Shirov this seems quite risky. Perhaps there is a gambler's rush for Bareev when challenging his fellow super-GM's to prove him wrong! If that wasn't enough, 14…Qxa2 grabbed a second pawn, and as far as I can see was never played before. In return black's position was somewhat in disarray, without the right to castle. It didn't take much for Shirov to take all of his anger from the previous round on poor Bareev who never did come close to consolidating. White played simply and logically, took control of the open files and space and with 28.f5! sealed black's miserable faith. I guess one could say for him it was 'déjà vu all over again' J Analysis by GM Alterman (PGN format).

Polgar - Kramnik: Sveshnikov number 2 of the day. Kramnik again tried a new move in the opening 13…Ne7 and again failed to impress. White got the standard stronghold on d5 with a slight but safe advantage. Perhaps instead of 0-0 more urgent is to bring the light squared B to the a2-g8 diagonal and so not trade the healthy b2 pawn for the worse one on a5. After that trade in the game, black was not worried at all anymore, and the further trade of the Q, one pair of R and the on d5, left black more active in a drawish looking R and B of opposite color. White decided to pitch the c pawn rather than to passively defend it. Opinions in the pressroom varied about how this game might end. The problem with such endgames is the number of possible plans that would take hours and many moves to prove or refute. At least on a few occasions GM's opined the endgame should win for Kramnik, and indeed it looked a bit scary for white. Polgar built a fortress, and after some tries black tried to make further progress by trading rooks. That indeed won him a second pawn but made his task no easier. The Hungarian GM defended like a wounded lioness and after 97 moves, despite a 2 pawn deficit (not unusual in B of opposite color endgames) it was finally time to shake hands.

GM Polgar vs GM Kramnik

Radjabov - Ivanchuk: Before the game, someone in the pressroom claimed that he overheard Chuky saying that his goal for this event is to try and finish it with 13 draws and his only worry is that Grischuk might be a competitor on this task. True or not, the Ukrainian GM chalked up draw number 7 with a very uneventful semi Slav. Nothing to report but some boring exchanges, no risk or danger and a draw agreed on move 22.

GM Radjabov vs GM Ivanchuk

Van Wely - Timman: On this busy Sunday full of spectators, many eyes were on this game. The rivalry between the two, the older lion and the younger contender who took the crown as Holland's number 1 player is no secret. Like in any derby, there is always more than just the point at stake. Playing in front of a home crowd with all the bragging rights on the table is a very demanding and motivating affair. Last year Timman mated Loek in a lopsided game but this year revenge was sweet: van Wely, all pumped up and well prepared faced a dejected Timman and the result was no big surprise. The variation with 11…Qa5 is under a cloud now (11…e5 is the best try) cause after 12.e4 e5 13.d5 Nb6 14. Bb3 cd 15.ed the black queen is badly placed and the d pawn is strong. I really disliked Jan's plan with 12…b5 and 15…b4 weakening his entire structure with a loss of time to boot, but what else to do? White took complete control of the position (or as Loek said: ' black is completely lost') and after 18…Rd3? And the trades, white had two 'criss-crossing' B, an open file and worse yet: the poor black N became squareless… After only 24 moves very much like it goes in nature, the old lion had to retreat alone and clear his throne to his successor.

GM Van Wely vs GM Timman

Anand - Ponomariov: In this, the third of the Sveshnikov's, Anand repeated Shirov's 8.Nc4 from an earlier round. I have never seen anyone accept the pawn sacrifice on e4, but Ponomariov decided to go for it. Not a good idea! Vishy's 11.a3! (an idea he borrowed from Kasparov in their game from Las Palmas '96 swings the rook up with great affect. Maybe 11…b3 was the best try to tame that R, although Anand pointed out that the endgame is better for him anyways. Vishy felt that around move 16 the position was already quite critical for black, and he could have chosen among different pleasant continuations, for example 16.Rxa6 was strong leaving black hurting for a good move, note how paralyzed his f8 B is. White decided to win the exchange, pretty forced since 16…Qh4 he could choose between 17.g3 Nxg3 with wild complications he felt white would emerge on top from, or the sedated 17.Qc2 where white is just much much better. The only point of the game Anand was a bit critical of was his trade on e4 on move 19, saying 0-0 would have been more accurate, leaving an option for a Bc4 move in some lines. Still, the result was never in doubt with the Indian's strong play, he jokingly criticized his opponent's late resigning, but 'justified' it by reminding all about his 5th game from his match against Ivanchuk where he won a resignable position! After this game Vishy is sitting pretty in the lead leaving a grand impression of a favorite.

GM Anand

Topalov - Karpov: A Nimzo Indian, 3 Knights variation that quickly turns into an endgame. There are different ways to get to this endgame, sometimes black ends up with an isolated d pawn, sometimes white ends with an isolated c3 pawn, and of course this exact endgame we got after move 16 is not new. The existence of B of opposite color often gives a big hint towards the game ending in a draw. I prayed for so long for this bore to end! After 60 moves of shuffling without anything concrete happening it finally happened! Yes! Never ever show this game to an enthusiastic amateur who's thinking of picking up chess as a hobby! This one can be a mind changer… Not only so dull but 6 hours and 70 moves dull!

GM Topalov vs GM Karpov

GM Rogers vs GM Hector

Photos by Jan van de Mortel, courtesy Corus Tournament Organization.

ICC Coverage of Corus 2003 Copyright © Internet Chess Club 2003