Corus 2003 at Wijk aan Zee, Round 9

by Aviv Friedman

Corus chess tournament round 9:

I have been asked to explain how the sensory boards work, and so I have solicited Dennis, the tech guy of the company that oversees all these logistics for an explanation. NOT being a very technical guy myself let me try!

WGM Kosteniuk

The heavy wooden boards have a matrix grid inside them of 8x8 wires that are connected via a serial cable to the nerve center of the event in the nearby room. Each piece has its own unique 'signature mark' so that the program could recognize it and not confuse it with the other pieces. The whole system is much more delicate and accurate than say the standalone computers where one must press the 'from' square and then the 'to' square. Here, it is not necessary, and so long that a piece is picked up and covers more than 50% of a square (ie: not between two squares) the move registers. For blitz coverage, illegal moves are allowed, since they can be a part of the game, but in tournament conditions they are disabled and the programmer gets a warning that something is amiss. The digital clocks are also connected physically to the system and so the times are easy to follow as 'real times'. With a flash that refreshes once per second, these moves get auto updated on the web site of the event. From the center of operations, Dennis with a bunch of computers and monitors and the special software supervises the whole system and can manually make any necessary changes or corrections. When a game is over, the arbiters aim to rush and get the result BEFORE the players start moving pieces for analysis or set them up again. There are special signals between the arbiters and Dennis for the results: If the arbiter places the two kings in the center diagonally on light squares, white has won. If they are diagonally on dark squares, black has won. If they are opposite one another vertically or horizontally, the result is a draw. It usually works, but sometimes the players are too fast for the organizers! At the end of the Karpov - Radjabov 'epic', an exhausted Karpov quickly pushed all the captured pieces towards the center of the board and for a moment there was a little confusion since while we all counted 50 moves played with no capture or pawns, he was also very low on time. In such cases again the arbiter is quick to do his 'king dance' to signal. Lastly as we have witnessed in the Topalov - Karpov sometimes there is such a quick capture and recapture, that the program doesn't register it and a position missing a played move comes up. Luckily, it didn't make sense positionally and a runner verified the right position, which was quickly adjusted.

To today's games: Clearly today was the point where the players needed a 'rest day before the rest day'… :

Timman - Karpov:

GM Timman vs GM Karpov

When I started playing chess 20 some years ago, these chess legends were number 3 and 1 in the world, respectively. I don't care how old they are and what toll it might take on their play now, but when I stood there at the start of their games, I felt tremendous respect and appreciation towards them. In this 'god-knows-what-number encounter between the two, we saw Karpov opting for the Petroff defense. Maybe he thought that Jan after some bad blows previously, would be content with a quick draw if he equalizes. Since this game was an exact copy of Kramnik - Anand from yesterday, I was curious to see when and how the deviation will arrive, but instead of 25.g3, the logical Kramnik move, the TV screen just said 1/2 : 1/2 L Another rest day game.

Polgar - Shirov:

GM Polgar

Well, if you can't beat them, join 'em! After some mixed results with the white side of the Sveshnikov he decided to adopt it as black. Judit chose to go the route of the more positional set ups of this enormously analyzed variation with 9.Nd5 and pass on the wild tactics of the 9.Bxf6 branches. They have followed a 2000 game between Tiviakov and Cifuentes for 18 moves, then Polgar decided on 19.Qd5 from a 2001 correspondence (!) game that invites a draw by repetition, an offer Shirov could not refuse. 50 minutes of unoriginal work day for the two.

Anand - Krasenkov: GM Anand vs GM Krasenkow

GM Anand vs GM Krasenkow

Also a Ruy Lopez, Berlin defense. Anand played a new move compared to the game Svidler - van Den Doel from the recent Olympiad, 17.f4 (replacing 17.Bf4 in the above game) a move he criticized after the game. 2 moves later, feeling he got no advantage and is due a break he proposed the peace, which Michal accepted gladly.

Van Wely - Ivanchuk: Loek was glad to enter another Smyslov Gruenfeld, reminding him of his sweet win against Timman a few days ago. Ivanchuk chose another sub variation, with 9….e6 instead of Timman's 9…dxc4. Again I am sad to say that I wish I could report much, alas the combination of Loeky trying to bounce back from a bad loss yesterday and Chuky's plan for 13/13 draws, sealed the faith of the game as such on move 19.

Radjabov - Kramnik: The Queens Indian defense, Nimzo variation, has become a regular guest with the elite. Both sides completed their development, surely this combination of a fearless youngster with white, and a much higher rated opponent in need of points with black would produce a huge battle no? 17.g4!? was taken as a signal of war by radja, 18.h4 even more! But…. It was all for naught: 19.Qg3 was accompanied by a draw offer that was accepted by Vlady.

Grischuk - Bareev:

GM Grischuk vs GM Bareev

One of the wildest lines in the advanced Caro Kann, with black sacrificing his h5 pawn in an attempt to capitalize on white's ugly (but dynamic) set up. Usually 12.Bb5 is seen, but Grischuk went for the unusual 12.Rh3. I know that in this line white attempts to break every chess principle I have ever learned, and gets away with it, but to me Rh3 seems like a bad idea, just too much. Bareev was wise I think to avoid taking too many pawns, surely he had the b and e pawns at leisure, but as Svidler was heard saying on ICC 'such pawns are better left alone'. White gets too many open lines for his pieces and after all the black K is stuck in the center. What black did do also wisely was activate his Q and penetrating with it for good counter play. Again white decided to sac a pawn, his f2 pawn, but here black was justified in taking it, as it forced white to move his K. White had compensation and black had to defend very carefully, as he has with 22…Rc8 which activated his R for both a possible initiative and defense on the f7 pawn should white plan to pile up on it. White's mistake seems to have been with 25.Rd1? Whereas 25.Rd2! would have achieved similar points but allowing a possible 26.Kb1 without worrying about 26.dxc3 because the f1 R is attacking f7. Black had a huge initiative and in time trouble could have won with the fantastic 33…Bd6!! As after 34.Rxh8 Rc7+ is curtains. In the line of the game white had a great chance to not lose at once as he did with 35.Rd1?? had he played 35.Rc2. Finally, not that it mattered, black had a mate in one (37…Qd3#) but what he played was good enough. Analysis by GM Alterman (PGN format).

Topalov - Ponomariov:

GM Topalov vs GM Ponomariov

Another Berlin, Ruy Lopez by the FIDE champ. White came out slightly better after the opening, and I am not sure why Pono eschewed 21…Nxh3+ and 22…Nf4 forcing the trade of the Bc1 and a set of pawns which seems to leave him only slightly worse. In the game he had to sacrifice the exchange with an easy endgame to hold or else try and defend against the threat of Bb2 by moving his Rh8 from the diagonal, then his Nf6 and finally save his a7 pawn with the ugly Ra8, all of which were not going to happen. Some players questioned white's committal decision to go 28.c5 suggesting a slower improvement of the position (like getting the K closer) Black played very well in the endgame, and indeed posed the most problems to Topalov. Especially strong was his 40…f6! And 41…f5! It felt like white was winning this, but where? After the game no one including the several GM's in the pressroom could answer that question. 48.Rh2 exchanging the R was the last time white might have done better since it sure was not winning for him, but again only further long analysis will show if that is true and if so, how. One note about the endgame: some GM's analyzed 53…c3 is a win for black but Fritz 7 found a defense with 54.Kf3 Kb3 55.Ke3 Bh7 56.Rb6! b4 57.Rb7. One tough game to play and analyze!

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

ICC Coverage of Corus 2003 Copyright © Internet Chess Club 2003