Day 7: 2002 Corus at Wijk aan Zee

Before and during the first few minutes of each round, the journalists get access to the 'holy of hollies' - the playing room of groups A and B for photo opportunities. After a few requests, I have decided to see if I could take the photo of WGM Stefanova. That is not an easy feat! I have yet to even see the friendly Bulgarian during this event! I waited and waited, I asked but, so far no luck. I found some comfort in the story that one day at roughly 13:20 (Editor: 10 minutes before the games start), one of the TD's decided to call her room, but without success. He asked a member of the hotel staff to please knock on the door. The report was that she will be coming shortly, as soon as she changes from her 'jammies' as the hotel staff member said.

The event itself is certainly in high gear. After yesterday's 'bloody' round, today's round was also proving to be promising pairing wise and indeed did not disappoint:

Bareev - Morozevich

Bareev - Morozevich: This was the most anticipated game of the round: The event's leader vs the most enterprising player of the tournament. A wild line of the Slav was played, black already played 11…g5!? And against none other than the likes of Kasparov and Kramnik! He actually followed his game against Kramnik 14…Nc5 (14…Ng4?! Was his try against Garry but without success - 1-0 in 45 moves) Bareev was the first to deviate with 18.e3 instead of Kramnik's 18.Qc1. Perhaps the novelty deserves a ?! sign since black quickly seemed fine and even better. Again, it is difficult to say if black had more or not, but after a slugfest of trades and captures, the equilibrium was kept until they players agreed to a draw, out of exhaustion and the little material left.

Khalifman - van Wely: The opening was quite expected: Loek always plays the Najdorf against 1.e4. This time he chose the very unusual 7…h5 against the English attack setup employed by Khalifman. The idea is to prevent white from going g4 at all cost. Usually, white answers that with his own restraining move on the other wing 8.a4, but opted for 8.Qd2. This has been seen before, but as far as I can tell, not at the highest levels of play. Soon black's pieces seemed in complete disharmony. White calmly improved his position. As early as move 16 hit hard with Nf5!. I guess there is a reason why castling early is recommended. There was no mate, but the win was never in doubt or hard to come by. It is funny to note that in this game, like the last round, Khalifman faced a desperate rook sac in a winning position. Unlike yesterday, this one he calculated well, and saw that it didn't suffice. An easy win for Alexander, and an easy 250 Euro for the public daily prize.

Gelfand - Leko

Gelfand - Leko: A very topical Nimzo-Indian. White went for the known 15.e4, some sources recommend 15.Bb5!? as a better try (Kramnik - Kasparov London match 2000) as there is no blockade on c6 with either a N or a B as in the game. After 16.Bb5, Nc6 is considered safer. 16…Bc6 is said to allow white to enjoy a slight plus in the endgame. Gelfand created one serious weakness and then traded all the pieces to a K+P endgame. Alas that was not enough. With accurate defense, Leko was never in real danger. After some tries, a draw was agreed with the arrival of the time control.

Kasimdzhanov - Adams

Kasimdzhanov - Adams: Here we witnessed a modern QID variation where white typically piled up against the black backwards "d" pawn. Black patiently defended and maneuvered in his slightly cramped, but very durable position. White certainly added some oil to the fire with his 16th. h4!? But Adams answered with the very accurate 16…Ne8! not only preventing g4 but also defending the "d" pawn once more, thus freeing the queen for later action on the queenside. Strangely, Adams allowed white to play 21.Nd5 - he could have avoided it with 20…Bf8 or 20…Rd7 first instead of 20…Qa8? Now he entered a position with a lot of suffering to it with not only his weak "d" pawn but white owning the d5 outpost. Well, towards the time control the best Mickey could get was a major piece ending of Q and R vs Q and a R down one pawn. These are notoriously hard and with time trouble looming. White erroneously went on to win a second pawn, but his king was about to have an excursion to the other end of the board. Luckily for him, there was no more than a perpetual for Adams. Quite an escape for the British GM, who as GM Yasser Seirawan said, it best had the worst pawn structure he has ever had in his life, along with a cramped position and his opponent's two bishops. Luck (and stubborn defense!) favor the strong.

Lautier - Piket: A sleepy, positional line of the semi Slav showed black deviating from known lines by choosing 13… b6 in place of the often tried 13…Rd8 or 13…a5. White quickly opened the "a" file and got his rook to the 7th rank, guaranteeing him a slight edge. Black defended his position quite tenaciously and patiently and even won a pawn in the endgame. But Lautier's pieces were quite active to hold the balance without worries. Right before the time control the point was indeed shared.

Dreev - Gurevich: A Slav with 4.e3 Bf5, a line that usually is ok for black. White deviated from previous theory with his 12.Qe2, but didn't seem to get much from the opening, black just looked equal. White had a pair of B, but an isolated "d" pawn. Black's strategy was quite wise: First he neutralized the B pair by trading the dark squared ones, then the queens went off, and finally when black's passed "b" pawn (which was going nowhere) was traded for white's "d" pawn (which likewise was going nowhere). A peace offering was the logical happening.

Grischuk - Timman

Grischuk - Timman: Certainly one of the more lively games of the day! A crazy line of the Advanced Caro Kann found a new idea in 10…Kxf8?! in place of the old tries of taking with the Q or taking dxc3. That idea failed to leave a good impression, as white was in control and slowly was building an impressive position. His idea of attacking c2 failed to white's accurate 13.0-0-0, since if 13…Nxc2 14.Qf4+ Ke8 15.Nxd5! with an attack. When black decided to offer a piece sac with 15…Kf7, Grischuk was in no hurry to collect and kept the pressure up. Things quickly went downhill for Timman. Even the trade of queens was not enough to relieve him. A fancy little trick followed leaving white a piece ahead which he cashed in on in fine manner.