Round 11-12 25th-26th January 2002

DOUBLE DUTCH

SO, what’s so magical about the tradition of Wijk aan Zee? Could it be the fragrant aroma of the beer-soaked halls or the traditional Dutch pea soup? Or how about the cold sweat of hundreds of amateur players crammed into the chess heaven of the de Moriaan Centre, which inevitably leads to a flu bug by the second week?

For me, however, it’s usually the whiff of the multi-coloured smoke that belches out of the nearby chimneys of the sponsoring steel company, like someone feeding a nasty 40-a day habit. This is what reminds me of the long tradition of the Corus tournament. Strange as it may seem coming from an environmentalist, but we have to remember that it is from this the magic of Wijk was forged.

It has to be remembered that the tradition of holding a chess tournament in this particular area of Holland started in 1938 solely for the benefit of the employees of Hoogovens IJmuiden, a large steel company whose furnaces dominate the surrounding countryside. On the occasion of the third tournament, in 1940, the organisers decided to make it a little bit special by inviting Dutch hero Dr. Max Euwe as the guest of honour, and, from then on, it grew and grew to become one of the world’s most famous tournaments.

Only in 1945, due to virtually no transport in Holland in the closing days of WWII, did it become impossible to hold the tournament. But, by 1946, it was back – even bigger and better with a line-up of ten players in a truly international field, won by Count Alberic O’Kelly de Galway.

However, it wasn’t until the 50s and 60s that the top players caught on to the chess magic that was happening here in this sleepy little hamlet of Holland. Subsequent tournaments became stronger and stronger, becoming a must for the world’s elite. In fact, of the world champions since the war, only the names of Vassily Smyslov and Bobby Fischer are missing from the impressive winner’s trophy; which incidentally was specially made for the tournament at the local factory.

Despite all the fine traditions associated over the years with this tournament, there’s one that has become synonymous with it – the famous serving of the pea soup! Erwten Soep (to give it its proper Dutch name) is a close as you can get in the Netherlands to a national dish – or even national bowl.

In 1944 during war-torn Europe, there was a chronic food shortage in Holland, so as a special ‘thank you’ for the support shown by the players who had made the effort to turn up and play that year, the local factory decided to serve pea soup to everyone at the end of the tournament. After the war, the sponsors decided to carry on with the gesture and to the present day every tournament ends with a dinner for all the players’ alike, whether world champion, grandmasters or amateur, with only one thing on the menu: pea soup!

A new tradition of Wijk aan Zee has been Garry Kasparov, a late convert to the joys of Wijk, winning by a large margin. He first played here in 1999 and went on to become the first person to take three successive tournaments – and I dare say a fourth if he hadn’t been struck down by a virus that forced him to withdraw on the eve of the tournament.

Another tradition has been how the hell do I cope with the workload to enable me to pack my bags and make the early flight from Schipohl to Edinburgh on Monday morning? Last year I found the perfect solution: a double Dutch report on one of the last two rounds! This year the fine tradition continues with key games from round 11 and 12, as the leaders battle it out in the last round for the trophy.

Despite being a tough nut to crack at the best of times, many have noted that Bareev is prone to being the victim to the odd miniature or two – particularly with the French Defence. If he doesn’t lose in under twenty moves, so the joke goes, he’ unbeatable. For the record, Bareev’s shortest loss with the French was against Shirov at Novgorod 1994, when he went down in just 15 moves; against Grischuk last year at the European Club Cup, he lost in 17 moves. He’s now starting to get the hang of the French, losing in 19 moves in round eleven this year to Khalifman.

And, for the record, it’s not the shortest defeat for a Russian at Wijk. New US Champion Larry Christiansen once beat Anatoly Karpov in just twelve moves at Wijk in 1993. Can you imagine Karpov’s reaction when, still in a state of shock as he signed the scoresheets, big Larry had the chutzpah to ask the former great if wanted to go over the game? Larry got a firm (but ever so squeaky) “Nyet!”. Still, Larry did manage to console himself by the fact that he earned $100 by annotating the game for Informator.

Khalifman,A (2688) - Bareev,E (2707) [C10]

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 Already a surprise for Khalifman. He didn't expect Bareev to play the Rubinstein Variation, as he normally plays 4 ..Nf6. Khalifman took a long think here (about 15 minutes) and decided to play this active variation because he "roughly knew the positioning of the pieces". 5 Bd3 Ngf6 6 Qe2 c5 7 Nxf6+ Nxf6 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 Bd2 0–0 10 0–0–0 Qd5!? Khalifman: "I analyzed this a long time ago. I didn't remember anything except the assessment: White is better." 11 Kb1 Qxg2 12 Nf3 Qxf2 13 Qe5 Be7?! [13 ..Nd7 14 Bxh7+ Kxh7 15 Qh5+ Can be seen in the Morozevich-Van Wely game below)] 14 Rdf1 Qc5 15 Qg3 Nh5 16 Qh3 g6 17 Rhg1 Nf4??

[Bareev makes a dreadful miscalculation. The "crunch" line has to be: 17 ..Ng7!? 18 Qh6 Qh5 (18 ..e5? 19 Nxe5!; 18 ..f5? 19 Bc3 Rf7 20 Ne5) 19 Qf4 Bd7 20 Ne5 Bc6 21 Bc3 and white's certainly got a nice position for the pawns, but there's no clear way of crashing through.] 18 Bxf4 e5 19 Qh6 exf4 20 Rg5! [20 Ng5? Bxg5 21 Rxg5 Qd4! and black can defend with Qg7.; However, 20 Rg5 f5 21 Rxg6+ hxg6 22 Qxg6+ Kh8 23 Qh6+ Kg8 24 Bc4+! nicely deflects the black queen away from g1 to force a mate 24 ..Qxc4 25 Rg1+ Bg5 (25 ..Kf7 26 Qg6#) 26 Qg6+ Kh8 27 Nxg5 and there's no defence to Qh6 mating.] 1–0

Adams,M (2742) - Gurevich,M (2641) [B07]

1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 Be3 A favourite of Adams, this is known as the "150 Attack" in Britain as many lowly-rated players (they have a different rating system in England that's not based on Elo) have used it to defeat stronger opponents. The idea is simple, if black is not careful: Qd2, Bh6 followed by h4-h5 and mate down the h-file. This is the main reason for Gurevich delaying castling. 4 ..c6 5 Qd2 b5 6 Bd3 Nbd7 7 Nf3 e5 8 dxe5 dxe5 9 h3 Bb7 10 a4 a6 11 0–0 Bg7 [Black has to be careful in what moves to play here, as Mickey has demonstrated in the past: 11 ..Qe7 12 axb5 cxb5 13 Nxb5! axb5 14 Rxa8+ Bxa8 15 Ra1 Qd8 16 Bxb5 Be7 17 Nxe5 Bxe4 18 Nxd7 Nxd7 19 Ra7 Bf5 20 Bxd7+ Bxd7 21 Bb6 Qc8 22 Qd4 f6 23 Rc7 Qd8 24 Rc3 Qa8 25 Re3 Qc6 26 Qc5 1–0 Adams,M-Bisby,D/Hastings 1995/CBM 48 ext (26). ] 12 Ne2 Qe7 13 Ng3 0–0 14 c4 Rfd8 [14 ..b4? 15 c5! a5 (15 ..Nxc5? 16 Qxb4 Nfd7 17 Rfc1 Rfd8 18 Rxc5! winning.) 16 Qc2 with a big grip in the game, 1–0 Marciano,D-Leski,M/Narbonne 1997/CBM 61 (34).] 15 axb5 cxb5 16 cxb5 axb5 17 Rxa8 Bxa8 [Unfortunately for black, the rook's needed on d8 to protect the knight: 17 ..Rxa8 18 Bxb5! Nxe4 19 Qxd7!]

18 Qa5! Taking full advantage of the weaknesses in the black camp. Gurevich would really like to play Nc5 but can't as after Bxc5 the rook on d8 hangs. 18 ..b4 19 Rc1 Ne8 20 Bd2 Rb8 21 Bb5 The combined weaknesses soon tell - black can't defend b4. 21 ..Ndf6 22 Bxb4 Qb7 23 Bxe8 Nxe8 24 Rc4 Nicely defending everything. 24 ..f6 25 Nd2 Qd7 26 Ngf1 Bb7 27 Ba3 Ra8 28 Qc3 Rd8 29 Nb3 Qf7 30 Nc5 Ba8 31 Ne3 Nd6 32 Qa5 Rc8 33 Rb4 f5 34 Qa6 Rd8 35 Qb6 Bf6 36 Ra4 Nc8 37 Qa6 Nd6 38 Qb6 Nc8 39 Qa6 Nd6 40 exf5 gxf5 41 Nd3 Bb7 42 Qb6 Ne4? [An error - but Gurevich's game is beyond salvation by this time: 42 ..Nc8 43 Qb5 e4 44 Nxf5 Kh8 45 Ne5 Qc7 46 Rd4! Rg8 (46 ..Rxd4 47 Qe8#) 47 Nh6 winning.] 43 Nxe5 Rd1+ 44 Nxd1 Bxe5 [44 ..Bxe5 45 Ra7 Qd7 46 Ne3 Bd4 47 Qxb7 Qxb7 48 Rxb7 and black's just a whole rook down.] 1–0

In round twelve, Loooooooek Van Wely decided that losing in 20 moves with the French can be improved upon, going down in just 19 moves in the same line as Bareev lost in 20 the round before.

Morozevich,A - Van Wely,L [C10]

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Bd3 Ngf6 6 Qe2 c5 7 Nxf6+ Nxf6 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 Bd2 0–0 10 0–0–0 Qd5 11 Kb1 Qxg2 12 Nf3 Qxf2 13 Qe5 Make the most of this game - due to its outcome (and yesterdays Khalifman-Bareev) and the post mortem analysis, I doubt whether we'll ever see this line of the French from black again. 13 ..Nd7 14 Bxh7+ Kxh7 15 Qh5+ Kg8 16 Rhg1 Be3 17 Bxe3!

[And here's the big improvement that now casts the line into doubt - and one that looks as if it was found at the board by Morozevich. He wouldn't really have expected Van Wely to play the French, and he thought for over 40 minutes on deciding on 17 Bxe3! Van Wely has had the position before, but lost horribly to Anand last year at the Amber Blindfold. However, he had a big improvement he wanted to play - unfortunately Morozevich didn't allow it. 17 Bc3 f6?! (This was what Van Wely would have played 17 ..e5! ) 18 Rdf1 Qe2 19 Re1 Qf2 20 Ref1 Qe2 21 Re1 Qf2 22 Qg4 Rf7 23 Rgf1 Nf8 24 Rxf2 Bxf2 25 Rf1 Bb6 26 Qh5 g6 27 Qh4 e5 28 Nd2 g5 29 Qh6 Bd8 30 Ne4 1–0 Anand,V-Van Wely,L/Monaco MNC 2001/TWIC 333. ] 17 ..Qxe3 18 Rg3 Qc5? [18 ..Qf4!? 19 Rdg1! Rd8 20 Rxg7+ Kf8 21 Nd2 Ne5 (21 ..Ke7 22 Rf1 Qxd2 23 Qh4+ Kd6 24 Qxd8 Kc6 25 Rgxf7 e5) 22 Rf1 Qxf1+ 23 Nxf1 Kxg7 24 Qg5+; In the post mortem Van Wely casually tried 18 ..g6? but before he could even take his finger of the pawn, Morozevich had already seen through it: 19 Rxg6+! fxg6 20 Qxg6+ Kh8 21 Ng5 Nf6 22 Nf7+ Rxf7 23 Rd8+; The main discussion after the game centered on what could be black's only attempt at a defence: 18 ..Nf6 19 Qh4! Ne4 20 Ng5 Qxg5 21 Rxg5 Nxg5 22 Qxg5 f6 23 Qg2! e5 24 h4 Be6 25 Qxb7 Rab8 26 Qa6] 19 Qh6 1–0

Grischuk,A (2671) - Khalifman,A (2688) [B85]

Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 26.01.2002

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be2 a6 7 0–0 Nf6 8 Be3 Be7 9 f4 d6 We now have a main-line Scheveningen. 10 Kh1 0–0 11 a4 Re8 12 Bf3 Since the Kasparov-Anand title match in 1995 this is White's main try, ousting in the process most of the other moves. 12 ..Bf8 This older move has experienced a revival lately, mainly due to the main Scheveningen guru Kasparov. 13 g4 As Grischuk explained during his press conference cum post mortem, "This sharp line became popular after Efim Geller brought it into praxis in the early 1980s. 13 ..Nxd4 14 Bxd4 e5 15 Bg1 exf4 16 g5 Nd7 17 Nd5 Qd8 18 Bg2 Modern praxis favours ideas like Qd2 and Qg2. Grischuk favours Geller's way of playing the white side. 18 ..Re5 19 Qd2 [19 Rxf4 Rxg5 20 Qd2 Ne5 21 Bb6 Qd7 22 Raf1 h6 23 a5 Qc6 24 Qf2 Ng4 25 Qd2 Ne5 26 Qf2 Ng4 ½–½ Geller,E-Sokolov,A/Sochi 1983/MCL (26). ] 19 ..Rxg5 20 Qxf4 f6 21 Ra3! A nice move that gives white the option of using the rook on the queenside, or even swinging across to the kingside for an attack. 21 ..Ne5 22 Bb6 Qd7 23 Rg3?! [Grischuk was critical of this move after the game, pointing out that Khalifman was worried about 23 h3! as it takes control of the all-important g4 square, denying black the option of getting out of the bind with a face-saving Qg4. 23 ..Be7 a)23 ..Nc4? 24 Qxg5!! fxg5 25 Raf3 Be7 (a)25 ..Qe8 26 Nc7!) 26 Rf7 and black's in a mess.; b)23 ..Qf7 24 Qxg5 fxg5 25 Rxf7 Kxf7 26 Nc7 Rb8 27 Ba7; 24 Rg3 Rxg3 25 Qxg3 and black has great difficulty in freeing his pieces.] 23 ..Rg6 24 Rc3 Qg4! In the nick of time, with one bound Khalifman has managed to untangle his game. 25 Qd2 Bd7 26 Nf4 Bc6 27 Rg3 Qd7 28 Nxg6 hxg6 Grischuk explained that he very nearly thought of offering a draw in this position as black has a superb fortress possibility for the exchange. The only reason he decided to play on was that it was his last white of the tournament - therefore his best chance to take the lead going into the final round. 29 b3 Re8? [Grischuk: "I couldn't see a way through after 29 ..g5! His blunder with 29 ..Re8 allows me to fix the weak pawn on g6."]

30 h4! Qf7 31 Bd4 Nd7 32 Qf4 Nc5 33 Bxc5 dxc5 34 e5! "Now I could clearly see my way home." 34 ..Re6 [34 ..Bxg2+ 35 Rxg2 Rxe5 36 Qxe5 fxe5 37 Rxf7 Kxf7 38 Rg5! Kf6 39 Kg2 with the winning plan of Kf3-e4-d5 etc.] 35 Bxc6 Rxc6 36 c4 Re6 37 Rgf3 f5 38 h5 Be7 39 hxg6 Qxg6 40 Qxf5 Qxf5 41 Rxf5 g6 42 Rg1 Kh7 [Grischuk: "Better was 42 ..Kg7 but then I have a strong plan to win: 43 Rg2! with the idea of Rff2, and if ..Rxe5, then I have Re2 winning easily as after Rh5 I play Rh2 - the ending is a simple win."] 43 Rf7+ Kg8 44 Rf3 1–0

You can contact John Henderson at: jbhthescots@cableinet.co.uk

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.