Round 13 27th January 2002

BAREEV GOES BIG (AGAIN!)

IT’S not everyday you win a tournament of this stature and then thank someone who pulled out at the last moment. Come to think of it, during Garry Kasparov’s first prize giving speech here in 1999, I didn’t once hear him mutter the words “Nigel” and “Short”. Then again, maybe it was simply because I wasn’t at Wijk that year when Gazza made his winning debut as the substitute for his former title challenger!

This year, as Evgeny Bareev made his victory speech from the podium during the Corus prize-giving ceremony in Wijk aan Zee after the tradition (Mmmmm!) pea soup supper, the first person he thanked in a typically chess-player back-handed sort of way was Vladimir Kramnik: “First of all I’d like to thank Kramnik for not being here…”. I suppose he could also have gone on to mention the likes of Kasparov, Anand, Ivanchuk and Ponomariov who I’m sure also all did their bit for the Bareev win by not being there.

Earlier in the week, when he first took the lead and was invited to do his first press conference, it was a cheerful Bareev who kept all the hacks entertained in the press room with his off-beat sense of humour. Asked if it was nice to play again at Wijk, Bareev replied: “Yes – and there are no ‘big dogs’ [meaning the absence of Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand] about that want to bite you. And with either black or white!”. This time, during his final press conference as winner, Bareev was asked if this was a ‘Big’ result for him. “No” came the emphatic reply. “It’s huge! The best result of my career.”

After several years of limited invitations and indifferent results, this really is a big win for Bareev, 35, who was the third ranked player in the world ten years ago (behind Kasparov and Karpov). He’s been on and off the top-ten ranking list for longer than many of the latest generation of players can probably remember – even when the new FIDE world champion was sleeping soundly in his crib.

World U-16 champion in 1982, Bareev became a grandmaster in 1989, going on to storm Hastings by winning in three successive years, 1990-93. At his peak in 1995, Bareev came second here at Wijk – a result he thought would guarantee him many future invitations. However, for some reason the invitations simply dried up.

Talking to Jeroen Piket as the tournament was reaching the final four rounds, the Dutchman asked Bareev if “he was going to play for wins from now in or be back in another seven years?”. It was only then that Bareev decided that he really had to “go for it”. Apart from a glitch in round eleven when he lost in just 20 moves to Alexander Khalifman, he made all the running in the last four rounds, scoring 3/4 to take the €10,000 first prize and Hoogovens Schaaktournei trophy, finishing half a point ahead of the Russian teenager Alexander Grischuk.

However, you need a good share of luck to win a tournament of this stature, and the chess gods were working overtime for Bareev in the final round when his Uzbek opponent, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, seemed to ‘crack’ in a good position with a speculative piece-sacrifice that backfired horribly. Commenting after the game, Bareev said: "I wasn’t very satisfied with my play, but I will drink half a glass of champagne to celebrate."

Somehow I think it’ll be a little bit more than just half a glass. Cheers, Evgeny!

Kasimdzhanov,R (2695) - Bareev,E (2707) [D45]

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e3 e6 5 Nf3 Nbd7 6 Qc2 Bd6 7 g4 The Shabalov Variation: a very aggressive line that first caught the attention of the chess world when Shirov played it against Akopian at the Oakham Young Masters in 1992. However, it was US émigré Alexander Shabalov who was one of the early pioneers of the line. 7 ..h6 [Kramnik's 7 ..Bb4 is one of the better ways of handling this system for black. However, taking on g4 is not recommended for those of a nervous disposition, as was demonstrated by the winner of the B Group, Mikhal Krasenkow: 7 ..Nxg4 8 Rg1 Nh6 9 e4 dxe4 10 Nxe4 Bb4+ 11 Bd2 Bxd2+ 12 Qxd2 Nf5 13 0–0–0 Nf6 14 Bd3 0–0 15 Rg2 Nxe4 16 Bxe4 Qf6 17 Ne5 Rd8 18 Ng4 Qe7 19 Bxf5 exf5 20 Nh6+ Kh8 21 Rxg7 Kxg7 22 Rg1+ Kh8 23 Qe2 1–0 Krasenkow,M-Sveshnikov,E/Moscow 1992/EXT 97. ] 8 Bd2 Qe7 9 Rg1 e5 10 cxd5 Nxd5 [Taking back with the pawn could be the easy way to equalise: 10 ..cxd5!? 11 Nb5 e4 12 Nh4 Nb6 13 Nxd6+ Qxd6 14 Bb5+ Bd7 15 Nf5 Qxh2 16 Bxd7+ Kxd7 17 Ke2 g6 18 Ng3 Rac8 19 Qb3 Qh3 20 a4 Qxg4+ 21 Ke1 Rc7 22 Qb5+ Kc8 23 Bb4 Qd7 24 Qe2 Rc4 25 Qd2 Qc6 26 a5 Nbd7 27 Ne2 Kb8 28 Ba3 Rc8 29 Nc3 Nf8 30 Bc5 Ne6 31 b4 Ng5 32 Rxg5 hxg5 33 Qb2 Rh8 34 Ke2 Qd7 35 Rg1 Qf5 36 Nb5 Ng4 37 Ke1 Nxf2 0–1 Djukic,N-Mastrovasilis,D/Oropesa del Mar 2001/EXT 2002.] 11 Ne4 Bb4N 12 0–0–0

Bareev:"I must admit that White has a clear advantage here, so I had quite a difficult time." 12 ..exd4 13 Nxd4 Bxd2+ 14 Rxd2 g6 Bareev: "I don't like this move, but Nf5 was too dangerous." 15 Bc4 Bareev: "White was clearly better here and it was difficult for me to defend". 15 ..Nb4 16 Qb3 Bareev: "I was dreaming of a slightly worse endgame after 16 Qc3 Qxe4 17 Qxb4 c5 18 Nb5 cxb4 19 Nd6 Ke7 20 Nxe4." 16 ..0–0 17 Nf5? Bareev: "This looks dangerous, but it's probably just a blunder." 17 ..gxf5 18 gxf5+ Kh7! 19 Nd6 Nd5 20 Bxd5 cxd5 21 Qxd5 Nf6 22 Qd4 Bd7 23 e4 Rg8 24 Rgd1 Bc6 25 e5

25 ..Ne8! Bareev: "Defends everything." 26 Nc4 Rc8 27 Kb1 Qg5 28 Ne3 Ng7 29 h4 Qh5 30 Qf4 Qf3 31 Rd4 Qxf4 32 Rxf4 Rce8 33 f6 Nh5 0–1

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.