Chess for Monday January 16th 2006

Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph

The Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee started with a brilliant game from Vishy Anand. The Indian GM ranked world number three sacrificed all his minor pieces and mated the Ukrainian prodigy Sergei Karjakin who started the fireworks himself by sacrificing a knight in one of the sharpest lines of modern opening theory, the English Attack against the Sicilian Najdorf.

Former Fide championship finalist Gata Kamsky made a poor start in his first game back at the very top level as he rebuilds his career following seven years away from competition. Kamsky played a risky opening with black against the reigning Fide Champion Veselin Topalov and was despatched in just 25 moves.

Corus Wijk aan Zee Grandmaster A Round 1

Van Wely draw Sokolov, Slav Defence, 41 moves;
Mamedyarov draw Bacrot, QGA, 24;
Tiviakov - Adams, Ruy Lopez Worral Attack, 72; Tiviakov played on and on in a dead drawn rook and pawn endgame, he should get a life;
Topalov 1-0 Kamsky, Scandinavian, 25;
Gelfand draw Leko, Catalan, 37;
Karjakin 0-1 Anand, Sicilian Najdorf, English Attack, 37;
Aronian 0-1 Ivanchuk, Gruenfeld g3,

V Topalov - G Kamsky
Corus A Wijk aan Zee (1)

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nxd5 4.d4 Bf5 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 e6 7.0-0 (7.Qb5+ Nc6 8.Qxb7 Ndb4 9.Na3 Rb8) 7...Nc6 8.c4 Nb6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Bf4 g5?!

(Quite astonishing, Kamsky must have been trying to unsettle Topalov, this move can't be good) 11.Bg3 g4 12.Ne5 Nxd4 (12...Qxd4 13.Qe2 0-0-0 14.Rad1 Qc5 15.Nxf7) 13.c5 (Typically bold play from Topalov also 13.Rad1 Nf5 14.Qe2 Qc8 15.c5 with a big advantage) 13...Bxc5 14.Rad1 0-0?

(This loses, Black had to go the other way although he had presumably worked out it was also bad 14...Qe7 15.b4 0-0-0 16.bxc5 Nf3+ 17.gxf3 Rxd3 18.Rxd3 .Nd5 19.c6! gxf3 20.cxb7+ Kxb7 21.Nxd5 exd5 22.Rxd5 and White's pieces coordinate well so he should win)

15.Ne4 Be7 16.Nxg4 (16.Qxd4 Qxd4 17.Rxd4 f5 18.Nc3 c5 19.Rdd1 f4) 16...c5? (16...Nf5 17.Qc3 Nd5 18.Rxd5 exd5 19.Nef6+ wins; 16...f5 17.Nh6+ Kg7 18.Be5+ Kxh6 19.Qh3+ Kg6 20.Rxd4) 17.b4? (Missing an immediate KO with 17.Be5 f6 18.Ng5! fxg5 19.Nh6#) 17...Nd5 (17...Nf5 18.Qc3 Nd5 19.Rxd5 exd5 20.Nef6+ Kh8 21.Be5) 18.bxc5 (18.Be5 f6 19.Ng5 wins again but Black had just a few minutes left and a bad position) 18...Nf5 19.Qf3 Rc8 20.Bd6 Nxd6 21.cxd6 Bh4 22.d7 Rc6 (22...Rc7 23.Rxd5 exd5 24.Nef6+ Bxf6 25.Nxf6+ Kg7 26.Ne8+ Rxe8 27.dxe8Q Qxe8 28.Qg3+ Kh8 29.Qxc7) 23.Ne5 Rc7 24.Qg4+ Kh8 25.Nd6 1-0

Kamsky

Topalov

Final position after 25.Nd6 intending Nxf7+ and if 25...Rxd7 26.Nxd7 Qxd7 27.Rxd5

23.Qe2 has been played but PC programs like White after 23.Qc3. Anand had obviously analysed further and came up with the stunning idea of sacrificing two pieces.

S Karjakin - V Anand
Corus A Wijk aan Zee (1)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 b4 13.Ne2 Ne8 14.f4 a5 15.f5 a4 16.Nbd4 exd4 17.Nxd4 b3 18.Kb1 bxc2+ 19.Nxc2 Bb3 20.axb3 axb3 21.Na3 Ne5 22.h4 Ra5 23.Qc3 Qa8 24.Bg2 Nc7!! 25.Qxc7 Rc8 26.Qxe7 Nc4 27.g6 (27.Bd4 Qc6 28.Rc1 Nd2+ 29.Ka1 Qxc1+ 30.Rxc1 Rxc1#; 27.Rd2 Rxa3 28.bxa3 Nxd2+ 29.Bxd2 Qxa3; 27.e5 Qxg2) 27...hxg6 28.fxg6 Nxa3+ 29.bxa3 Rxa3 30.gxf7+ Kh7! 31.f8N+ Rxf8 32.Qxf8 Ra1+ 33.Kb2 Ra2+ 34.Kc3 Qa5+ 35.Kd3 Qb5+ 36.Kd4 Ra4+ 37.Kc3 Qc4+ 0-1