Chess for Tuesday January 17th 2006

Malcolm Pein writes for the Daily Telegraph

The England number one Michael Adams showed he is still a force at the top of world chess by outplaying the Fide Champion Veselin Topalov in the second round of the Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee. After careful preparation Adams launched a strong attack sacrificing first a pawn and then a knight to destroy Topalov’s solid defensive wall.

The Bulgarian’s pieces were unable to coordinate and his queen began to run out of squares. Adams won material and ruthlessly exploited his advantage. Topalov was never in the game. Vishy Anand, who is the co-favourite with Topalov could not take full advantage as Levon Aronian defended successfully in an endgame less a pawn after suffering for most of the game defending the Ruy Lopez.

Vasily Ivanchuk took the lead on 2/2 by defeating Ivan Sokolov

Wijk aan Zee Round 2

Adams 1-0 Topalov, Sicilian Scheveningen, 42;
Leko draw Karjakin, Sicilian Najdorf, 29;
Kamsky 1-0 Gelfand, Slav Defence, 41;
Bacrot 1-0 Tiviakov, Accelerated Dragon, 41;
Anand draw Aronian, Ruy Lopez, 66;
Van Wely draw Mamedyarov, King’s Indian Classical 6...Bg4, 49;
Sokolov 0-1 Ivanchuk, Queen’s Indian, 73;

Scores: 1 Ivanchuk (Ukraine) 2/2 2-4 Adams (England), Bacrot (France), Anand (India) 1.5; 5-9 Leko (Hungary), Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Van Wely (Holland), Kamsky (USA), Topalov (Bulgaria), 10-14 Gelfand (Israel), Aronian (Armenia), Sokolov, Tiviakov (Holland), Karjakin (Ukraine),

M Adams - V Topalov
Corus A Wijk aan Zee (2)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 (The Sicilian Najdorf) 6.Be2 (Topalov's ascent has been based to some degree on successfully combating the English Attack 6.Be3) 6...e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 (Adams is comfortable in this kind of Sicilian, he has beaten many of the world's finest including Kramnik) 11...Re8 (Kasparov's patent preparing Bf8 or sometimes e6-e5) 12.Bf3 Bf8 13.Qd2 (13.Nb3 and 13.g4 are the main alternatives) 13...Na5 14.b3 (A perfectly sensible move but 15.Qf2 Nc4 15.Bc1 is more common) 14...Rb8 (14...Bd7!? for example 15.g4 Rac8 16.Nde2 Bc6 17.g5 Nd7 18.Rad1 b6) 15.Rad1 Nc6 16.Bf2 Nd7 (Anticipating e4-e5) 17.Bg3 (Eyeing the black pieces on the g3-b8 diagonal) 17...Nxd4 18.Qxd4 b5 (Consequent but after Adams's 20th the pawn becomes a weakness. 20...b6 with Bb7 and Rbc8 looks playable) 19.axb5 axb5 20.b4! g6 (20...Qc4 21.Be2 Qxd4 22.Rxd4 Ba6 23.Ra1 looks uncomfortable for Black) 21.e5! d5 (21...dxe5? opens two files for white rooks 22.fxe5 Bg7 23.Be2 Bxe5 (23...Nxe5 24.Nxb5 Qxc2 25.Rd2 Qc6 26.Bxe5 Bxe5 27.Qxe5) 24.Nxb5!) 22.f5! (The attack is based around freeing the e5 pawn because e5-e6 can be devastating. At the same time there are threats of fxg6 and Qf4 attacking f7) 22...gxf5 (22...Qb6 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.Qf4 Re7 25.Bh4) 23.Nxd5!! Qc4 (23...exd5 24.e6 Qb6 25.exf7+ Kxf7 26.Bh5+ wins) 24.Qd2! h6 (24...exd5 25.Qg5+ Kh8 [25...Bg7 26.Bxd5 Qg4 27.Bxf7+ Kxf7 28.Rxf5+] 26.Bxd5 Qg4 [ or 26...Qe2 27.Bxf7 Re7 28.Qg8#] 27.Qxg4 fxg4 28.Bxf7 Re7 29.e6 Rb7 30.exd7 Rbxd7 31.Rxd7 Rxd7 32.Be6 Rd8 33.Rxf8+ Rxf8 34.Be5+ Rf6 35.Bxf6#) 25.h3! (Ruling out Qg4 defences and asking Black if he has a constructive move) 25...exd5 (There was little choice 25...Bg7 26.Nf6+; 25...Bb7 26.Ne3 wins the Nd7; 25...Kh8!? 26.Bf4? [26.Nf6 or 26.c3 exd5 27.Bxd5 Qc7 28.Rxf5] 26...Bb7!) 26.Bxd5 Qxb4 27.c3 Qc5 (27...Qa3 28.Rxf5 Re7 29.Rxf7 Rxf7 30.e6 Kh8 31.exd7 Rxd7 32.Be5+ Bg7 33.Qxh6#) 28.Rxf5 (The threats against f7 are too strong) 28...Re6 29.Rxf7! Nb6 (29...Kxf7 30.Qf4+ Ke7 31.Bh4+ Ke8 32.Bxe6) 30.Rdf1 Nxd5 (Giving up the queen but if 30...Bg7 31.Qf4 Qxd5 32.Rxg7+ Kxg7 33.Qf8+ Kg6 34.Qf7+ Kg5 35.Rf5#) 31.Rxf8+ Qxf8 32.Rxf8+ Kxf8 33.Qxd5 (Although the material balance is only slightly in White's favour Black's king is so exposed he cannot move without losing material) 33...Ke8 34.Bh4 Bd7 35.Bf6 b4 36.Qe4! Bc8 (36...bxc3 37.Qg6+ Kf8 38.Qg7+ Ke8 39.Qg8#) 37.cxb4 Rb7 38.Qg6+ Kd7 39.Qxh6 Kc7 (39...Rxb4 40.Qd2+ Kc6 41.Qxb4) 40.Qf4 (By the time the Black king makes it to the queenside the h pawn will be on its way to becoming a new queen) 40...Kb8 41.h4 Rc7 42.h5 1-0 if 42...Rh7 43.h6 Bb7 44.Qg5

Topalov

Adams

Position after 42.h5