Corus Wijk aan Zee, 14-29 Jan 2006
Last Edited:
Friday September 1, 2006 2:26 PM
Rd 12: Anand and Topalov Top the Table
Round 13 (2006.01.29)
Anand, Viswanathan - Gelfand, Boris 1-0 66 B90 Sicilian Najdorf
Adams, Michael - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 1/2 27 C78 Ruy Lopez
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Kariakin, Sergey 1-0 64 A28 English 1 c4 e5
Leko, Peter - Topalov, Veselin 1/2 40 B91 Sicilian Najdorf
Aronian, Levon - Sokolov, Ivan 1-0 35 D17 Slav defence
Bacrot, Etienne - Van Wely, Loek 1/2 91 D46 Queen's gambit
Kamsky, Gata - Tiviakov, Sergei 0-1 43 B01 Scandinavian
Corus Wijk aan Zee (NED), I 2006 cat. 19 (2716)
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Final Table 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
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1 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2792 * = = 1 1 1 = 1 = 1 1 = 0 = 9.0 2850
2 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2801 = * 0 = = 1 = = 1 1 1 = 1 1 9.0 2850
3 Adams, Michael g ENG 2707 = 1 * 1 0 = = = = = = = 1 = 7.5 2773
4 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2729 0 = 0 * = 1 = = 1 = = = 1 1 7.5 2771
5 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2723 0 = 1 = * = = = = = 1 = 0 1 7.0 2744
6 Kariakin, Sergey g UKR 2660 0 0 = 0 = * = = = = 1 1 1 1 7.0 2749
7 Tiviakov, Sergei g NED 2669 = = = = = = * = = = 0 = 1 = 6.5 2719
8 Leko, Peter g HUN 2740 0 = = = = = = * = 0 = 1 1 = 6.5 2713
9 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2752 = 0 = 0 = = = = * 0 = 1 1 1 6.5 2713
10 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2647 0 0 = = = = = 1 1 * = = 0 = 6.0 2692
11 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2717 0 0 = = 0 0 1 = = = * = 1 = 5.5 2658
12 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2709 = = = = = 0 = 0 0 = = * 0 = 4.5 2606
13 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2686 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 * = 4.5 2608
14 Sokolov, Ivan g NED 2689 = 0 = 0 0 0 = = 0 = = = = * 4.0 2576
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Steve Giddins reports direct from Wijk aan Zee -
With Topalov half a point ahead of Anand at the start of today's last
round, all eyes were on their games. Topalov faced the more difficult
task, having Black against Leko, but in the face of some rather timid
play by the latter, he soon had the edge. By move 21, he was already winning
a pawn, but Leko thought hard and found a way to liquidate to an opposite-coloured
bishop ending, where the extra pawn was merely symbolic. Topalov was thus
guaranteed at least equal first, his fourth victory in consecutive top-class
tournaments.
This left Anand trying to beat Gelfand, in order to secure a share of
first place, which he duly managed in the game annotated below. As a result,
the world's two top players of the moment have once again demonstrated
their superiority over the competition.
Perhaps inevitably, the other games were largely overshadowed, but some
excellent chess was played, notably by Aronian. There has been much talk
of just how good he could be, if he ever sorts out his openings, which
remain rather suspect for this level. Today we had a glimpse of just what
potential there is, as he destroyed Ivan Sokolov with a long piece of
opening preparation. Aronian's 14 Qb3 is relatively rare, and 16 Qb1 was
a new move. Sokolov took on the most critical line, by taking the f4-pawn,
but merely walked into a devastating exchange sacrifice. It was move 26
before Aronian was out of his preparation, and by then his position was
already overwhelming. Desperately short of time, Sokolov an attractive
finish with 28...Qb6 but the position was already gone. At the end of
the game, Aronian had used just 25 minutes on the clock. He later said
that the prepared line was one he had not really believed in, but after
another look this morning, he decided to play it.
Adams will be disappointed at failing to win any of his last three games,
despite having two Whites. Today, he reached an imposing-looking position
against Mamedyarov, but failed to convert it. One critical line was 17
g4, burying the bishop on g6, but Adams rejected this in view of a quick
c6 and d5 by Black. Possibly the main improvement was 20 Ng1! Qf8 21 Qd2,
after which the post-mortem did not find anything satisfactory for Black.
Tiviakov has had clear advantages in at least 8 of his games, but before
today, had failed to win any of them. To his relief, he finally managed
it in the final round, as Black against Kamsky. Tiviakov's 3...Qd6 in
the Scandinavian again secured him an excellent position from the opening,
as well as a large time advantage. Kamsky continued to play ambitiously,
rather than baling out into a possible drawable ending, and his position
fell apart in the complications leading up to the first time control.
Ivanchuk was given the bishop pair on move 5 by Kariakin, and spent the
next 59 moves exploiting them. An early queen exchange left White with
a clear edge, and this was eventually converted into a double minor piece
ending with 4 pawns against 3 on the same side, in which Ivanchuk ground
his young opponent down relentlessly. A disappointing end for Kariakin,
but he can still be proud of his +1 performance, having lost only to Anand,
Topalov and Ivanchuk.
In the B Group, an exciting finish saw a tie for first place between
Magnus Carlsen and Alexander Motylev. The latter has the better Sonneborn-Berger,
and therefore gains the right to play in next year's A Group. However,
fans of Magnus should not be too disappointed, as I suspect there is a
very good chance he will also be invited to next year's A Group. In the
C Group, Suat Atalik's dominance from start to finish went unchallenged,
and he won the group with a round to spare.
Anand - Gelfand [B90]
Wijk aan Zee 2006, Rd 13
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 f3 e5 7 Nb3 Be6 8
Be3 Nbd7 9 Qd2 b5 10 0-0-0 Nb6 11 Qf2 Nc4 12 Bxc4 bxc4 13 Na5 Qd7
The first new move. Anand's last experience of this position saw him
beat Kazimdzhanov at St Luis, after 13 ..Rc8 14 Bb6 Qd7 15 g3 g6 16 Rd2
Bh6 17 f4 Ng4 18 Qf3 Rb8 19 h3 Nf6 20 Bc5 exf4 21 gxf4 Rc8 22 Bxd6 Qd8
23 Bb4 Qb6 24 a3 Nh5 25 Kb1 Bxf4 26 Nd5 Bxd5 27 Rxd5 Bb8 28 Rhd1 c3 29
Rd7 1-0
14 Rd2 Be7 15 Rhd1 Rb8 16 Bc5 Qc7
17 Rxd6 !
This must somehow have escaped Gelfand's attention in his preparations.
White sacrifices the exchange for a pawn and a better structure.
17...Qxa5 18 Rxe6 fxe6 19 Bxe7
19...Kxe7? 20 Qa7+ is the point of White's play.
19...Rb7 20 Bd6 Nd7 21 Qh4 Qd8 22 Qh5+
Another option was 22 Qxd8+ Kxd8 23 Bxe5.
22...g6 23 Qh6 Qf6 24 Ne2 Kf7 25 h4 g5!?
It is not clear that this is really necessary, but Black's King remains
vulnerable all the while queens are on the board.
26 hxg5 Qxh6 27 gxh6 Rg8 28 g4 Rg6 29 Rh1 Rb6 30 Ba3 Rf6 31 Rh3 Kg6
32 Kd2 Rf7 33 Ke3 Nf6 34 Nc3 Rd7 35 Rh1 Rc6 36 Na4 Rb7 37 Nc3 Rb8 38 Nd1
38...Ng8?!
Black has defended well, and it is not clear that White should win this
position. However, Anand had been moving throughout at great speed, and
Gelfand was about an hour behind on the clock. In considerable time trouble,
he initiates an exchange of pawns on e5 and h6, which looks fishy. Black's
doubled e-pawns protect a lot of squares and hold up White's pawn phalanx
on e4-f3-g4. Once e5 goes, it becomes much easier for White to make progress.
Mickey Adams' view was that the position is was looking drawish before
this exchange.
39 Rh5 Nxh6 40 Rxe5 Nf7 41 Rh5 Rb5 42 Rh1 e5
This again holds up the white pawns, but only at the cost of ceding the
d5 square to the white knight.
43 Nc3 Rb7 44 Nd5 Re6 45 Bb4!?
The Press Room was expecting 45 f4, which also looks very strong, but
Anand is in no hurry. He has considerable scope to improve his position.
45...Kg7 46 Rh2 Ng5 47 Bc3 Kg8 48 Rf2 Rf7 49 Rf1 Re8 50 Ke2 Ref8
51 Bxe5! Nxe4
51...Rxf3 loses to 52 Rxf3 Rxf3 53 Bf6 winning.
52 Ke3 Nc5 53 f4 Re8 54 Kd4 Nd7 55 Re1 Re6 56 Re2 Nxe5 57 fxe5 Rg7
58 Nf6+ Kf7 59 Kxc4 Rg5 60 Kd4 Rb6 61 c4 Ke6 62 b3 Rb8 63 Re4 h6 64 Nd5
Rbg8 65 Nf4+ Ke7 66 e6 1-0
And with that, I come to the end of this series of live reports from
Wijk aan Zee. I hope that over the past 17 days, you have enjoyed reading
them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
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