Corus, Wijk aan Zee 2007. Round 1 13th January 2007. Comments by Malcolm Pein

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Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (NED), 13-28 i 2007                cat. XIX (2718)
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                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
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 1. Radjabov, Teimour    g AZE 2729  * . . . . . . . . . . . . 1  1.0       
 2. Anand, Viswanathan   g IND 2779  . * . . . . . . = . . . . .  0.5  2723 
 3. Aronian, Levon       g ARM 2744  . . * . . . . = . . . . . .  0.5  2719 
 4. Carlsen, Magnus      g NOR 2690  . . . * . . . . . . . = . .  0.5  2667 
 5. Karjakin, Sergey     g UKR 2678  . . . . * = . . . . . . . .  0.5  2766 
 6. Kramnik, Vladimir    g RUS 2766  . . . . = * . . . . . . . .  0.5  2678 
 7. Motylev, Alexander   g RUS 2647  . . . . . . * . . . . . = .  0.5  2783 
 8. Navara, David        g CZE 2719  . . = . . . . * . . . . . .  0.5  2744 
 9. Ponomariov, Ruslan   g UKR 2723  . = . . . . . . * . . . . .  0.5  2779 
10. Shirov, Alexei       g ESP 2715  . . . . . . . . . * = . . .  0.5  2728 
11. Svidler, Peter       g RUS 2728  . . . . . . . . . = * . . .  0.5  2715 
12. Tiviakov, Sergei     g NED 2667  . . . = . . . . . . . * . .  0.5  2690 
13. Topalov, Veselin     g BUL 2783  . . . . . . = . . . . . * .  0.5  2647 
14. Van Wely, Loek       g NED 2683  0 . . . . . . . . . . . . *  0.0       
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Round 1 (January 13, 2007)

Karjakin, Sergey    -  Kramnik, Vladimir   1/2   33  C42  Petroff's Defence
Navara, David       -  Aronian, Levon      1/2   22  D38  QGD Ragozin
Ponomariov, Ruslan  -  Anand, Viswanathan  1/2   22  E05  Catalan
Shirov, Alexei      -  Svidler, Peter      1/2   26  D87  Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Tiviakov, Sergei    -  Carlsen, Magnus     1/2   24  B22  Sicilian Alapin
Topalov, Veselin    -  Motylev, Alexander  1/2   24  D12  Slav Defence
Van Wely, Loek      -  Radjabov, Teimour   0-1   40  E97  King's Indian Classical

There was a rather cagey start to the Corus Wijk aan Zee ‘A’ Group, the highlight of a two week chess festival in the Dutch seaside town which is overshadowed by the giant steelworks. The tournament includes the world’s top three players.

The only winner was the Azerbaijani former prodigy Teimour Radjabov who defeated Loek Van Wely in a forty move King’s Indian. In the other games the players of the black pieces equalised efficiently for the most part and unlike Van Wely their opponent’s did not take any chances.

Sergey Karijakin against Vladimir Kramnik. Photo © Michiel Abeln.

The world champion Vladimir Kramnik was held to a draw by the teenager Sergey Karjakin.

Veselin Topalov against Alexander Motylev. Photo © Michiel Abeln.

World number one Veselin Topalov made no progress against the Slav Defence played by Alexander Motylev a former Russian champion and one of Kramnik’s assistants. Motylev brazenly chose the same line that Kramnik used repeatedly in his title match against Topalov last year. Although Topalov scored two fine wins in the line, his chosen counter achieved little and he was actually slightly worse when the draw was agreed.

Alexei Shirov and Peter Svidler repeated in a complex position. Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Loek van Wely against Teimour Radjabov. Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Annotated Game in PGN

Van Wely,L (2683) - Radjabov,T (2729) [E97]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 13.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 The Bayonet Attack, of the sharpest and most heavily analysed lines. White goes for the queenside push c4-c5 without further ado. White can also play moves like 9.Ne1 and Nd2 preparing f2-f3 and then moving the knight to c4 or d3. 9...Nh5 10.Re1 A useful waiting move inviting Black to play f7-f5 so that the Nf3 may invade via g5. No self respecting KID player turns down the challenge but of course both sides would have analysed this extensively. 10...f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Ne6 [13.c5 dxc5 (13...h6 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 d5 1-0 Knoll,H (2361)-Uhlmann,W (2451)/Ansfelden AUT 2003/The Week in Chess 462 (96)) 14.bxc5 h6 15.Ne6 Bxe6 16.dxe6 Qd4+ 17.Qxd4 exd4 18.Nb5 fxe4 is fine for Black.; 13.Be3!? Neg8 (13...Bh6 0-1 Thejkumar,M (2384)-Ramu,K (2217)/Hyderabad IND 2006/The Week in Chess 591 (44); 13...Nh5 1/2-1/2 Tairova,E (2397)-Huang Qian (2380)/Ergun CHN 2006/The Week in Chess 615 (36); 13...Ne8 1-0 Kramnik,V (2758)-Ivanchuk,V (2709)/Monaco MNC 2000 (23)) 14.c5 Bh6 15.exf5 gxf5 (15...Bxf5 16.Qd2 a5 17.a3 Nh5 18.g3 Qe7 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.bxa5 Rxa5 21.Nb5 Raa8 22.Rac1 Rac8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Nxd6 Bxg5 25.Nxc8 Bxe3+ 26.Qxe3 Bxc8 27.f4 Nhf6 28.d6 Qxd6 29.fxe5 Qe6 30.Qd4 Qd5 31.Qc3 Ne4 32.Qxc8 Qd4+ 33.Kh1 Qxe5 34.Bc4 Nxg3+ 35.Kg2 1-0 Har Zvi,R (2495)-Gabrielsen,S (2225)/Gausdal NOR 1996) 16.f4 Ng4 17.Bxg4 fxg4 18.Nce4 Bf5 19.fxe5 dxe5 20.Ne6 Bxe3+ 21.Rxe3 Bxe6 22.dxe6 Qd4 23.Qe1 Rad8 24.Ng5 Rd5 25.e7 Rc8 26.Ne6 Qb2 27.Re2 1-0 Piket,J (2625)-Polgar,J (2635)/Aruba 1995] 13...Bxe6 14.dxe6 Nh5!?N

An interesting plan and a little unusual in this type of position. Black wants to play Bf6, f5-f4 and then Bh4 when a sacrifice on g3 may then present itself. The Nh5 can also retreat to g7 to attack the annoying white pawn on e6. [14...fxe4 15.fxe4 Nc6 16.Nd5 Nxe4 17.Bf3 Nf6 18.b5 Nxd5 19.bxc6 Nb6 20.cxb7 Rb8 21.c5 e4 22.Rxe4 dxc5 23.Qxd8 Rfxd8 24.Bg5 Re8 25.Rd1 Bd4+ 26.Rexd4 cxd4 27.e7 h6 28.Bf6+ Kg8 29.Rxd4 Kf7 30.Rd8 Nd7 31.Bh4 g5 32.Rxd7 Ke6 33.Bg4+ Kf6 34.Be1 Rxb7 35.Bc3+ Kg6 36.Bf3 Rb1+ 37.Kf2 Rc1 38.Rxc7 Kf5 39.Bh5 Rc2+ 40.Kf3 1-0 Van Wely,L (2648)-Radjabov,T (2704)/Khanty Mansyisk RUS 2005/The Week in Chess 578] 15.g3 Bf6 16.c5 f4 17.g4 This seems to fit in which Black's plans. [17.Kg2 and Be2-c4 is an alternative.] 17...Ng7 18.Bc4 Nc6? coming to d4 to attack e6. 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Ne2 Rc8 21.Bd5 White has to sacrifice a pawn because if [21.b5 Nd4 22.Nxd4 Rxc4 23.Ne2 Qb6+ 24.Kh1 Nxe6 is very good for Black.] 21...Nxb4 22.Rb1 Nc2 23.Rf1 b6 24.Rb2 Ne3 25.Bxe3 fxe3 26.Qb3 Bg5

A most unusual position. Both sides have advanced pawns and a badly placed knight but with his extra pawn and control of the c file Radjabov has a clear advantage. His queen and rook can become active whereas their counterparts have few prospects. He wraps up the game impressively. 27.Nc3 Rc5 28.Na4 Rc7 29.Nc3 Qc8 30.Nb5 Rc1 31.Rb1 Rxf1+ 32.Rxf1 Qc5 33.Kg2 Rc8 34.Re1 a6 35.Na3 Qd4 36.Re2 [36.Rd1 Qc3] 36...Rc3 37.Qb2 h5 [37...Qd1] 38.h3?! [38.Nb1 Was perhaps a bit better than the text as it loses on the spot. MC] 38...Qd1! 39.Bb3

[39.Qxc3 Qxe2+ 40.Kh1 Qf1+ 41.Kh2 Bf4#] 39...Rxb3! 40.axb3 Nxe6 0-1