The John Henderson Report: Round 12 January 29th 2000.

THE FAT LADY GETS READY

"IT isn't over until the fat lady sings," so the saying goes. However, with just one round of the Corus Tournament in Wijk aan Zee left to play, we can hear her gargling in the background from the pressroom!

A tough penultimate round draw with his fellow Russian and self-anointed heir, Vladimir Kramnik, put Garry Kasparov at the front of the queue for the traditional pea soup as he secured himself a share of first place and the 90,000-guilder (45,000-dollar) prize fund.

Now, with just Sunday's final round left to play, Kasparov stays one-point ahead of his nearest rivals, Kramnik and Peter Leko, who can only be praying for a miracle as the world no.1 faces Hungary's Judit Polgar, with white, needing just a draw for outright first place - against an opponent he has a 100% score against!

Kasparov was faced with a move in his favourite Grunfeld Defence that has not been seen with success since the 50's. 8 h3 is something of a rare bird was generally thought to be a waste of a tempo compared with the trendy 8 Rb1 that is Kramnik's speciality. Kasparov came up with a novelty, 9. ...b5 that had advantages and disadvantages over 9…b6 and the critical line with 9…Nc6, where White often sacrifices the exchange with d5, which no doubt Kramnik was ready for that.

After a long hard tussle, Kramnik found a way to exploit Kasparov's move with the clever 14 Qb1 but although he won a pawn the game reached an endgame with just kingside pawns. Kramnik was in already time trouble and could not find a way to play for a win and just before first time control Kasparov achieved a dead drawn position.

Despite some hesitation in the pressroom, the post-mortem confirmed that Kasparov had never been in any real danger of losing. Line after line, Kasparov was forcefully banging out moves during the analysis to confirm the end result.

Kasparov-Kramnik (12)

Kramnik,V (2758) - Kasparov,G (2851)
Grunfeld Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Nf3 c5 8 h3!? (A rarely played sideline. But then again, who can blame Kramnik for steering away from Kasparov’s forte of extensive opening preparation? The last time both played in a classical game, Linares 1999, Kramnik opted to take on Kasparov in a heavily analysed variation only to find the world champion’s legendary home analysis up to the test with a big TN on move 25!: Kramnik,-Kasparov, Linares 1997 Bc4 c5 8 Ne2 Nc6 9 Be3 0–0 10 0–0 Bg4 11 f3 Na5 12 Bxf7+ Rxf7 13 fxg4 Rxf1+ 14 Kxf1 cxd4 15 cxd4 e5 16 d5 Nc4 17 Qd3 Nxe3+ 18 Qxe3 Qh4 19 h3 Bh6 20 Qd3 Rf8+ 21 Kg1 Qf2+ 22 Kh1 Qe3! 23 Qc4 b5! 24 Qxb5 Rf2 25 Qe8+ Bf8!N 26 Qe6+ Kh8 27 d6 Qxe2 28 Qxe5+ Bg7! 29 Qe8+ Rf8 30 d7 Qd3 31 e5 h6! 32 e6 Kh7 33 Rg1 Rf3! 34 Qb8 Rxh3+ 35 gxh3 Qe4+ 1/2–1/2) 8 ..0–0 9 Be2 b5

Kramnik-Kasparov (12) 9. ...b5 TN

(The obvious options were: 9 ..Nc6 or 9 ..b6. Perhaps fearing a prepared Kramnik line in either of those choices, Kasparov thought for 40 minutes before coming up with the off-beat 9 ..b5.) 10 Be3 Bb7 11 Qd3 cxd4 12 cxd4 Nd7 13 0–0 Nb6 14 Qb1 (Preventing ..Nc4, which would have been instant equality for Kasparov.) 14 ..Na4 15 Qxb5 Nc3 16 Qxb7 Nxe2+ 17 Kh1 Nxd4 18 Rad1 e5 19 Nxe5 (The alternative recapture also led to a drawing rook and pawn ending. [19 Nxd4!? exd4 20 Bxd4 Bxd4 21 Qb4 Rb8 22 Qxd4 (22 Qc4 Rb2 23 Rxd4 Qf6 24 f4 Rxa2) 22 ..Qxd4 23 Rxd4 f5! 24 e5 (24 exf5 Rxf5 25 Rd2 Rfb5) 24 ..Rfd8 25 Rxd8+ Rxd8 26 f4 Rd2 27 a3 Rd4) 19 ..Bxe5 20 f4 Bg7 21 e5 (21 Bxd4 Bxd4 22 Qb4 Qb6 23 Qxd4 Rfd8 24 Qxb6 axb6 25 Rxd8+ Rxd8 26 Rb1 Ra8 just leads to rook and four against rook and three on the same side - a technical GM draw.) 21 ..Qb6 22 Qxb6 axb6 23 Bxd4 Rxa2 24 Bxb6 Re8 25 Bd8 Ra6 26 Bc7 (26 Rd7 f6 27 exf6 Bxf6 28 Bxf6 Rxf6 is also a technical draw.) 26 ..Rae6 27 g4 g5! 28 f5 (28 fxg5 Bxe5 29 Bxe5 Rxe5 30 Rf5 Re2 should draw.) 28 ..Rc6 29 Rd7 Bxe5 30 Re1 f6 31 Bxe5 Rxe5 32 Rxe5 fxe5 33 Re7 h5! 34 Kg2 hxg4 35 hxg4 Rc4 36 Kf3 Rf4+ 37 Kg3 e4 (Kasparov now draws easily by repeating with ..Rf3+ and ..Rf4.) ½–½

Kasparov-Kramnik post-mortem

The young Hungarian Peter Leko had the opportunity to move within half a point closer to Kasparov but he drew against Loek Van Wely in only 28 moves of a Sicilian as once again the back marker defended against the English Attack in the Najdorf with the thematic idea of …g5 (now officially dubbed the "Van Wely Suicide Variation") with a big hold on the black squares. Unlike Jan Timman and Alexander Morozevich in earlier rounds, Leko, a much more positional and careful player, could not find a sacrificial continuation and was more than pleased during the post mortem with the repetition.

Peter Leko couldn't overcome Van Wely

"I might even have won with it today," Van Wely said, "if only I had played 15 ...Qc7 in stead of 15 ...Qb6. The point is that White would have had no useful moves after that. Too bad. But I'm sure I'll be able to use it again, and hopefully to a better end." Leko agreed that Van Wely had much the better of the opening. "I never had a chance to try and go for a win. No wonder, after all the opportunities he had in this tournament to learn how to handle the line."

Leko,P (2725) - Van Wely,L (2646)

Leko-Van Wely (12) before white's 25th.

25 Nge2 Nfg6 26 Ng3 Nf4 27 Nge2 Nfg6 28 Ng3 Nf4 ½-½

Van Wely drew against Leko with black, but did he miss a chance?

India's Viswanathan Anand and Holland's Jeroen Piket both took part in what was the shortest game of the tournament so far. Like Jan Timman, who started the tournament with a bad flu, both were showing visible signs of also suffering from the dreaded flu bug and decided on a peaceful life by agreeing a draw after 21 minutes and a mere 17 moves with a notorious line of the Slav Defence that involves Black sacrificing a piece for three pawns. "Jeroen could hardly see the pieces and I'm not exactly in the pink either," said Anand as he came into the pressroom before leaving for the warmth of his hotel bed.

Jan Timman, finally over the flu

Jan Timman now seems to have finally got rid of his flu bug that he picked up at Pamplona and is now playing the sort of chess we've come to expect from the Dutch stalwart. Up against the young Russian Alexander Morozevich, Timman decides to opt for a sacrificial line in the French Defence that he was equally adapt at playing both sides with in the early 1980s. Morozevich never really got into this game and soon found himself being comprehensively outplayed by the Dutch no.1 who won the spectators daily Game of the Day award.

Timman,J (2655) - Morozevich,A (2748)
French Defence

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 (Perhaps fearing Timman's legendary opening preparation, Morozevich steers clear of his favourite 3 ..Be7.) 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Bd3 c5 6 c3 Nc6 7 Ne2 cxd4 8 cxd4 f6 9 Nf4 (A surprise choice from Timman who was perhaps looking to catch out his younger opponent. This line - which generally favours black - was just about all played out at GM level in the 1980s thanks to players like Jan Timman!) 9 ..Nxd4 10 Qh5+ Ke7 11 exf6+ Nxf6 12 Ng6+ hxg6 13 Qxh8 Kf7 14 Qh4 e5 15 Nf3 Nxf3+ 16 gxf3 Bf5 17 Bxf5 gxf5 (Black's central control is more than adequate compensation for the exchange.) 18 Bg5

Timman-Morozevich (12) after 18. Bg5

18 ..Rc8 (Morozevitch opts for a seldom played sideline. The mainline runs: 18 ..Qa5+ 19 Kf1 g6 20 Bxf6 Qa6+ 21 Kg2 Qxf6 22 Qa4 Qc6 23 Qb3 Bh6 24 Rhd1 Rd8) 19 0–0 Rc4 (19 ..Rc2!? 20 Rab1 Rc4) 20 Qh3 Qd7 (20 ..Ke6 and ..Bc5 was also an option.) 21 Rad1 Qe6 22 Rfe1 Nd7 23 Re2 a5 (Perhaps a bit too hasty. Instead, ideas like 23 ..Bc5 24 f4 e4 25 Red2 d4 was better for black.) 24 f4 a4 25 Qh5+ Kg8 26 Red2 Nb6 27 b3! axb3 28 axb3 Rb4 29 Rd3! (Now white opens up the game to the benefit of his two rooks. 29 fxe5? Rg4+ 30 Kh1 g6 31 Qh3 Rxg5) 29 ..exf4 (It's too late now for ..e4: 29 ..e4 30 Rh3! Bc5 31 Qh7+ Kf8 32 Rc1 A) 32 ..Bd6 33 Bh6!! gxh6 (33 ..Qf6 34 Rh5!) 34 Rxh6 Qf7 35 Qh8+ Ke7 36 Rxd6! Kxd6 37 Qe5+ Kd7 38 Rc7+ Kd8 39 Rxf7; B) 32 ..Nd7 33 Qh8+ Kf7 34 Rh7 Qg6 35 h4 Bf8 36 h5 Qb6 37 h6) 30 Bd8 Nd7 31 Rxd5 Ne5 32 Bc7 g6 33 Qh3 Nf7 34 Ba5 Re4 35 Bc3 (White's domination is complete with rooks, bishop and queen combining with lethal effect.) 35 ..f3 36 Qxf3 Ng5 37 Qd3 Rg4+ 38 Kf1 Qc6 39 Be5 Re4 40 Bd6 Bg7 (40 ..Ne6 41 f3 Nf4 42 Bxf4 Rxf4 43 Kg2) 41 Rc5 Qe8 (41 ..Qa6 42 Qxa6 bxa6 43 Ra5) 42 Rc4 Kh7 43 Bf4 Rxc4 44 bxc4 Ne6 45 Be3 Qa4 46 Re1 b5 47 cxb5 Qh4 48 Qd5 Nc7 49 Qc6 Qh3+ 50 Kg1 Nxb5 51 Qxb5 Qg4+ 52 Kf1 f4 53 Bd2 1–0

In a recent article in the top Dutch magazine, New In Chess, Alexander Morozevich describes his adventures of playing in the Internet Chess Club where he occupies the top spot in the rankings with a phenomenal rating of 3261!

His rival, who up to now remains an unknown GM as he goes under the pseudonym of the top Indian cricketer, "Tendulkar", is just three points behind on 3258. When the article appeared, everyone thought that the unknown GM could only be India's Vishy Anand. Surprisingly, not only is it not Vishy, but also he's the only Indian I know who doesn't like cricket!

So, who is the cricketing GM with the handle of "Tendulkar"? A quick word with Nigel Short soon solved the mystery. It's none other than the St. Petersburg GM, Peter Svidler, who thanks to the influence of Short has now become a big cricket fan! Rumour has it that he's traded in all his Chess Informators for a complete set of the cricketing equivalent, Wisden!

Nigel Short himself was suffering today against Armenia's Smbat Lputian. After losing a pawn in the opening, Short fought back to find himself in a difficult King and pawn ending where a wrong move from either side would have proved fatal. Watching the game in the pressroom alongside Nigel's wife, Rhea, Yasser Seirawan reassured her that he [Nigel] had the better side of the ending. Setting up the crucial position from the ending in the pressroom after the game, he challenged Seirawan to find the best moves. It soon became clear to Yaz that it wasn't as easy as he had originally thought.

Yasser Seirawan

"Gee, Nige," reacted 'Yaz,' "this one looks like one of those terrible computer puzzles of John Nunn." After pushing the pawns about for a while, Seirawan soon found the correct continuation.

Lputian-Short (12) Lputian had one more winning try with 45. f4! here.

"After he [Lputian] played the tricky 45 f4!, I managed to find the only move that drew: 45..hxg4! But it was a close shave!"

45 ..hxg4 [45 ..e3 46 f5! hxg4 47 c6 gxf5 (47 ..e2 48 Kf2 g3+ 49 Kxe2 Ke7 50 fxg6) 48 c7 f4+ 49 Kg2 f3+ 50 Kf1 g3 51 c8Q e2+ 52 Ke1 g2 53 Qc6+ Kg7 54 Qb6!; 45 ..exf3 46 gxh5 gxh5 47 Kxf3 Ke6 48 Ke4 Kd7 49 Kxe5 Kc6 50 Kf5 Kxc5 51 Kg5 Kd5 52 Kxh5 Ke5 53 Kg6] 46 Kxg4 e3 47 fxe5+ Kxe5 48 Kf3 Kd5 49 Kg2 ½–½

Nigel Short with his daughter, Kyveli analyses with Lputian.

Judit Polgar had luck on her side today when she managed to draw against Viktor Korchnoi's McCutcheon Variation of the French. Korchnoi diverged first from a couple of his games from the 50s when he played the more in vogue 8 ..Kf8, instead of the weakening 8 ..g6. Things were going well for Viktor who was steadily outplaying his more youthful opponent. Never the best of defenders, Polgar resorted to extreme measures to stay in the game and, in an effort to confuse her opponent in his time trouble, unsoundly sacrificed a piece that flustered Korchnoi who didn't find the correct continuation.

Polgar then missed her best chance in the middle game when she played 34 Kc3. "Viktor suggested 34. Nf5+ Kf6 35. Nd6+ and said that that might have been winning," Polgar commented after the game. "Personally, I thought my move wasn't so bad either but maybe he's right. I'll have to look at it a bit further, I guess."

Judit Polgar drew against Korchnoi. She plays Kasparov with black in the final round.

Polgar,J (2658) - Korchnoi,V (2659)
French Defence

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Bb4 (The McCutcheon Variation - named after the Pittsburgh amateur player, John Lindsay McCutcheon (1857–1905), who first used it against Wilhelm Steinitz in a simultaneous display at New York in 1885. This aggressive defence, which has similar strategic characteristics to the Winawer Variation, is very much an underrated counter to 3 Nc3 in the French Defence, and one that could be on the verge of making a big comeback.) 5 e5 h6 6 Bd2 Bxc3 7 bxc3 Ne4 8 Qg4 Kf8 (The other alternative is 8 ..g6. The benefit of the move played is that it doesn't create weaknesses on the kingside that ..g6 does.) 9 Bd3 Nxd2 10 Kxd2 c5 11 h4 (The idea behind this move, apart from fixing black's kingside pawns, is to bring the rook directly into the attack via h3.) 11 ..Nc6 12 Nf3 c4 (A common theme in the McCutcheon. Once the knight has come to f3, black forces back the bishop to e2 and at the same time declares his intentions of a queenside counterattack with b5-a5 and b4.) 13 Be2 b5 14 a3 Bd7 15 Qf4 Ke7! (Getting out of the road of a potential knight fork with h5-Nh4 and Ng6.) 16 h5 Be8 17 Nh4 a5 18 Qg3 Rg8 19 Qe3 Bd7 20 f4 b4 21 Rhb1 (The opening of the a-file is bad for white as any endgame will be difficult to hold.) 21 ..bxc3+ 22 Qxc3 Qc7 23 g4 Rgb8 24 f5? (Black's advantage is evident now due to the pawn weaknesses created by 24 f5. Polgar's only hope now is to try and create confusion on the kingside in the hope of opening lines towards Korchnoi's king.) 24 ..Qa7 (If d4 falls, then her position falls with it) 25 f6+ gxf6 26 exf6+ Kxf6 27 Rf1+ Ke7 28 Rf4 a4 (28 ..Rb5!) 29 Bxc4 (Polgar's is just losing; therefore attempts to open lines toward Korchnoi's king with this speculative sacrifice.) 29 ..dxc4 30 d5

Polgar-Korchnoi (12) Black to play after Polgar's 30. d5

30 ..Qa5? (30 ..e5! was the correct continuation: 31 Re1 (31 dxc6 exf4 32 Re1+ Be6; 31 Nf5+ Bxf5 32 Rxf5 Qd4+) 31 ..Be6! 32 Rxc4 (32 dxe6 exf4 33 Nf5+ Kd8 34 e7+ Kd7 35 Qxc4 Qa5+ 36 c3 Re8) 32 ..Qf2+ 33 Re2 Qxh4 34 Rxc6 Qg5+ 35 Re3 (35 Ke1 Rb1+ 36 Kf2) 35 ..Rd8) 31 dxc6 Bxc6 32 Qxa5 Rxa5 33 Re1 Bd5 34 Kc3 Kf8 35 Ref1 Rb7 36 Ng6+ Kg8 37 Ne5 Bg2 38 Re1 Rc7 39 Kb4 Ra8 40 Rxc4 Rb8+ 41 Kc3 Rxc4+ 42 Nxc4 Kg7 43 Ne3 Bc6 44 Rf1 Rb5 45 Rf4 Re5 46 Kd3 Ra5 47 Kd2 Rc5 48 Kd3 ½–½

In the last game of the day, the Dutch champion Predrag Nikolic beat Michael Adams on the white side of a Queens Indian. Adams was following a well-known theoretical line when he made a finger-fauhler, recapturing a pawn with his Bishop instead of his pawn. Adams sought activity but at the cost of a weak pawn on c5 that was expertly surrounded (31 Nf1! and 32 Nd2 - unmasking the Bf2). Adams lost the pawn just before the first time control and, faced with an outside passed pawn, he resigned.

"If Michael had played 22 ... exd5, White would have been left with only a minute advantage after 23 Nd3," Nikolic explained. "In the game, he was without counterplay. With 36 Bxc5, he lost a pawn and from then on, he just went downhill. I don't think he could have saved the game after that."

Round 12 (January 29, 2000)

Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Kasparov, Gary         1/2   37  D85  Gruenfeld indian
Leko, Peter            -  Van Wely, Loek         1/2   28  B80  Sicilian
Piket, Jeroen          -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   17  D17  Slav defence
Timman, Jan H          -  Morozevich, Alexander  1-0   53  C06  French; Tarrasch
Nikolic, Predrag       -  Adams, Michael         1-0   45  E15  Nimzo indian
Polgar, Judit          -  Korchnoi, Viktor       1/2   48  C12  French; Macutcheon
Lputian, Smbat G       -  Short, Nigel D         1/2   49  E12  Nimzo indian


Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (NED), 15-30 i 2000                cat. XVIII (2697)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kasparov, Gary         g RUS 2851 * = = = = = 1 1 1 . = = 1 1  8.5  2845
 2 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2758 = * = = = 1 = = = = 1 1 = .  7.5  2791
 3 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2725 = = * = = . = = 1 = = 1 1 =  7.5  2788
 4 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2769 = = = * = = = = 1 = = . 1 =  7.0  2756
 5 Piket, Jeroen          g NED 2633 = = = = * = = 1 0 0 1 1 . =  6.5  2735
 6 Adams, Michael         g ENG 2715 = 0 . = = * = 1 0 = 1 = = 1  6.5  2722
 7 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2748 0 = = = = = * 0 . 1 = 1 = 1  6.5  2725
 8 Timman, Jan H          g NED 2655 0 = = = 0 0 1 * = = . 1 = 1  6.0  2702
 9 Nikolic, Predrag       g BIH 2659 0 = 0 0 1 1 . = * = = = 1 =  6.0  2696
10 Polgar, Judit          g HUN 2658 . = = = 1 = 0 = = * 0 0 = =  5.0  2630
11 Short, Nigel D         g ENG 2683 = 0 = = 0 0 = . = 1 * = = =  5.0  2645
12 Lputian, Smbat G       g ARM 2605 = 0 0 . 0 = 0 0 = 1 = * 1 =  4.5  2612
13 Korchnoi, Viktor       g SUI 2659 0 = 0 0 . = = = 0 = = 0 * 1  4.0  2581
14 Van Wely, Loek         g NED 2646 0 . = = = 0 0 0 = = = = 0 *  3.5  2538
---------------------------------------------------------------------------