Sponsored by the London Chess Center
| Round 3 Wijk aan Zee |
The John Henderson Report: Round 3 January 18th 2000
Round 3 Results and Standings.
Round 3 (January 18, 2000)
Kasparov, Gary - Van Wely, Loek 1-0 25 B80 Sicilian
Kramnik, Vladimir - Short, Nigel D 1-0 32 D37 Queen's gambit
Leko, Peter - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 27 C42 Petroff defence
Timman, Jan H - Piket, Jeroen 0-1 28 A53 Benoni
Korchnoi, Viktor - Adams, Michael 1/2 22 E15 Nimzo indian
Polgar, Judit - Morozevich, Alexander 0-1 36 C11 French; Classical
Nikolic, Predrag - Lputian, Smbat G 1/2 40 D55 QGD;
Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (NED), 15-30 i 2000 cat. XVIII (2697)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
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1 Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2851 * = . . . . . 1 . . . . 1 . 2.5 2919
2 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2633 = * . . . . 1 . . . . . . 1 2.5 2976
3 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2758 . . * = . . . . 1 1 . . . . 2.5 2988
4 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2748 . . = * . = . . . . 1 . . . 2.0 2838
5 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2769 . . . . * = = . . . . 1 . . 2.0 2804
6 Leko, Peter g HUN 2725 . . . = = * . . = . . . . . 1.5 2733
7 Timman, Jan H g NED 2655 . 0 . . = . * . . . . . . 1 1.5 2669
8 Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2659 0 . . . . . . * . = . . 1 . 1.5 2737
9 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2683 . . 0 . . = . . * . . = . . 1.0 2589
10 Adams, Michael g ENG 2715 . . 0 . . . . = . * = . . . 1.0 2566
11 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2658 . . . 0 . . . . . = * . = . 1.0 2578
12 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2659 . . . . 0 . . . = . . * . = 1.0 2560
13 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2646 0 . . . . . . 0 . . = . * . 0.5 2449
14 Lputian, Smbat G g ARM 2605 . 0 . . . . 0 . . . . = . * 0.5 2376
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I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE ZEESIDE
Finding myself rather short of money (an occupational hazard of being a chess journalist!) and there being no banks in Wijk, I decided just after the start of round three to take-up the kind offer of tournament treasurer, Arno Vrins, of a 10 minute car trip to the nearby town of Beverwijk to cash some travellers cheques. Handing over my passport and cheques, the first thing the bank-teller said to me was: "Are you here for the chess tournament in Wijk?" I was beginning to wonder if there was some sort of telltale sign about my person (apart from the usual anorak ones) that gave the game away and replied: "Yes, but how did you know?" "That's easy," she replied with a courteous smile, "at this time of the year the only visitors to this part of Holland are all those nice chessplayers."
It reminded me of how the residents of the windy, seaside resort on the North Sea coast of Holland had taken the annual Wijk tournament to their hearts over the past 61-years. They love it! Normally in winter it is a sleepy resort, but come the last two weeks of January, it becomes open house for some 1,600 players, who all have to eat, sleep and be merry. This has a tremendous impact on the local economy, which in return is more than grateful to the custom at a particularly lean time of the year. Look round the shops and you'll find posters advertising the tournament and chess-set displays in the windows. Go into any hotel (there was a chess-set left on bed when I booked in to the Hotel De Klughte), pub or restaurant, and you'll find sets and boards available if you want to analyse your game.
This hospitality is even more in evidence with the committee members who make Wijk a smooth-running affair. In the pressroom, our every need's are met by the friendly figure of Cora van der Zanden, a former competitor in a couple of Dutch Women's Championships. Always efficient, it's her job to produce the daily bulletins of the GM and IM tournaments. For the grandmasters, it's their wish to see Cora putting them "in the black". She has the daily task of colouring in the crosstable at the end of each round. Rather than putting a 1, 0.5 or a 0 to indicate the result, Cora has her own bar-chart system that uses black for a win and red for a loss. Win a game, and two squares beside your name gets coloured black; lose, and two squares at the opposite end of your name goes red; draw, one square of each colour. Today, Cora's black-marker was being heavily used!
Cora van der Zanden
The third round turned into a bloodbath and was easily the most decisive so far, with four of the seven games lasting under 40 moves. World no.1 Garry Kasparov led the way in the third round carnage as he ripped apart Loek van Wely's Sicilian Najdorf when he snared his opponent's defenceless king in the middle of the board, winning convincingly in just 25 moves.
Garry Kasparov, a convincing winner in Round 3
against Van Wely
You could tell by Kasparov's body language and mannerisms in the tournament hall that there was a "happening" about to happen, so to speak. After he made his fourteenth move, he relentlessly paced up and down the tournament hall like a caged tiger awaiting Van Wely's reply. Once made, the world no.1 pounced for the kill. At the climax of Kasparov's onslaught, White had three pieces hanging - but none could be taken. It was an animated Kasparov whose hands became a blur over the board during the post mortem as he demonstrated winning sacrificial lines in all variations. "Black could take just one piece; I had six in the attack," Kasparov commented. "Sad," said the hapless Van Wely after being caught in the headlights of the Kasparov Juggernaut, "but you know this can happen when you play Kasparov."
Playing this variation with both Black and White, Kasparov's only problem was whether he would be giving away some trade secrets from his favourite Sicilian Najdorf.
Kasparov and Van Wely look over their round 3
game.
Kasparov,G (2851) - Van Wely,L (2646)
Sicilain Najdorf
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e6 Van Wely opts out of a dual with the maestro in the double-edged Kasparov Variation with 6 ..Ng4!? 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Bg3 Bg7 7 f3 b5 8 g4 h6 Just as in the Keres Attack in the Sicilian Schevenigan, here ..h6 slows down White's ideas of expanding on the kingside. 9 Qd2! Attempts to delay castling have led White into trouble in the past - 9 h4 b4 10 Nce2 e5! 11 Nb3 Be6 12 Ng3 d5 13 Bd3 Nbd7 14 Qe2 a5 15 Rg1 a4 16 Nd2 Qc7 17 g5 hxg5 18 hxg5 dxe4! 19 gxf6?! exd3 20 fxg7 Bxg7 21 Qxd3 a3 22 b3 e4 23 Qxe4 Ra5 24 Rd1 Bc3 Anand-Gelfand, Linares 1994. 9 ..Nbd7 10 0-0-0 Premature is 10 h4?! b4 11 Nce2 d5 with good Black counterplay 10 ..Bb7 11 h4 After some 10-15 years of tournament practice, this has become established as the mainline. The older variation of 11 Bd3 Ne5 12 Rhe1 b4 offers good chances for Black. 11 ..b4 12 Na4! The correct move. The other alternatives, 12 Nb1 d5 13 Bh3 Ne5!? 14 g5 Nfd7 and 12 Nce2 d5 13 Bh3 dxe4 14 g5 hxg5, both give Black excellent counter-attacking chances. 12 ..d5?Van Wely only had to look across the board for the correct way to handle the Black set-up against this aggressive variation - 12 ..Qa5! 13 b3 Nc5 14 a3 Nxa4 15 axb4 Qc7 16 bxa4 d5 17 e5 Nd7 18 f4 Nb6 Topalov-Kasparov, Linares 1999 13 Bh3! g5 13 ..dxe4? 14 g5 hxg5 15 hxg5 Nd5 16 g6! 14 Bg2 gxh4 15 Rxh4 dxe4 No better is 15 ..Nxe4? 16 fxe4 Qxh4 17 exd5 Bxd5 18 Bxd5 exd5 19 Nf5! 16 g5 Nd5 17 Rxe4 hxg5 17 ..Qa5 gets hit with 18 Nxe6! fxe6 19 Rxe6+ Kf7 20 Qd3 Kxe6 21 Bh3+ Ke7 22 Bxd7 Kxd7 23 Nb6+ Kc7 (23 ..Kc6 24 Qg6+ Kb5 25 a4+ bxa3 26 c4+ Kb4 27 Bd2+ Kc5 28 Bxa5; 23 ..Ke8 24 Qg6+ Kd8 25 Qe6) 24 Qc4+ Bc6 25 Rxd5 leaving Black’s king in mortal danger. 18 Bxg5 Qa5 19 f4 Rh2 20 Nxe6! fxe6 21 Rxe6+ Kf7 22 Qd3 Bg7 23 Qf5+ Kg8 24 Rxd5 Qxa4 25 Re7 1-0
Brilliant though the game was, the audience watching the commentaries in the De Moriaan Centre clearly felt that Van Wely had not been a match, as Kasparov failed to receive one single vote in the daily ballot for the 'Game of the Day'. The 500-guilder prize went instead to the exciting young Russian, Alexander Morozevich, who overcame Hungary's Judit Polgar in just 36 moves with his favourite Burn Variation of the French Defence. Not a good defender at the best of times, la Polgar was 'Morozevich'd' and spent most of the game fighting a losing battle.
Morozevich was the winner of the daily
spectator prize for his win against Judit Polgar
Polgar,J (2658) - Morozevich,A (2748)
French Defence
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Be7 6 Bxf6 gxf6 Morozevich is famed for rehabilitating old opening and this one in the French Defence is a particular favourite of the young Russian 7 Nf3 a6 A Morozevich speciality. 8 g3 b5 9 Bg2 Bb7 10 Qe2 Nd7 11 0-0 0-0 12 Rad1 Bd5! The unmovable bishop on d5 becomes the lynchpin of Black's game. 13 Rfe1 Kh8 Clearing the way for the rook to occupy the semi-open g-file. 14 Nfd2 c6 15 c4 bxc4 16 Nxc4 a5 17 Nc3 Re8 18 Ne3 f5 19 Nc4 Qb8 20 Na4 Qb4! 21 b3 Polgar's problem is that exchanging the bishop on d5 leaves Black with control of the c-file and a natural target in the weak d-pawn. 21 ..Bf6 22 Qc2 Rg8 23 Qc1 Rg4 Simultaneously hitting the d-pawn and bringing the rooks into the kingside attack. 24 Ne5 Nxe5 25 dxe5 Be7 26 Rd3 Rag8 27 Red1 f4 28 Qc3 28 h3? fxg3!! 29 hxg4 (29 Bxd5 gxf2+ 30 Kxf2 Bh4+ 31 Kf1 exd5 32 hxg4 Qxg4) 29 ..gxf2+ 30 Kxf2 (30 Kf1 Bxg2+ 31 Kxf2 Bh4+ 32 Ke3 Qe4+ 33 Kd2 Bg5+) 30 ..Qxg4 mates. 28 ..fxg3 29 hxg3 h5 30 Bxd5 30 Qc1 Bg5 31 Qa1 Bxg2 32 a3 (32 Kxg2 Qe4+ 33 Kg1 Rh4!) 32 ..Qb5 33 Kxg2 Bf4 30 ..cxd5 31 Rf3 Kg7! clearing the h-file for the final assault. 32 Qc7 h4 33 Kg2 hxg3 34 fxg3 Qe4 35 Qc3 35 Kf2 Rh8 35 ..Qe2+ 36 Kh3 Rg5! Forcing mate...so 0-1
Judit Polgar, a bad loss in round
3
Employing his favourite 5 Bf4 Queen's Gambit, Vladimir "Vlad the Impaler" Kramnik soon made it a Russian trio of wins with an impressive victory over England's Nigel Short after the latter had messed-up by playing 12..Bf6? instead of the more logical 12..Be6. After the game, it was Kramnik's turn to demonstrate his game to the assembled hacks in the pressroom.
Kramnik demonstrating his round 3 game against
Short after a good day at the office
Kramnik,V (2758) - Short,N (2683)
Queen's Gambit Declined
1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bf4 A Kramnik specialty; and one that avoids Short's favourite Tartakower Defence. 5 ..0-0 6 e3 c5 7 dxc5 Bxc5 8 cxd5 Nxd5 9 Nxd5 exd5 10 a3 Nc6 11 Bd3 Be7 12 0-0 Bf6? A blunder, leaving Short with a hopeless position to defend. More logical is 12 ..Be6. 13 Qb3!? "I countered with the rarely played 12 Qb3!?, which I thought was an interesting move," Kramnik told chess reporters as he demonstrated his game at a news conference after the round. Short, who was among the audience, snorted back: "Interesting? My foot! After ..Bf6?, Black was just plainly lost." 13 ..Qb6 13 ..Re8 14 Rfd1 and; 13 ..Bg4 14 Qxb7 Na5 15 Qb4 Bxf3 16 gxf3 Nc4 17 Bxc4 dxc4 18 Rfd1 are both uncomfortable for Black. 14 Qxd5 Rd8 15 Qe4 g6 16 Bg5! This is what Short had missed when he opted for 12..Bf6? 16 ..Qxb2 17 Bc4! Kg7 17 ..Bf5 18 Qh4! is decisive. 18 Qh4 h5 19 Bxf7! Another option is 19 Rfb1 Bxg5 20 Nxg5 Qf6 21 Bxf7, but Kramnik decided that the rooks belong on f1 and e1 to force home the attack on the Black king. 19 ..Bxg5 19 ..Kxf7? 20 Rab1 Qc3 21 Rfc1 wins the queen. 20 Nxg5 Qf6 20 ..Rd3 21 e4 Rxa3 22 Rab1 Qe5 23 f4 Qe7 24 Bd5. 21 e4 Rd4 22 Rae1 Bd7 23 f4 Rf8 24 Ba2 Qd6 25 Kh1 Qxa3 26 Bb1 Qe7 27 Qg3 Kh6 28 Nf3 Rb4 29 Nh4 Be8 29 ..Rg8 30 Nf5+ 30 e5 Rxb1 31 Rxb1 Nd4 32 Qg5+ 1-0
Look on the bright side, Nigel. At least England managed to win a Test Match!
Although the high point for Jeroen Piket last year was his first place in the Biel tournament, his other results still ranged from reasonable to good. He shared fourth place at Wijk aan Zee, for example, and took second place in the Dutch Championships. In the Lost Boys tournament in Amsterdam he finished equal fourth place with Dimitri Reinderman. Could this be the tournament that establishes his credentials as the number one Dutch player ahead of veteran Jan Timman?
Piket's win over Timman today came as something of a surprise as he joined Kasparov and Kramnik in equal first on 2.5/3. Although a veteran at the age of 48, Timman, with an Elo of 2655, remains the highest-rated player in the Netherlands. With both players having spent over a hundred hours across the board over the years - both in tournament games and in training - it was inevitable that each would be familiar with his opponent's style of play.
"I guess Jan was too optimistic," Piket explained to the press after the game. "With 2 Bf4, he avoided my attempt to reach a typical Slav Defence, opting instead for an irregular opening that seemed promising for White. You'll see this often when two players meet who know each other as well as Jan and I do. If one of them is out for more than a draw, he'll try and go irregular."
"What we got was a double-edged position but then Jan chose the wrong plan with 12 h6 and 13 g3. That was far too slow. 12 Kb1 would have been much safer. It gave me the opportunity to direct my pieces to their best squares and some five moves later, Jan compounded his problems with a serious inaccuracy."
Diagram Timman-Piket (3) before
white's 17th move.
According to Piket, 17 e3 would have been better, and had planned 17.. Ne5 18 Qd1 Ng4 19 Qe1 with a small plus for Black. Instead, Timman played 17 Bg2?, allowing Piket to get much more with an unstoppable mating attack.
17 ..Ne5 18 Qf4 Nc5 19 Qh4 Ne6 20 Rdd1 Qb4 21 Kc2 g5 22 Qh3 Nxc4 23 b3 g4 24 Qh4 Na3+ 25 Kb2 Nd4 26 Rd3 Nc4+ 27 Ka1 Nxb3+ 28 axb3 Qa3+ 0-1
Leko - Anand Round 2. Probably Anand was happy
to draw.