Corus Chess Tournament 2007, Round 13

 by John Lee Shaw











The clash between the tournament leaders, Radjabov and Topalov, was a rather tame affair, with niether player wanting to take risks. In a Closed Catalan, Black managed to equalise relatively easily, and White's 13.e4?! was not the best, 13.Ne5 being a more promising alternative. Radjabov then went on to surrender the bishop pair with 18.Bxd5 (Nc3 was an option) and from here the expected cautious draw was looking something of a formality. Something of a crowd-stirrer, however, was black's 21...dxe3! (see diagram, left).

Believe it or not, this had been prepared by Topalov for the Elista World Championship, and here it is used with perfect timing. Does Radjabov want to take the bull by the horns with 22.Rxd8? There would follow 22...exf2+ Qxf2 23.Bxd8 and here the position is unclear. The materialistic computer would go for it and like its outlook, but actually black has ample compensation for his queen. Radjabov chose 22.Qxe3 and after 22...Bg5 23.Qc5 Be7 there was nothing better but to repeat, and a draw was agreed. With this game over, Topalov and Radjabov were at least in for a share of 1st prize -- would it be half or a third?

Veselin Topalov  vs  Teymour Radjabov, joint leaders going in to the final round. A safe draw kept them there.

photographs of me are so in demand ... 

The answer to that question depended on the game Aronian-Tiviakov, which got in to a Queen's Indian, with Tiviakov playing his favourite ...c6. With 13...Bxe2 and 14...Qxd4, Black accepted a pawn sacrifice, which allowed his opponent nice activity in return. Aronian did not like his 19.Rad1 very much, though I think it is probably ok, and was rather his 20.Be4? that was probably a little too slow. Better would have been 20.Rd2 doubling along the open file. The crux of the game came when Black grabbed yet another pawn with 22...Nxe5 (see diagram, left). After 23.Qe3 Tiviakov played 23...Ng4?! which hands the position over to white after 24.Qxa7. Had Tiviakov had ventured 23...Bc5! then the result could have been different, with white's best seeming to be 24.Bxh7+ which should be round about equal after 24...Kxh7 25.Qe4+ and 26.Nxe5. As it was, Aronian was winning a few moves later, and black's game fell apart. At move 43, Aronian joined Topalov and Radjabov in 1st place.

Aronian-Tiviakov, crucially for the Armenian 1-0

There was also a win notched up for World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated Dutch GM Loek van Wely. This was not all there was to the game, however, infact black was more than holding his own upon White's 17...Nxd7?! (e4 was much more ambitious). 20.Qg4? was a mistake from Kramnik, though van Wely chose unwisely in his response to it. Instead of his 20...Re7? 20...Bxe3+ would have given him good chances. Instead, he soon found his position ripped open thanks to an exchange sac by Kramnik, rook for knight and a whole bunch of pawns. Loek didn't play on too long before acknowledging defeat.

The World Champion, 1-0 against van Wely, reads the information about the closing ceremony

The other win came from Sergey Karjakin, black against Peter Svidler in the final round. They got in to a Najdorf, and to be honest, black quickly started to contest the battle. One would have to say that Svidler's 19.Qa4?! was the start of his major problems, tieing his queen to defence of the mate threat on c2. 19...Rab8! strongly threatens ...Rb4 and from here Karjakin attacked like there was no tomorrow, and soon held a winning initiative. Svidler's position deteriorated rapidly, though as always he trued everything he could in order to defend. A well earned point was soon in Karjakin's possession.


Ponomariov-Motylev was a bit of a scrappy game in the Meran/Semi-Slav. Out of the opening, White emerged with a slight edge (as is usual) but nothing major. 24.Qa5? was an inaccuracy, (f4 was better), though black did not pounce on it as he might, 24...Qxa5 for example, followed by ...Bd5 would see black with the better activity. However, Motylev's 24...Rac8 allowed white to exchanges queens on better terms, and things remained approximately equal, even with an exchange sacrifice of rook for two pieces. Then, at move 33, came an error from black, (...Kf6?! instead of the better ...g6) and a missed chance for white, who played 34.exf5 instead of the more ambitious 34.e5+ and 35.Nd6. After this point, there was not much left in the position, and though the players continued for a while, a draw always seemed the likely result, and was so on move 49.


David Navara stood up well against Vishy Anand in the Spanish. Infact, even before White's horrible 16.d4?! (Be3, Bd2, or Qc2 were reasonable alternatives) black seemed to be getting the best of things. 17...d5?! did not do David any favours, though, the better choice would have been 17...Nxd4. For example, 18.Nxd4 cxd4 19.Qxd4 Qc6 would be good for black. As it was, queens were exchanged, and black immediately erred with 21...Rad8? (...Bxc5 was needed) allowing white to exchange a pair of rooks and protect his hanging c5-pawn. From here, white regained an edge -- "I feel Grandmaster Anand's draw offer was a little premature" said the ever respectful Navara after the game, who felt that Vishy could have perhaps played on and made him play a few good moves to earn the draw, but that it was a fair result in the end.

shared spoils, David Navara making his move and on his way to a draw against Vishy Anand

Carlsen-Shirov was also a Spanish, with black doing fine until he shot himself in the foot with 24...Qf6?! White pressed, obtaining a nice advantage, but Carlsen's 28.Rg3!? was a little hasty perhaps, and should have yeilded to 28.Nd5. From here, the game became a bit scrappy, errors committed by both players. After 46.h7?! (a slip, 46.Rh3 was more testing) the draw seemed the most likely outcome, and this was confirmed on move 60.

A-Group action ... giving you some idea of the 5 minutes of chaos the players have to contend
with at the start of their games. Note the high concentration around Radjabov-Topalov.

And the B-Group gets on with it seemingly un-noticed

Winner of Group-B was Ukranian GM Pavel Eljanov, who had taken the lead in the latter stages of the tournament and in the end was a point clear of his nearest rivals. As winner, he will be invited to play in the A-Group next year.

In Grandmaster Group-C, there was an abrupt example of just how cruel chess (or any sport for that matter) can be, as Russian IM Ian Nepomniachtchi lost his first and only game of the tournament (to Nadezhda Kosintseva). Having led the group pretty much all the way, he found himself pipped by a mere half point by Polish Grandmaster Michal Krasenkow, who defeated Zhaoqin Peng with the black pieces. A consolation to Ian, is that his fine performance earned him a GM norm, and an invite to group B for the 2008 tournament. Also a point of note, is that Hou Yifan of China, just 12 years old, achieved an IM/WGM norm with her score of 7/13. A fine performance.

10/13 at the 2006 olympiad, WFM, and an IM/WGM norm at Corus 2007
with her trademark hair pins, Hou Yifan, from China, a talent for sure

And so concludes another fortnight of high-level competition in Wijk aan Zee, the small coastal village in Holland that in early January each year turns in to 'Chess Capital' and plays host to its biggest names. For me, the tournament holds a special place, for it was at Corus 2006 that I was inspired to do something with my love for chess, and begin Chess Gateway. I have equally fond memories of Corus 2007, I made many friends and aquaintances, unfortunately most are living in other countries. Some I will not see again until the next time the Chess world descends on Wijk aan Zee.

And what of that next time? Within days it is likely that Corus will be taken over. The name that will be on the flags in 2008 (January 11-27 to be precise) is as yet unclear. One thing that we were told at the opening ceremony, is that whatever take over, the Corus committment goes on, not only towards its business, but also towards its sponsorship, etc. The tournament, first born in 1938, is at least safe until 2010, and there are many dedicated individuals who will do their level best to ensure its continuance there-after.



Chess Gateway Competition:  Cast your mind back all the way to the opening ceremony report. I wrote about the B-Group players drawing lots but picking a box of tin cans with a number on the bottom? Well, these cans are something of collectors items in themselves, in that each can has a game from previous Wijk aan Zee tournaments, and a photo of the game winner. As an added bonus, each is filled with an energy drink.

The cans (pictured to the left -- I am sorry but the girl with the beautiful smile is most treasured and is not included!) were not sold as souveniers, but were only given to players and their companions, visiting VIP's, and members of the press. Ever thoughtful of my visitors, I have a set to give away. All you have to do is answer the competition question, posed by Aviv Friedman, famous for his round-by-round reports on the Corus Tournament website.

Rules:

-- in the interests of fairness, only one entry per person will be accepted, with multiples being deleted.

-- competition closes February 20th 2007, winners will be announced on Chess Gateway February 28th 2007 and contacted by email.