Corus Chess Tournament 2007, Round 3

 by John Lee Shaw









After the blood-thirst of Sunday's round, there was a bit of concern that the players were working a 'one on and one off' schedule, when Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Tiviakov barely used 20 minutes each before agreeing a draw. They played some Petrov theory and quickly liquidated in to a drawn rook and pawn ending.

Thankfully, this was not a sign of things to come, and those present in the hall as well as spectating online, were able to see some fighting chess. Magnus Carlsen got a bit of a thumping from Ruslan Ponomariov in their game, a Slav Defence. It seems a pure case of bad preparation to me, even though the line was covered by Carlsen's mentor and second Peter Heine Nielsen. Even more, then, one would think that Magnus would know that 13...Qxd7!? is trouble, compared to 13...Kxd7. However, the Norwegian went for the former, and Ponomariov claimed his queen (in exchange for rook and knight) 3 moves later. From there on in, it was a pure demonstration of technique from the former FIDE Champion, who had the point on the crosstable 10 moves later.

The other decisive game was the King's Indian of Shirov-Radjabov. Shirov followed the game van Wely-Radjabov from round one, though he deviated with 17.Kg2 where Loek had played g4. It was White's 19.Nd5 that got a frown from Radjabov, who is having a tremendous start to this tournament and seems very comfortable and confident. It was 29.Rc6 that seemed to spell an abrupt change in things. Put the position in your chess engine and let it run, and it will probably show a plus (if not winning) to white. In some cases the brain still outweighs the chip. After Radjabov's 29...g5! (this surprised Shirov) the evaluation rapidly drops to 0.00 at best for white. Shirov's 30.Rxd6? was mistaken, however, giving black an advantage in the case of 30...g4, which was played and from here Teymour took a grip on the position rapidly. He notched up the full point, and the lead of the tournament with an excellent 2.5/3.

Sergey Karjakin almost took the full point from World #1 Veselin Topalov in this round, and really should have gone away with more than shared spoils. Topalov, to me, didn't seems up for it, and was possibly distracted by matters away from the board. It emerged yesterday (admittedly unknown to me at the time) that FIDE's bank have rejected the financial guarantee provided for Topalov's proposed challenge to Vladimir Kramnik. An open letter has been sent by Silvio Danailov to the FIDE President about the issue. Topalov seemed to have some difficulty in concentrating in his game yesterday, but it most definitely was not just other matters that had him ill at ease. Sergey Karjakin is a formidable player, and looked in super form right from sitting down at the board. Topalov played somewhat provocatively, leaving his king in the centre, but it was 17...Qb8 (...Qc7 =) that allowed White's 18.f5! and after some exchanges the young Ukranian emerged with an edge. It was the position after black's 25...Rh8, though, that had me thinking that perhaps we could see Topalov in big trouble, as the move Nd5 sticks out like a sore thumb, after which white has a vice-like hold on the position. Nd5 did come, and Topalov saw nothing better than to exchange ...Nxd5? which is not the best decision, as it gives White excellent light-squared play in the centre after Rxd5, which also came, with possibly a strategically won position for white. After 28.Re4, we see the white-squared play coming in to effect, with the added bonus of the black h4-pawn being extremely weak. Karjakin was sitting pretty, and when Topalov erred badly with 41...Bd2? then 42.Qh5! would have decided the matter very quickly. Unfortunately for Sergey, he missed this move, opting for 42.Rc4 instead, and Topalov found the miracle save he is so well known for. Game drawn in 54, but an excellent showing from Karjakin indeed!

Ever so close ... Sergey Karjakin against Veselin Topalov

In Navara-Svidler, the game saw the Russian extremely unhappy with his opening play. 'You just can not open a game this way,' Peter told me frankly about his 8...Nc6 in particular. Indeed, white did achieve a nice game, but Navara considered his 19.a4 a mistake, with Peter agreeing. Perhaps Nc5 was somewhat better, but even so, white still seems in good shape after 19.a4. The mistake seems to have come with 22.axb4?! when perhaps David would have been better with 22.Rc1. From here, black recovered gradually, and in the end position is probably better. Navara certainly thought so: 'I was happy to accept the draw, [offered by Svidler] as I considered my position to be much worse.' Smiled the very pleasent young Czech.

David Navara & Peter Svidler analysing a game that they both felt lucky to draw

Anand-Aronian was a Marshall Gambit, with white trying the new move 19.Qg2!? Anand obtained an extra pawn, but found it difficult to complete his Q-side development. Black had everything pretty much under control, and there was nothing left for them to do but shake hands and go and look at the position some more at home. Drawing also were van Wely-Motylev, the former having the best of things, but mistakenly taking a line that allowed liquidation and a draw. This was probably a decision taken in time pressure, as both players had to blitz up to move 40.

A World Chamion checks his emails
(no, your eyes do not decieve you ... it happened in December I am reliably informed)

1. T. Radjabov 2½
2. V. Topalov; D. Navara, V. Anand, L. Aronian, P. Svidler; V. Kramnik -- 2
8. S. Karjakin, R. Ponomariov 1½
10. S. Tiviakov, A. Motylev 1
12. L. van Wely, A. Shirov, M. Carlsen ½



Group-B sees the lead shared by Xiangzhi and Smeets, the latter having a nice win over Turkish GM Suat Atalik in round 3 (Xiangzhi defeated Vachier-Lagrave).  All but one game in this group proved decisive, with Georgiev falling with white to top-seed Jakovenko, and Friso Nijboer overcoming Tatiana Kosintseva. Gabriel Sargissian took the full point over Pavel Eljanov, and the Dutch derby of Werle-l 'Ami went in favour of white.

1. Bu Xiangzhi, J. Smeets -- 2½
3. F. Nijboer, V. Bologan, D. Jakovenko -- 2
6. G. Sargissian, J. Werle, D. Stellwagen, P. Eljanov -- 1½
10. T. Kosintseva, S. Atalik, M. Vachier-Lagrave -- 1
13. V. Georgiev, E. L’Ami -- ½


Round 3 Results and standings, C-Group

In Group-C, Hou Yifan scored a full point over Dutch Grandmaster John van der Wiel with the black pieces. To beat a GM is no easy task, ever, but one as vastly experienced as van der Wiel will only give a point to a fine player. Hou Yifan is certainly that, a 12-year-old WFM, who is impressing me more and more with each game. As in Group-B, all games but one were decisive in Group-C, seeing only 1 draw, Negi-Willemze.

1. P. Negi, M. Bosboom, I. Nepomniachtchi -- 2½
4. M. Krasenkow, E. Berg, Hou Yifan -- 2
7. H. Jonkman -- 1½
8. S. Brynell, N. Kosintseva, E. van Haastert, Z. Peng, W. Spoelman -- 1
13. J. van der Wiel, T. Willemze -- ½

with her fast becomming trade mark hair clips
Hou Yifan of China 0-1 over GM John van der Wiel