Corus Chess Tournament 2007, Round 7

 by John Lee Shaw

Commuting daily to Wijk aan Zee in humble service to the droves of loyal Chess Gateway supporters, such as your good self dear reader has it's drawbacks. As if Thursday's terrible storm was not bad enough, there were a spate of accidents for round 7, which caused me to arrive after the start of the round. Unfortunately for us, (though quite understandably for the players), photography is only allowed for the first 5 minutes, and after that only possible risking an unpleasent encounter with an arbiter. Thus, I was unable to get photographs of the start of the round, though as you will see below, I did get some interesting ones behind the scenes.

To the chess, then, and another bloody day of battle. Veselin Topalov stomped in fine fashion, Ruslan Ponomariov being on the receiving end of the boot in this round. Pono's idea of Nb1-d2-c4 was interesting, but probably most unwise due to the time investment it required. At move 26, Topalov's position was slightly better than that of his opponent, and 28.Bf4? should have given way to Rf5. Instead 28...Rxe4 29.Ne3 Qf6 30.Qc2 Bg6 saw black with a commanding edge. Topalov, with threat after threat, increased his advantage and did not put a foot wrong until the point was his. An excellent display of chess from the World Number 1.

Another winner of the round was Peter Svidler playing black versus Magnus Carlsen. I have nothing against the young Norwegian, who is having a tough run at this tournament, but it is nice to see Peter Svidler getting another point. From my talks with him at the tournament, I find him to be a very pleasent person, and enjoyable company. This apart, his resilience with regard to his foot, still bothering him, shows some guts which I feel does not deserve to go unrewarded. Peter was once again unhappy with his opening, though I am not sure why as black seemed to be fine. Trouble began for Carlsen with the faulty 24.a4? (Rad1 or Rfd1 =) and now a series of exchanges left white a pawn down and with a much worse position. There was little that Magnus could do, and he surrendered in 47.

Carlsen and Svidler analysing their game.
24.a4? "it would have been a good move if it had worked." -- Svidler

Games with opposite side castling are often exciting, and the encounter between David Navara and Loek van Wely proved no exception. The Dutchman played a rather unorthodox Sicilian Najdorf, which saw White soon having quite an edge. The game turned in to white having 2 passed pawns to black's 1 in the endgame, and Navara's technique was flawless in converting the point. A very nice game from the Czech indeed.

Alexey Shirov broke his duck against Alexander Motylev. Playing the white side of a Petrov, he obviously had his opponent un-nerved, as Matylev exchanged queens and a pair of knights to go from about level to worse. Shirov played solidly, and in the end position was definitely standing better. However, Motylev had managed to batten down the hatches sufficiently to have moves repeated and the point split.

Vladimir Kramnik is having something of a lack-lustre tournament. There have of course been his forceful wins against Shirov and Anand, but there have also been the apparently non-plusse draws which have earned him so much disdain through his career. This round was another case where the World Champion was quite happy to exchange and liquidate positional tension, and though Aronian was standing slightly better in the end position, the Russian was sufficiently solid for hands to be shaken on move 29. Disappointing for the spectators at the venue and online, who I am sure wish to see their World Champion play a little more commitedly in this event.

World Champion, Kramnik, analyses his draw with opponent Levon Aronian

Anand-Radjabov saw a Sveshnikov, with whte obtaining a nice knight on d5. India's top player (and inspiration to new GM's such as Negi,) held the advantage all the way, but after exchanges decided that there was little chance of converting. Game drawn in 42.

Tiviakov-Karjakin was a rather quick draw, and I must say that I am finding the Dutch number 1's opening's rather unambitious. His Aplapin Sicilian was pretty much a non-entity in this round, with Karjakin neutralising it seemingly in his sleep. Although white was slightly better in the end position, making progress was not without risk (and probably fruitless) and so a draw was agreed before I was on my second chocomel .... quite an achievement.

a visiting legend, Germany's GM Vlastimil Hort.

    
Just a handful of my press room colleagues. From left to right: IM and puzzle genius Yochanan Afek, FM Aviv Friedman,
TWIC's Mark Crowther, and New in Chess editor in Chief Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam. Nice people!

Teymour Radjabov remains in the lead, then, with Veselin Topalov hot on his heels and closing the gap. World Champion Kramnik is in 3rd, with Karjakin, Navara, Anand, Aronian, and Svidler all just 1.5 points off the lead. Anything can yet happen.

1. T. Radjabov -- 5½
2. V. Topalov -- 5
3. V. Kramnik -- 4½
4. S. Karjakin, D. Navara, V. Anand, L. Aronian, P. Svidler -- 4
9. R. Ponomariov, A. Motylev -- 3
11. L. van Wely, S. Tiviakov -- 2½
13. M. Carlsen -- 2
14. A. Shirov -- 1


Group-B saw every game but 1 decisive, and even that was a fierce 93-move fighting draw between Bologan and Eljanov. Elsewhere, Gabriel Sargissian (having something of an inconsistent tournament) defeated rating favourite Dmitry Jakavenko, Jan Werle overcame Tatiana Kosintseva, and Suat Atalik notched up a point defeating Georgiev. Erwin l'Ami got the better of Jan Smeets in the Dutch derby, and Bu Xiangzhi improved his overall position with his defeat of Friso Nijboer.

1. M. Vachier-Lagrave, P. Eljanov -- 5
3. Bu Xiangzhi -- 4½
4. V. Bologan, J. Smeets -- 4
6. T. Kosintseva, G. Sargissian, E. L’Ami, D. Jakovenko -- 3½
10. F. Nijboer, D. Stellwagen -- 3
12. J. Werle -- 2½
13. V. Georgiev, S. Atalik -- 2

Group-C is being dominated by Ian Nepomnichtchi, who is on a staggering 6.5/7. In round 7, top Dutch women's player Zhaoqin Peng gave up a point to him, and he is really now going to take some stopping in this group. As in group-B most games were decisive, with only two draws, other winners being Krasenkow against Willemze, Berg against Negi, Bosboom against Brynell, and IM Wouter Spoelman defeated GM Harmen Jonkman.


1. I. Nepomniachtchi -- 6½
2. M. Krasenkow, E. Berg -- 5
4. Hou Yifan -- 4½
5. P. Negi, M. Bosboom -- 4
7. Z. Peng, W. Spoelman -- 3½
9. E. van Haastert -- 3
10. S. Brynell, N. Kosintseva -- 2½
12. J. van der Wiel -- 2
13. H. Jonkman, T. Willemze -- 1½