Corus Chess Tournament 2007, Round 8

 by John Lee Shaw








There are not many bad games for Vishy Anand, but his match-up against Veselin Topalov was definitely one. The Queen's Indian started out relatively well, with black equalising fairly nicely.

Topalov's 14.a4!? is new accoring to my database, and Anand's 14...Nd5 seems to answer it quite nicely (see diagram, left). Topalov's 15.cxd5 was maybe inferior to the alternative of 15.Nxe4!? for example 15...Nxc3 16.Nxc3 Bb7 is about equal, though perhaps White was reluctant to grant black the bishop pair. As it was, after 15.cxd5 there followed the rather natural (if not forced) line of 15...Bxf1 16.d6 Bxg2 17.dxe7 Qxe7 18.Kxg2 (see diagram, right) and here Anand chose 18...f5 which is maybe too slow when compared to ...Rad8.


In my humble opinion, Anand's 19...Qd7 looks like an odd move, though well grounded in heading towards the d5-square. The point though in my mind is that black has the semi open d-file at his disposal, surely it makes sense to post a rook along it, especially with the white queen still on d1. Certainly the black queen sortie gained Anand little, and the standing was about equal upon 20...Qd5. Topalov then began to hack at the centre, and here the lack of development showed for black, as after 21.f3 (see diagram, left) exf3 22.Nxf3 h6!? (...f4!) 23.Re1 gives white a slight initiative.

From here, Topalov played very powerfully, finding good squares for his pieces, while black seemed passive and aimless. Certainly in the end position, White stood better, but black's resignation after 35.Nd3 (see diagram, right) seems a little early to me. Perhaps Vishy's mindset rather than the board had defeated him on this occasion and he had just had enough.


Up to this round Teymour Radjabov had been leading the tournament and looking very steady indeed. This changed as he was handed his first defeat by Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian. In the Ragozin variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, central exchanges gave black quite effortless equality, and when White was saddled with a weak central pawns, something had clearly gone wrong in the White camp. After 17.Be1? (Rd3 or Rd4 were better, but white is still slightly worse) Radjabov soon found his position quite desimated, as Aronian played strongly, winning the e-pawn with advantage (see diagram, left). There followed 18.Bd3 Qc5 19.Qxc3 Rxe1+! 20.Qxc5 Rxf1+ 21.Bxf1 Nxc5, with a huge position for black. Radjabov fought bravely, but his position never recovered and he was soon losing. On move 65 he was resigning the game, and as it turned out, the tournament lead.



When I saw the schedule for this round, the pairing of Sergey Karjakin v David Navara was the game that I found very exciting, as I believe that these two young Grandmasters have a huge future in chess should they wish to take it. Of course, one has to include the likes of Radjabov, Carlsen, Negi, Yifan etc. in this evaluation, but Karjakin and Navara have stood out where my opinion is concerned for the last couple of years. As well as being strong, consistent, players, their attitude and demeanour also impresses me. Thus, I was very much looking forward to this game.


It started extremely well for the young Czech, firstly surprising his opponent with 10...Nd7, who then went on to play the mistaken 16.b4?! (a4 or Bd5 were better options). 17.Ne2? was a bit of a clanger, (the developing Bd2 being better). There followed 17...Qd7 18.Bf4 f5 with black having the best of play (see diagram, left). By move 30, things had gotten extremely bad for Karjakin, an exchange down, and black was sitting pretty with a winning advantage.



Winning does not mean won, however, and Navara's horrible 41...b4?? handed White the advantage to be followed a couple of moves later by 43...bxc3? There followed 44.Bxd5+ Kh8 45.Ra4 (see diagram, right) when white is sitting pretty. From here, Karjakin made no mistake, and Navara seemed to go to pieces somewhat, with some loose moves coming. Karjakin had the point in 56, a disappointing reversal of fortune for David Navara.


When taking Peter Svidler on in the Grunfeld Defence, one has to be extremely confident with regard to his preparation, and Alexander Motylev's faith in his was well placed as he competed exceptionally well. Svidler's 14...a5 (see diagram, left) was super aggressive, and to be fair, refuted by the strong 15.Bb5! when things get exceptionally sharp and favouring white. 15...Qc8 for example, allows white to either capture axb4 or advance d5, both with a clear plus. 15...c6 16.d5! leaves black's aggression blowing up in his face.


As it was, Motylev chose 15.d5 which didn't quite pass muster, and after 15...Bxe5 16.axb4 axb4 black was equal at worst. Motylev's 19.Qxb4? was a definite mistake, but actually his position had already become precarious and even moves such as Qe3 or Bc4 (attempting to consolidate) leave black in a very good stance. As it was, Svidler's 19...Rfa8! was punishing, and threatening ...Ra4 when (after the queen moves) the black pieces threaten to descend on white like vultures. White's 20.Rd4?? (19.Na3 cutting off the a-file was probably the most respectable try) was desperation, and in effect resignation as after 20...Bxd4 21.Qxd4 (see diagram, right) white has no compensation for his material, and black is just winning. Svidler did not put a foot wrong and when any repetition or perpetual chances had been dashed, Motylev resigned.


Vladimir Kramnik weilded the Catalan (greatly used in his World Championship match against Topalov) and played a pawn sacrifice against his young opponent, Magnus Carlsen. Black did very well until his slow 11...Be7? when ...Bc6 instead would have kept the balance. Here, perhaps the World Champion could have tried 12.Qh5 with Nc5 to follow either ...Nc6 or ...Bb4 with an edge. Vladimir went for the direct 12.Nc5 and after 12...Bc6 13.Bxc6 Nxc6 14.Nxb7 Qc8 black had about equalised. Carlsen's 18...c6 was a mistake, when ...N4d5 was a better try and after a possible 18.Nxb6 cxb6 19.e4 white has very little. As it was, he regained his pawn but black managed to obtain a solid position, and Kramnik exchanged down and offered the draw which was quickly accepted by his opponent.

van Wely-Ponomariov got in to the rare Blumenfeld Gambit, which saw White obtain a nice position. Both parties made their loose moves midway through the game, out of which white retained some edge. Towards the latter stages of the game, however, it was the former FIDE champion who had the better of the position, but king opposition in the endgame dictated the draw.

The other draw of the round was the clash between Shirov and Tiviakov. They got in to a Maroczy Bind Sicilian, which saw a rather questionable decision from black to allow the white bishop to h6 and prevent castling. Shirov was soon an exchange up and positionally dominating, with black having a weak queenside. However, Shirov will be kicking himself for his decision to give back material with 31.Raxb3 (instead of 31.Ra7+) which was only good enough for the draw.


So, there is a change at the top going in to the latter stages of the tournament (just 5 rounds left now). World #1 Veselin Topalov went in to the round trailing Teymour Radjabov by a half point, and at the end of it there had been a reversal of fortunes. The tournament is still wide open, however, with Karjakin, Aronian, Svidler, and Kramnik all within 1 point of the lead.


1. V. Topalov -- 6
2. T. Radjabov -- 5½
3. S. Karjakin, L. Aronian, P. Svidler, V. Kramnik -- 5
7. D. Navara, V. Anand -- 4
9. R. Ponomariov -- 3½
10. L. van Wely, S. Tiviakov, A. Motylev -- 3
13. M. Carlsen -- 2½
14. A. Shirov -- 1½


In Group-B, the young GM from France, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave leads Pavel Eljanov by a half point with a very impressive 6/8. Maxime defeated Holland's Erwin l'Ami in round 8. The other Dutch loss was Jan Smeets to Dmitry Jakovenko, while Daniel Stellwagen drew with Eljanov. The round saw Suat Atalik, (last year's Group-C winner) continuing to have a bad tournament, losing to Friso Nijboer.

1. M. Vachier-Lagrave -- 6
2. P. Eljanov -- 5½
3. Bu Xiangzhi -- 5
4. V. Bologan, D. Jakovenko -- 4½
6. T. Kosintseva, F. Nijboer, G. Sargissian, J. Smeets -- 4
10. D. Stellwagen, E. L’Ami -- 3½
12. J. Werle -- 3
13. V. Georgiev -- 2½
14. S. Atalik -- 2


Ian Nepomniachtchi continues to take the C-Group by storm, having dropped only a half point in 8 games. No wonder he's going around with a big smile on his face, well on his way to booking himself a tickect to group B next year. A good day for the Dutch in round 8, with both Harmen Jonkman and Manuel Bosboom taking points (from Stellan Brynell and Parimarjan Negi respectively). Other games were drawn.

1. I. Nepomniachtchi -- 7½
2. E. Berg -- 6
3. M. Krasenkow -- 5½
4. M. Bosboom, Hou Yifan -- 5
6. P. Negi, Z. Peng, W. Spoelman -- 4
9. E. van Haastert -- 3½
10. S. Brynell, N. Kosintseva, J. van der Wiel, H. Jonkman -- 2½
14. T. Willemze -- 1½