|
 Corus Chess Tournament 2007 Opens!
by John Lee Shaw
The opening ceremony for this year's Corus Chess tournament has taken
place. This year, the event moved from its usual location of Wijk aan
Zee itself, to the Corus Congress Centre, in nearby Ijmuiden.
This year's tournament began, pretty much in the spirit that last
year's ended. It maintains it's connection with innovation and being
the best at what it does -- 'a Grandmaster of steel', as it was said. A
short presentation was shown (in which I actually had a surprise,
as I was in it, seen watching the games at last year's tournament). The
presentation outlined the history of the tournament, and how proud
Corus is to sponsor it. It's policy is to be 'best supplier
to best customers' and it was explained how that very much tied the
attitude and commitment towards the Corus tournament in with the
attitude and commitment towards Corus' producing of steel.
The drawing of lots took place in original fashion, with the members
of the B-group having to select tin cans, on the bottom of which
was their pairing number. The A-Group saw school chlidren dressed in
football strips running a circuit of the hall before lining up on
stage. The players then had to stand behind a child, who would take off
their football shirt to reveal a white one underneath, and the pairing
number. The resulting pairings are shown below, but just incase you are
wondering ... Topalov v Kramnik comes in the penultimate round. Yes,
Topalov gets white. My pick for round 1, however, is the pairing of Sergey Karjakin against World Champion Vladimir Kramnik.
After the official part, it was time to adjourn for an informal
gathering, one could mingle with chess's greatest and brightest stars,
while being served fruit juice or wine along with various nibbles. I had a
good few off-the-record conversations, and maybe there will be some
on-the-record ones to come somewhere in the two weeks, stay tuned.
After a short while, the players were transported to their hotels in
Wijk aan Zee to prepare for their specific opponents, and no doubt get
an early night. If the buzz of the opening is anything to go by, the
players will need quite a lot of sleep, as this is going to be one
formidable two weeks of chess!
Round 1, Saturday 13th January
V. Topalov - A. Motylev
L. van Wely - T. Radjabov
S. Karjakin - V. Kramnik
A. Shirov - P. Svidler
S. Tiviakov - M. Carlsen
D. Navara - L. Aronian
R. Ponomariov - V. Anand
T. Kosintseva - D. Jakovenko
V. Georgiev - P. Eljanov
F. Nijboer - M. Vachier-Lagrav
G. Sargissian - J. Smeets
B. Xiangzhi - E. L’Ami
S. Atalik - D. Stellwagen
J. Werle - V. Bologan
S. Brynell - T. Willemze
P. Negi - W. Spoelman
N. Kosintseva - H. Yifan
M. Krasenkow - I. Nepomniachtchi
J. van der Wiel - Z. Peng
E. Berg - E. van Haastert
M. Bosboom - H. Jonkman
the big 3, World #1 Veselin Topalov, #2 Vishy Anand, and #3 and World Champion Vladimir Kramnik
the young 3, GM Magnus Carlsen (15), GM Parimarjan Negi (13), WFM Hou Yifan (12)
Left to Right: GM Suat Atalik, and GM Alexey Shirov
with Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici
GM Levon Aronian of Armenia -- the hand belongs to Peter Svidler,
who was moving him out of the way for someone who wanted to get past
GM Peter Svidler, a very nice chap indeed
birthday boy (17 today) GM Sergey Karjakin (Ukraine)
and supported as always by his very proud Mother.
The Kosintseva Sisters, Tatiana (right) and Nadezhda (left)
Playing Schedule, Grandmaster Groups (other sections, see here):
Play on January 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th | 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st | 23rd, 24th | 26th, 27th, 28th
Rest Days on January 17th, 22nd, 25th
Live games: Corus Website | playchess.com
|
