Corus Wijk aan Zee
Round 10 (Thursday, January 23, 2003)
Round 10 (Thursday, January 23, 2003) |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
1-0
|
Topalov, Veselin |
Grischuk, Alexander
|
0-1
|
Polgar, Judit |
Ponomariov, Ruslan
|
1-0
|
Van Wely, Loek |
Krasenkow, Michal
|
0-1
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
Ivanchuk, Vassily
|
1-0
|
Timman, Jan H |
Shirov, Alexei
|
0-1
|
Anand, Viswanathan |
Bareev, Evgeny
|
½-½
|
Karpov, Anatoly |
|
ROUND 10: They're alive! It looks
like the two rest days did the job. For fans who love decisive games, and all
fans do, this was a banner day at Corus Wijk aan Zee. Six of the seven games
were decisive and the only draw lasted 60 moves! Anand continued his dominant
play. He won with black and remains in the lead by a half point. On his heels
is Judit Polgar, who also won. Van Wely, after a week in the clouds, is slowly
falling to Earth. He lost his second game in three days, but is still at +1.
Anand dispatched Shirov on the black side of another
hideously complicated Caro-Kann Advance. Long gone are the days when
1.e4 c6 signified either exchanges and quick draw or a long positional grind.
All four games starting with 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 have been decisive, three
of them wins for black! This time Anand played matador to the Spanish bull Shirov,
who sacrificed a piece in the opening. Anand battled back and held on to the
material and Shirov's compensation was never quite enough.
In the diagrammed position it looks like White is going
to get his piece back or have a vicious attack thanks to the pin on the d-pawn.
For example, 14...Nd7 15.Bx4 f6 16.h5 Bf7 and White can choose from moves like
17.Qe4 or 17.h6.
Anand found the spectacular interference shot 14...Nd3!! to blunt the
attack after 15.cxd3 h5 16.f5 Bh7 17.Bd2 dxc3 18.Bxc3 0-0. Later Anand
traded down to two pieces for a rook with passed pawns for both sides and he
brought the win home in confident fashion. Thrilling chess from both players.
Kramnik flexed his impressive endgame muscles in a
win over Topalov. The classical world champion got a plus after liquidating
most of the material against Topalov's Benko Gambit. Then it was a pawn and
rook endgame that Kramnik's fine technique made look easier than it was. The
win brings Big Vlad to a plus score for the first time and he's in the large
pack of players right behind Polgar.
Polgar stayed a half-point behind Anand and reserved
clear second place by handing Grischuk his first loss. On the black
side of a non-Sveshnikov Sicilian, she took a knight and then played good counterattacking
defense. At the end she gave back the piece for an easily won endgame and Grischuk
resigned. Despite her sharp style she is one of only three undefeated players
in Wijk ann Zee, the others being Anand and Ivanchuk.
Speaking of Chukky, he came out of hibernation today
long enough to add to Jan Timman's ongoing embarrassment. This time
the Dutch legend lasted just 21 moves. I can only imagine that he saw some winning
line after 16...d5?? 17.a5 Bd6 that just wasn't there. Instead his knight
was lost for nothing and he resigned a few moves later. Timman now has 2/10
and will have trouble making this into anything other than the worst tournament
of his long and storied career.
Ruslan Ponomariov got back on track by beating one
of the title aspirants, Loek van Wely. The FIDE champion decided
to skip all the theoretical arguments that have been going on and played 3.Bb5
against the Dutchman's inevitable Sicilian. Van Wely has been formidably well
prepared so far, and this move paid dividends for Super Mariov. He kept a passed
pawn on e7 from move 23 until it won the game for him on move 59! Ponomariov
is still well out of the race, and needs two more wins just to reach an even
score. It was a real crusher for van Wely, who now falls 1.5 points behind Anand.
Teimour Radjabov, the one who hasn't started shaving
yet, has quietly gone +3 since his early losses made it look like the 16-year-old
was going to have a rough time in his first super-tournament. With
today's win over Krasenkow with black he made it to +1, where he joins some
elite company. He has won two in a row with black, both with the King's Indian
Defense that isn't supposed to be any good at this level! Club players around
the world, rejoice! Right before the first time control Krasenkow played for
a win with 39.g4 and avoided a repetition draw. (He also avoided just
taking the f-pawn and entering a pawn-up Q vs Q endgame.) A few moves later
he was worse and 20 moves later he had a nice bagel for his efforts.
Karpov and Bareev had a long debate about whose minor
piece was better in the endgame. At move 60 they decided they were
both right, or both wrong, and agreed on the draw that had looked preordained
since move 20. Hats off to both players for giving us a nice endgame lesson
instead of taking a half-day.
There are three rounds to go and no more rest days.
Polgar-Anand is on Saturday (round 12) and that could decide the tournament.
Tomorrow will be a test for both van Wely and Kramnik as they match up tomorrow.
After a sensational start, van Wely has looked mortal and Kramnik might decide
to play for a win with black to move into contention for first prize. (Or he
might just wait till his full point appointment with Timman in round 12.)
Standing after round 10

Previous rounds
Round 1 (Saturday, January
11, 2003)
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan
|
0-1
|
Bareev, Evgeny |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
½-½
|
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
Krasenkow, Michal
|
0-1
|
Karpov, Anatoly |
Shirov, Alexei
|
½-½
|
Timman, Jan H |
Grischuk, Alexander
|
½-½
|
Van Wely, Loek |
Anand, Viswanathan
|
½-½
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
Polgar, Judit
|
½-½
|
Topalov, Veselin |
|
|
Round 2 (Sunday, January 12, 2003) |
Bareev, Evgeny
|
1-0
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
Topalov, Veselin
|
0-1
|
Anand, Viswanathan |
Van Wely, Loek
|
½-½
|
Polgar, Judit |
Timman, Jan H
|
½-½
|
Grischuk, Alexander |
Karpov, Anatoly
|
½-½
|
Shirov, Alexei |
Ivanchuk, Vassily
|
½-½
|
Krasenkow, Michal |
Ponomariov, Ruslan
|
1-0
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
|
|
Round 3 (Tuesday, January 14,
2003) |
Anand, Viswanathan
|
½-½
|
Van Wely, Loek |
Shirov, Alexei
|
½-½
|
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
Polgar, Judit
|
1-0
|
Timman, Jan H |
Grischuk, Alexander
|
½-½
|
Karpov, Anatoly |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
1-0
|
Bareev, Evgeny |
Krasenkow, Michal
|
½-½
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
Radjabov, Teimour
|
0-1
|
Topalov, Veselin |
|
|
Round 4 (Wednesday, January 15,
2003) |
Van Wely, Loek
|
½-½
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
Timman, Jan H
|
½-½
|
Anand, Viswanathan |
Bareev, Evgeny
|
½-½
|
Topalov, Veselin |
Ivanchuk, Vassily
|
½-½
|
Grischuk, Alexander |
Karpov, Anatoly
|
0-1
|
Polgar, Judit |
Ponomariov, Ruslan
|
0-1
|
Shirov, Alexei |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
1-0
|
Krasenkow, Michal |
|
|
Round 5 (Thursday, January 16,
2003) |
Grischuk, Alexander
|
½-½
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
Polgar, Judit
|
½-½
|
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
Topalov, Veselin
|
0-1
|
Van Wely, Loek |
Shirov, Alexei
|
1-0
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Radjabov, Teimour
|
1-0
|
Timman, Jan H |
Krasenkow, Michal
|
½-½
|
Bareev, Evgeny |
Anand, Viswanathan
|
1-0
|
Karpov, Anatoly |
|
|
Round 6 (Saturday, January 18,
2003) |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
½-½
|
Grischuk, Alexander |
Ivanchuk, Vassily
|
½-½
|
Anand, Viswanathan |
Ponomariov, Ruslan
|
½-½
|
Polgar, Judit |
Bareev, Evgeny
|
0-1
|
Van Wely, Loek |
Krasenkow, Michal
|
1-0
|
Shirov, Alexei |
Timman, Jan H
|
0-1
|
Topalov, Veselin |
Karpov, Anatoly
|
½-½
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
|
|
Round 7 (Sunday, January 19, 2003) |
Shirov, Alexei
|
1-0
|
Bareev, Evgeny |
Grischuk, Alexander
|
1-0
|
Krasenkow, Michal |
Anand, Viswanathan
|
1-0
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
Van Wely, Loek
|
1-0
|
Timman, Jan H |
Topalov, Veselin
|
½-½
|
Karpov, Anatoly |
Radjabov, Teimour
|
½-½
|
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
Polgar, Judit
|
½-½
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
|
|
Round 8 (Monday, January 20, 2003) |
Shirov, Alexei
|
0-1
|
Grischuk, Alexander |
Bareev, Evgeny
|
1-0
|
Timman, Jan H |
Ponomariov, Ruslan
|
0-1
|
Radjabov, Teimour |
Ivanchuk, Vassily
|
½-½
|
Topalov, Veselin |
Karpov, Anatoly
|
1-0
|
Van Wely, Loek |
Krasenkow, Michal
|
½-½
|
Polgar, Judit |
Kramnik, Vladimir
|
½-½
|
Anand, Viswanathan |
|
|
Round 9 (Tuesday, January 21,
2003) |
Timman, Jan H
|
½-½
|
Karpov, Anatoly |
Van Wely, Loek
|
½-½
|
Ivanchuk, Vassily |
Grischuk, Alexander
|
0-1
|
Bareev, Evgeny |
Polgar, Judit
|
½-½
|
Shirov, Alexei |
Radjabov, Teimour
|
½-½
|
Kramnik, Vladimir |
Anand, Viswanathan
|
½-½
|
Krasenkow, Michal |
Topalov, Veselin
|
½-½
|
Ponomariov, Ruslan |
|
|
|