Corus 04: Kramnik, Adams, Short win

Corus Chess Tournament Wijk aan Zee 14 – 30 January 2005 Official web site – Live coverage – All ChessBase reports

Round four

On of the most-watched games on the Playchess.com server was the encounter between Britian's Nigel Short (above) and Russian Super-GM Alexander Morozvitch, one of the most mercurial player in top-level chess. Morozevich can go through tournaments like a knife through butter, or he can set himself up as, well, the butter. This is what he is doing in Wijk aan Zee. Against the 39-year-old Short, veteran of a world championship challenge (in 1993 against Garry Kasparov) "Moro" decided to try the ancient Philidor Defence. Did we mention that Morozevich is also one of the most diverse players in the opening? Nigel Short, confronted with a novelty on move eight, and a suprising ...d5 break on move 15, kept his wits about him in this "Morozevich position" (Short). He gave up the bishop pair, won an exchange and pinned the black king down on the h8 square.

Black has just played 41...Rf8-g8 after White had moved his queen from g4-f4. Now there was an agonizing five-minute wait on the server. Over five hundred people, all armed with Fritz, wondered whether Nigel had not seen the killer combination that immediately ends the game. He had and Morozevich resigned two moves later – 1-0. We leave you to ponder what White must play in the above position, and to check in the replay and download section if you fail to spot the move.

In the typical style of an "English Attack" in the Najdorf Michael Adams (photo above by Siep Korteling) castled queenside and threw everything he had at the uncastled black king. Take a look at the position after White's 13th move and claim you would not be intimidated by the forces gathering for the attack. However the world's number three from Bulgaria stood up to the pressure pretty well, until he lost the thread in time touble.

In severe time trouble Topalov gave up the exchange and then a pawn and the game: 31...Rxd4 [31...Bxd4 32.Rxd4 Rxd4 was an obvious alternative] 32.Rxd4 Bxd4 33.Qxd4 e5 34.Qf2+ Ke8 [loses a pawn – 34...Qf7 would have been better] 35.Nf6+ Kd8 36.Qf5 Bc8 37.Qxg5 Be6 38.Qh6 Kc7 39.g5 Kc6 40.Qh8 Kb7 41.g6 1-0. This game won the public prize for the day.

Vladimir Kramnik (above) played what many described as a flawless game against Dutch import Ivan Sokolov. After the game he appeared in the press room and answered questions by the journalists. He admitted that he had a problem with his slow start, seeing virtually nothing in his game against Topalov in round two. That was most likely due to his inactivity after the classical chess world championship match in Brissago. Kramnik said he had not prepared for this tournament, relying on the work he had done for Brissago. In retrospect he should have at least played a few rapid chess games to get the calculating parts of his mind going.

Watching the game in realtime on the server Garry Kasparov was initially very impressed by Kramnik's next move: 28.a4!? But then Kasparov spotted 28...Rxf3! 29.axb5 axb5, after which Black does not seem to be in any serious trouble. So Sokolov's 28...Rxb3? was the decisive mistake. After 29.axb5 axb5 30.Kh2 Kg7 31.Rg1+ Kh6 32.Rg4 Nc6 33.Rag1 Kh5 a pretty mating drama unfolded.

34.Rg7 (threat: Rxh7#) 34...h6 (leads to a forced mate – only 34...Kh6 would have extended Black's life) 35.Ne4 (threatens Ng3+ and Rg4#) 35...Rxf3 36.R1g4 1-0. Mate in six is unavoidable: 36...Nd4 37.Ng3+ Rxg3 38.fxg3 Nf3+ (38...Nxf5 39.Rh4+ Nxh4 40.g4#) 39.Kh1 b4 40.Rh4+ Nxh4 41.g4 mate. The other fun alternative is 36...Rxf2+ 37.Nxf2 (or 37.Kg1 Rf3 38.R7g6 Rxh3 39.Ng3+ Rxg3+ 40.Rxg3 Kh4 41.Kh2 Nd4 42.Rh3#) 37...Ra8 38.Ne4 Ra2+ 39.Rg2 Rxg2+ 40.Kxg2 Nd4 41.Nxf6+ Kh4 42.Rg4#. We advise you to play through these lines on our JavaScript board. The link is given below.

Against Vishy Anand the off-form Peter Svidler came out of a Chigorin on crutches, but found an imaginative and confusing defence:

Anand,V (2786) - Svidler,P (2735) [C99]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (4), 18.01.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nc6 14.a3 exd4 15.Nb3 d3 16.Bxd3 Ne5 17.Bf4 Nxd3 18.Qxd3 Re8 19.Rac1 Qb6 20.Be3 Qb7 21.Bd2

21...Bd8?! "It's crazy, but what could I do?" said Peter afterwards. The move gives up a pawn. 22.Qxd6 Bb6 23.Ba5. Garry Kasparov did not understand this move, played after due consideration by Anand. "Why not 23.e5 and keep the damn pawn?" Kasparov said. An alternative was 23.Be3 Bxe3 24.Rxe3 Nxe4 25.Qf4 Qd5 26.Nc5 Nf6 27.Rxe8+ Nxe8 with a clear positional advantage. After Vishy's move Peter Svidler managed to get some counterplay and hold on to half a point.

Drawing statistics

The percentage of draws in this tournament has been pleasantly low. just 58% of the games were drawn, with 28% white and 14% black wins. There has been only one game which was drawn in 20 moves or less (Topalov-van Wely in round three) and six in 30 or less moves. Two players have drawn all their games (van Wely and Bruzon). The players who have played three decisive games each are Topalov, Morozevich and Ponomariov. And most of the draws have been very well fought out. Gentlemen (and the lady): this is an exciting tournament.

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Current standings

Wednesday is a free day.

Groups B and C

Yesterday, in round three, all six games in the C Group were decided. Today all six games in the B Group were drawn. That made for 62% drawn games, up from 49% after three rounds.

In the C Group there were three decided game, all won by Black. Here the drawing average is just 37%, with 28% black wins.

Standings

• Download all games so far in zipped PGN:
  Group A – Group B – Group C

  Pictures by Pufichek at Kosteniuk.com (with ©) and Olena Boytsun

All results and schedule

Groups B + C