Corus R2: Adams beats Topalov

The Corus Chess Tournament 2006 is being held from 13-29 January 2006 in Wijk aan Zee, Holland. The venue is the De Moriaan Community Centre (Dorpsduinen 4, 1949 EG Wijk aan Zee) and the nearby bar de Zon. Commentary is available in the Corus Chess Pavilion, on the Village Green in Wijk aan Zee.

Round two

Grandmaster Group A

Grandmaster Group B

Grandmaster Group C

Round two report

Sokolov-Ivanchuk: All eyes were on Adams vs Topalov, but in the background Vassily Ivanchuk was quietly going into the lead, scroing 2/2 and with both wins with black! Ivanchuk defanged Sokolov's pet line against the Nimzo at the cost of leaving his bishop stuck on a5 for most of the game. But it emerged with a vengeance. Ivanchuk didn't mind giving up pawns to gain the bishop pair (black with the bishop pair in the Nimzo?!) and create structural weaknesses. White shouldn't have fallen apart as quickly as he did, but there was pressure. 27.Ng8+!? Kf8 28.gxf5 is an amusing line, suggested by Ivanchuk, that might have held things together for Sokolov. The endgame was quite hopeless. Another very solid effort from Ivanchuk.

Adams-Topalov: This game had a déjà vu effect on Garry Kasparov, watching the event on the Playchess server. It reminded him of his 1996 game against Topalov in Dos Hermanas. The similarity goes beyond the opening, which is a common Scheveningen line (Najdorf move order), one that Garry helped pioneer. He also played it against Karpov a few times in World Championship matches, back when Karpov was still playing e4. Both games have knight sacs on d5 and of course both were against Topalov, who drew the game against Kasparov back in '96.

Caro-Kann or Sicilian? The start Adams vs Topalov

Adams,Mi (2707) - Topalov,V (2801) [B85]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (2), 15.01.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a4 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.f4 Qc7 11.Kh1 Re8 12.Bf3 Bf8 13.Qd2. In San Luis Adams played 13.Nb3 against Topalov and drew. 13...Na5 14.b3 Rb8 15.Rad1 Nc6N 16.Bf2 Nd7 17.Bg3 Nxd4 18.Qxd4 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.b4 g6.

As often happens, 20...g6 was intended to prevent f5, but ends up making that move stronger: 21.e5 d5 22.f5! gxf5 23.Nxd5! Qc4 (23...exd5 24.e6) 24.Qd2 h6 25.h3! This flashily quiet move was predicted and praised by Kasparov on Playchess. Adams ignores tempi in a sharp position to take the g4 square away from the black queen, making use of the fact that Black has hardly any useful moves. 25...exd5 26.Bxd5 Qxb4 27.c3 Qc5.

The black queen is now out of play and White can unleash his attack. 28.Rxf5 Re6 29.Rxf7 Nb6 30.Rdf1. Here Adams could have tried 30.Qf4 Nxd5 (30...Bg7 31.Ba2 Bd7 32.Qg4+-) 31.Rxd5+-, but despite the extra piece the game is already positionally lost for Black, and there is no need for impatience. 30...Nxd5 31.Rxf8+ Qxf8 32.Rxf8+ Kxf8 33.Qxd5. The queen and pawns are far stronger than the two rooks and the open black king. 33...Ke8 34.Bh4 Bd7 35.Bf6 b4 36.Qe4 Bc8 37.cxb4 Rb7 38.Qg6+ Kd7 39.Qxh6 Kc7. "How many extra pawns does one need to have to force an opponent to resign," one wag asked Seirawan on Playchess (Adams has four). Topalov is hoping for a miracle which doesn't come. 40.Qf4 Kb8 41.h4 Rc7 42.h5 1-0. [Click to replay]

Mr Cool against the reigning FIDE world champion

After the game Michael Adams visited the Playchess Studio to discuss it with our resident commentator Yasser Seirawan. In a lively session the two went through many lines of the game.

"Yaz" and "Mickey" in the "Playchess studio" in Wijk aan Zee

Michael Adams discussing his game against Veselin Topalov with Yasser Seirawan on Playchess.

The above picture shows you where you can find and replay the video commentary from the Playchess archives. Click on "English" and then select the report in the Games window. Replaying archive files costs you two Ducats. You can also replay just the moves of the informal analysis of the two grandmasters here.

Kamsky-Gelfand: The "still-a-bit-rusty" American grandmaster Gata Kamsky turned up well-oiled and in excellent form against Israel's Boris Gelfand, who has been playing extremely well of late.

Kamsky came out well from the Slav opening and worked his way to an endgame of queen vs rook and knight. Gelfand had some theoretical drawing chances which he blew when he did not play 31... or 32...h5 (Kasparov: "Any professional should play that immediately, without thinking, in order to get any chances to survive).

World-class chess players don't fade away, they come back fighting

Anand-Aronian: Vishy Anand's maneuvering against Levon Aronian's Spanish netted a pawn and carried it into the endgame. They shuffled around for a bit but Anand couldn't find a way to make progress. Eventually he allowed liquidation. Black's extra pawn in the final position is solely ornamental.

Bacrot-Tiviakov: Etienne Bacrot, whose name is incidentally pronounced "back-row" (the "back" as in Schwarzenegger's "I'll be baak"), showed why Sergey Tiviakov's favorite Dragon isn't much seen at the top. White's Maroczy Bind ground him down in almost stereotypical fashion. After the white knight lands on Nc6 black is practically a spectator.

Leko-Karjakin: Peter Leko played an interesting queen sac in a known line against Karjakin's Najdorf. White clearly has compensation but it's hard to see how he could play for a win.

Ready to slug it out with Leko: Sergey Karjakin

Leko,P (2740) - Karjakin,Sergey (2660) [B90]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (2), 15.01.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Be7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 b4 13.Ne2 Ne8 14.h4 a5 15.Kb1 a4 16.Nbc1 Nb6 17.Ng3 d5 18.Bxb6 Qxb6 19.exd5 Rd8 20.Bc4 Nc7.

21.dxe6 Rxd2 22.exf7+ Kh8 23.Rxd2 Qc6 24.b3 Nb5 25.Bxb5 Qxb5 26.bxa4 Qxa4 27.Rhd1 Rxf7 28.Rd7 Kg8 29.Ne4 ½-½. [Click to replay]

Group B

Lahno-Motylev: We have not idea what happened in this game. Blunder? A sacrifice inspired by sketchy preparation? The young Russian Alexander Motylev (the only one around – no Russians in the A Group for the first time since 1987, we believe) lost his queen for two bishops right out of the opening. One could also say "gave up his queen," although this smelled more like desperation than preparation. Kateryna Lahno couldn't find a way to break through and after a few sacrificial attempts agreed to the draw.

Koneru-Cheparinov: Topalov's second Ivan Cheparinov fell to his second consecutive loss after being a favorite thanks to his fine Khanty-Mansiysk result (he KO'ed Ivanchuk). He was far too ambitious with black against Koneru Humpy, who happily accepted his sacrifices and converted full point smoothly.

Beat Topalov second Cheparinov: Koneru Humpy

Beliavsky-Naiditsch: Veteran Alexander Beliavsky played with youthful vigor against Germany's Akardij Naiditsch, and had a chance for a beautiful win. Instead, he delayed, then blundered, and went on to fall into a forced mate himself.

Beliavsky,A (2626) - Naiditsch,A (2657) [E15]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (2), 15.01.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Nc3 c6 8.Bf4 Qc8 9.Rc1 Qb7 10.Ne5 d5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.b4 b5 13.Qb3 Rc8 14.0-0 Nc6 15.Nxc6 Rxc6 16.e4 Rc4 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Nxd5 exd5 19.a3 Qc6 20.Rce1 Bf8 21.Re5 Rd8 22.Rfe1 Bc8 23.Qe3 Rc3 24.Qd2 Rxa3 25.Rc1 Qb7 26.Qe1 Be6 27.Bg5 Rd6 28.f4 g6 29.f5 gxf5 30.Bf6 Bh6 31.g4 fxg4

32.Qh4! Bxc1 33.Qxg4+! 33..Kf8 34.Qg7+ Ke8 35.Rxe6! and White wins the queen or mates. Instead the game continued 32.Rc5? Bf4 33.Qh4 Ra1+ 34.Bf1 h6 35.Qf2 Bxe5 36.dxe5 Rda6 37.Qd2 d4 38.Qxh6 and now Black has a forced mate: 38...Rxf1+ 39.Kxf1 Ra1+ 0-1. [Click to replay]

Smeets-Carlsen: 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen won another powerful attacking game, this time against 20-year-old Dutch grandmaster Jan Smeets. Carlsen had good pressure already when White blundered and allowed a pretty demolition rook sacrifice.

Smeets,J (2550) - Carlsen,M (2625) [B33]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (2), 15.01.2006
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Bg5 12.Nc2 Ne7 13.Ncb4 0-0 14.a4 bxa4 15.Rxa4 a5 16.Nxe7+ Qxe7 17.Bc4 Bd7 18.Nd5 Qe8 19.Ra2 Bd8 20.0-0 Rc8 21.Bb3 Rb8 22.Qc2 Kh8 23.Rfa1 f5 24.Ba4 Bxa4 25.Rxa4 fxe4 26.R4a2 Qf7 27.c4 Rb3 28.Re1 Bh4 29.g3 Rf3 30.b3 Bd8 31.Rxe4 h5 32.Re2 h4 33.Rb2 g6 34.Kg2?

Magnus does not miss such opportunities: 34...hxg3 35.hxg3 Rxg3+! 36.Kf1 (36.fxg3 Qf1+ 37.Kh2 Kg7 with mate to follow) 36...Qf3 (36...Qh7! 37.Qe4 Qh2 wins faster) 37.Qe4 Qh5 38.Ne3 Bg5 39.Ke1 Rgf3 40.Nf1 Bc1 41.Ra2 Rxb3 42.Ng3 Qh6 43.Qg4 Rxg3 0-1. [Click to replay]

Down in the C Group Anatoly Visser played a pretty combo with 31.Rxf7! and an attractive finish. The leader in this group is GM Suat Atalik, Turkey's stongest ever grandmaster, who won for the second time in a row. His newly-wed wife, WGM Ekaterina Polovnikova, is also playing in the group, albeit less successfully.

Schedule, results and reports

When and how to watch The games of the Corus Chess Tournament start at 13:30h Central European Time, which is GMT + 1h, or 7:30 a.m. New York and 15:30 Moscow (you can check for other locations here). There is live coverage on the official web site (links at the bottom of the page) and on Playchess.com, where audio and video commentary will be provided by GM Yasser Seiravan, live from Wijk aan Zee. Don't miss it!

Links

• Tournament web site
• Corus web site
• All ChessBase reports so far
• Where is Wijk aan Zee?
• Wijk aan Zee 2004 reports
• Wijk aan Zee 2005 reports