Wijk R12: Radjabov wins, catches Topalov

by ChessBase
1/28/2007 – With a black win against Motylev, and with Topalov drawing Kramnik, top Azerbeijani GM Teimour Radjabov caught up with the Wijk aan Zee leader Veselin Topalov. And to take the drama to new heights, the two will face off in the final round on Sunday (Radjabov has white). Van Wely beat Svidler and Navara beat Ponomariov. Updated report.

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Round 12


Loek van Wely, in a good mood after beating Peter Svidler

Van Wely,L (2683) - Svidler,P (2728) [D87]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 27.01.2007
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.0-0 Bd7 11.Rb1 Qc7 12.Bf4 Qc8 13.Rc1 a6. Novelty. 14.Qd2 b5 15.Bd3 Qb7 16.Bh6 Bxh6 17.Qxh6 cxd4 18.cxd4 Qb6 19.Rc5.

19...Bg4?? 19 ..e5 is essential, although 20.Rfc1 f6 21.h4 still looks good for White. 20.Nf4 Nxd4 21.Rg5 Bf3. 21 ..Bd7 22 Rh5 mates. 22 Rg3.

As cute a way to trap a piece as I have seen in a long while. A complete disaster for Svidler, just as he was challenging for a high place in the tournament. 1-0.


And talking to the journalists in the press center

Sergei Tiviakov vs Viswanathan Anand: ½-½
A rock-solid 4...Nd7 Caro-Kann. Drawn without event in 27 moves.


Vishy Anand, who is now at plus two and tomorrow plays Navara with white

Navara,D (2719) - Ponomariov,R (2723) [C07]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 27.01.2007
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Nb3 Nd7 7.g3 Be7 8.dxc5 Nxc5 9.Bg2 0–0 10.0–0 Qb6 11.c4 Nxb3?! After this, White develops pressure on the queenside. 11...Nf6 is more solid. 12.Qxb3 Qxb3 13.axb3 Nb4 14.Be3 a6 15.Bb6.

15...Bd7?! It seems strange to allow the knight into e5. 15...f6 looks better. 16.Ne5 Bc6 17.Rfd1 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 f6 19.Rd7! The key. Now a pawn is lost. 19...Rae8 20.Nf3 Rf7 21.Rxb7 Bf8 22.Rxf7 Kxf7 23.Ba5 Rb8 24.Bxb4 Rxb4 25.Rxa6 Rxb3 26.Ra7+ Kg6 27.Nd4. The rest is the proverbial "matter of technique". 27…Rb6 28.Nb5 Rb8 29.Rd7 f5 30.f4 Kf6 31.b3 h6 32.Nd4 Ra8 33.Nc6 Ra2+ 34.Kf1 Kg6 35.b4 Rc2 36.c5 Kh5 37.Nd4 Rc1+ 38.Kf2 Bxc5 39.bxc5 Rxc5 40.Rxg7 Rd5 41.Ke3 e5 42.Nxf5 exf4+ 43.Ke4 1-0.


David Navara with a fine victory over Ponomariov

Sergey Kariakin vs Magnus Carlsen: ½-½
A sharp, but seemingly correctly-played draw. The opening followed a long line of the Open Lopez, with 22.Qd3 being the first deviation from a 1996 game between Sofia Polgar and Unzicker. One suspects that both players had analysed the line substantially further, and a draw by repetition resulted at move 35.


Sergey Karjakin, 17, at the start of his game against Magnus Carlsen, 16

Motylev,A (2647) - Radjabov,T (2729) [E92]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 27.01.2007
Radjabov continues his run with the King's Indian. White was probably a little better for much of the game, but his position collapsed in time trouble. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh6 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Qd5+ Kh8 13.0-0-0 Qe7.

14.Qa5N c6 15.Nd2 b6 16.Qa4 Bd7 17.f3 c5 18.Qa3 Nc6 19.Nd5 Qf7 20.Bd3 Be6 21.h3 f5 22.Nb1 Nd4 23.Nbc3 Rfd8 24.Be1 f4 25.Kb1 Ng8 26.Ne2 Ne7 27.Nxd4 exd4 28.h4 g4 29.Nc7 Rac8 30.Nxe6 Qxe6 31.Bd2 gxf3 32.gxf3 Nc6 33.Bxf4 Rf8 34.Bc1 Rxf3 35.Rhg1 Nb4 36.Qxa7 Rg8 37.Qa3 b5 38.e5 Rxd3 39.Rxd3 Qf5 40.Rg5 0-1.


Topalov vs Kramnik. The players did not shake hands and in fact did not even
look at each before the start of the game...


... while the media went into a frenzy to catch the mood of the moment

Topalov,V (2783) - Kramnik,V (2766) [D37]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 27.01.2007
The most-anticipated game of the tournament started with a frosty non-handshake. Thereafter, it was a typical Kramnik game as Black – an early queen exchange, an inferior ending, and tenacious defence, that prevented the position ever deteriorating beyond "worse but tenable". The draw was finally clinched with a neat tactic. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 Qa5 10.0-0-0 Be7 11.h4 Rd8 12.Nd2 dxc4 13.Nxc4 Rxd1+ 14.Qxd1 Qd8 15.Qxd8+ Nxd8 16.Be2 Bd7 17.e4 Bc6 18.f3 Nh5 19.Bc7 Rc8 20.Be5.

20...Bf6 21.Nd6 Ra8 22.Bxf6 Nxf6 23.Rd1 Kf8 24.Kd2 Ne8 25.Nc4 f6 26.Ke3 b6 27.f4 Nf7 28.g4 h6 29.g5 hxg5 30.hxg5 Ke7 31.gxf6+ Nxf6 32.Rg1 Rg8 33.Rg6 Bb7 34.a4 Nh8 35.Rg1 Nf7 36.a5 g5 37.fxg5 Rxg5 38.Rxg5 Nxg5 39.e5 Nd7 40.Nd6

40...Bf3! 41.axb6 [41.Bxf3 Nxf3 42.Kxf3 Nxe5+ 43.Kf4 Kxd6] 41...axb6 42.Bxf3 Nxf3 43.Nc8+ Kd8 44.Kxf3 Nxe5+ 45.Ke4 Nc4 46.Kd4 Nxb2 47.Nxb6 Kc7 48.Nc4 Nxc4 49.Kxc4 ½-½.


Veselin Topalov in the analysis area, with a picture of Vladimir Akopian on the wall

Shirov,A (2715) - Aronian,L (2744) [C88]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 27.01.2007
Aronian squandered a golden opportunity to join the lead, with a round to go. He equalized comfortably in an Anti-Marshall, and when Shirov played the odd plan 20.b3 and 21.Bb2, Black soon had a large advantage. Sadly for Aronian, he fell into a huge cheapo. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nc3 Nc6 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Qc7 15.c3 Nb8 16.Bxb7 Qxb7 17.Nh2 Nd7 18.Ng4 Nf6 19.Ne3 g6 20.b3 Rab8 21.Bb2 Rfd8 22.Qf3 d5 23.exd5 Nxd5 24.d4 Nf4 25.Qg3 Nd3 26.Ng4 e4 27.d5 Qxd5 28.c4 Qe6 29.Be5 Bd6 30.Bxd6 Qxd6 31.Nh6+ Kf8 32.Rxe4 Qxg3 33.fxg3 bxc4 34.bxc4 Rd4 35.Rxd4 cxd4 36.Ng4 h5 37.Nf2 Ne5 38.c5 Rb3 39.g4 Ke7 40.gxh5 gxh5 41.Ne4 Re3 42.Nd6 Ke6 43.Ne8 a5 44.Nc7+ Kf5 45.Nb5 Ke4 46.Rd1 Nc6 47.Kf2

47...a4? (47...Rb3 should still win fairly easily) 48.Nd6+ Kd5 49.Rxd4+ Kxd4 50.Nf5+ Kxc5 51.Kxe3 Ne5 52.g4 hxg4 53.h4 Kc4 54.h5 Kb3 55.Kd4 Nf3+ 56.Kd3 Kxa3 57.Kc3 ½-½.


Levon Aronian, with Kramnik the only player without a loss, is now at plus three

Commentary by Steve Giddens, photos by Jeroen van den Belt

All results

Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 27th
A. Motylev - T. Radjabov
0-1
V. Topalov - V. Kramnik
½-½
L. van Wely - P. Svidler
1-0
S. Karjakin - M. Carlsen
½-½
A. Shirov - L. Aronian
½-½
S. Tiviakov - V. Anand
½-½
D. Navara - R. Ponomariov
1-0
Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 28th
R. Ponomariov - A. Motylev  
V. Anand - D. Navara  
L. Aronian - S. Tiviakov  
M. Carlsen - A. Shirov  
P. Svidler - S. Karjakin  
V. Kramnik - L. van Wely  
T. Radjabov - V. Topalov  

Standings after twelve rounds

Videos by ChessVibes


The start of Topalov vs Kramnik (3:14 min)


Quick reaction of Topalov to the game (1:21 min)


Loek van Wely describing his win in the press center (9:53 min)

Other sections

Group B Group C
Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 27th
D. Jakovenko - P. Eljanov
½-½
T. Kosintseva - M. Vachier-Lagrav
0-1
V. Georgiev - J. Smeets
1-0
F. Nijboer - E. L’Ami
½-½
G. Sargissian - D. Stellwagen
1-0
B. Xiangzhi - V. Bologan
1-0
S. Atalik - J. Werle
½-½
Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 27th
T. Willemze - W. Spoelman
0-1
S. Brynell - H. Yifan
½-½
P. Negi - I. Nepomniachtchi
½-½
N. Kosintseva - Z. Peng
½-½
M. Krasenkow - E. van Haastert
1-0
J. van der Wiel - H. Jonkman
1-0
E. Berg - M. Bosboom
1-0

Standings in Group B

Standings in Group C

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