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66th Wijk aan Zee Tournament –
Jan. 10-25 |
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Anand inches closer. |
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Mickey Adams took a good look at Anand's form so far in Wijk aan Zee and a glance at his record against the Indian and decided that discretion was the better part of second place. In his chance to control his own destiny and tie for the lead with a win, Adams went for a relatively tame line of the Scheveningen and offered a draw on move 18. It's true that Anand has a great record against Adams (to plagiarize myself I once described it as being similar to McDonald's record against cows), but the last decisive game between them was a victory for England in Linares in 2002.
Leko
got nowhere against Shirov in a Petroff so Anand's lead stayed at a full point.
With three rounds to go Anand has a tough black against Topalov and white against
two tail-enders. His current +4 was enough to win last year and would likely
be enough here as well. But +5 would be nice insurance, no?
van Wely fell back to Earth and an even score in brutal fashion. After a marathon win against Adams yesterday he lost to Viktor Bologan in a very short sprint. The Dortmund 2003 winner has two whites left and if he's picking up steam may make a plus score.
The huge pack at 50% swelled even further after Akopian outplayed Svidler. Topalov joined them after being beaten in a very well-played game by Bareev.
Sokolov came close to digging out of the cellar against Zhang but couldn't convert a superior endgame. (I am unilaterally changing to referring to the Chinese player by his family name instead of using the Corus site's incorrect designation. Just don't get me started on "Anand Viswanathan" or we'll be here all week.) Timman-Kramnik was a correct draw without adventures.
Bologan has won two in a row and got considerable help from van Wely today. His kingside is a joke and he decides to go pawn hunting with 20.Rd6? His queen gets tied down to the defense of the rook and the end comes quickly. 20...Nc6-+ 21.Qxc5 Na5! The refutation of White's greedy play. The queen is stuck to the defense of the rook on d6. 22.Qb4 [22.Qxa5 A deflection 22...Qxd6] 22...Nxc4! 23.Qxb7? White is already in deep trouble, so maybe this was just a way to end the pain quickly. [23.Qxc4 Deflection from d6 23...Qxd6; 23.Rd3 Qxb4 24.axb4 Ke7] 23...Qxd6! 24.Qxa8+ [24.Qb4 Rc8 25.Qxd6 Nxd6+ 26.Kb1-+] 24...Ke7 Black threatens mate with Qd2+ - Qb2#. 25.Qb7 Rb8 0-1 [25...Rb8 26.Nf3 Rxb7 27.e4 Rxb2 28.Rxh5 Rb1+ 29.Kc2 Qd1+
30.Kc3 Rb3+ 31.Kxc4 Qc2+ 32.Kd4 Qc3#] |
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The Armenian continues to show that he can pack a punch like his country's famous brandy. Here he takes out the Russian champion after Black got overambitious. His pawn sac on d3 was futile since White gets a dangerous attack on the dark squares if Black grabs the exchange on a1. So Svidler tries to eject the d5 knight first, but it refuses to go. 38.Nd6! cxd5 [38...Bxa1 39.Qxa1 cxd5 40.Rxd5 Qxc2
41.Nxe8±; 42...Nd4 43.Qd3 Nxc2 44.Rc1 Rc7? [44...Qxd3 45.Rxd3
Na1 46.a6+-] 45.Qxc3 Rxc3 46.a6! Ne3 [46...Nd4 47.Rxc3 bxc3+-]
47.Rxc3 bxc3 48.Rc5 [48.Rc5 Bd4 49.Rxc3!+-] 1-0 |
The Bulgarian played a dubious gambit on move 10 and Black slowly battled back. The ugly duckling a-pawn is yearning to become a swan. Bareev finds a quiet winner. 25...Qf8! Very nice by Bareev. With queens off his passed a-pawn becomes more important. If the white queen retreats it moves a step closer with ..a3. 26.Qxf8+ Kxf8 27.Ke3 g5! 28.Bg4 [28.fxg5 hxg5 29.Rxg5? Rb2] 28...gxf4+ 29.gxf4 Rb2-+ The white king is overloaded and the e1 rook must stay on the back rank to eye the a-pawn. Bareev, who won this event in 2002, converted prettily on move 49. |
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Not to be overlooked is this gem from the B group. Nakamura has scored three points from his last four games to reach a plus score. Fressinet still has a comfortable full point lead. Here Nakamura uncorked one of the moves of the event after a long defense. 53...Qxg3+!! It's not going to be the most famous ..Qg3 ever, but a beautiful sham sac nonetheless. Black gains two pawns with back-to-back knight forks and the endgame is an easy win. 54.fxg3 Ne3+ 55.Kf3 Nxf5 56.Bc3 hxg3 0-1 in 69. |
Standings after round ten
All the games in PGN (no notes) GM group A • GM group B • GM group C
Schedule – (Rest days 12, 16, 21)
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