Corus Round 2: The favorites strike back

Corus Wijk aan Zee 2004 – Round 2

66th Wijk aan Zee Tournament – Jan. 10-25 Category 19 (avg. Elo 2702)

After the first round the air in Wijk aan Zee was hot with cries for democracy and the downfall of the rating-list elitists. Akopian had just defeated 14th world champion Vladimir Kramnik, recalling his role in the Great Tourist Insurgency of 1999 when he knocked out Bareev and Adams on his way to the FIDE KO final. It also marked an interesting trifecta for the Armenian. He beat FIDE champion Ponomariov in the 2002 Olympiad and then beat world #1 Kasparov (in rapid chess). Now he's added the last classical champion to his hit list.

What a difference a day makes. That sound you heard was Akopian, and the revolution, crashing to Earth today in Wijk aan Zee. Vishy Anand beat the early leader in a powerful display of precision calculation after a risky pawn grab in the opening. The Indian again showed why he is one of the great defenders. His risk management instincts are phenomenal. Whenever it looked like Black's attack was about to crash through, Anand would be one move ahead. In the post-game press conference Anand pointed out several places where he thought Akopian could have held the draw. (See replay page.)

Kramnik showed the the best way to forget falling for a rook sacrifice is to play one yourself the next day. van Wely sacrificed a knight for counterplay and a few pawns, but was outdone when Kramnik played a passive rook decoy sacrifice very similar to the one Akopian used to beat him in round one. That left the Dutchman with several losing endgames to choose from. With this win Kramnik got back to an even score and avenged his loss to van Wely here last year.

The third game to see blood saw an all too familiar sight in Wijk aan Zee in recent years. Jan Timman got a strong position against a top player only to slip and then fall to a loss. This time he was pressuring Leko for most of the way. Slowly but surely Leko showed that the white pawns were overextended. The Hungarian won a pawn and ground out the win with his typically sure hand.

This left the crosstable with an uncomfortably nostalgic look for Dutch chess fans, with the local heroes already lined up at the bottom. Dutch-Bosnian Sokolov was also in trouble against Topalov but managed to avoid a Dutch massacre with fine tactical defense.

Monday is an rest day at Corus. The games so far have been hard-fought for the most part, but with over half the field yet to play a decisive game a day of rest can't hurt. Sadly, there hasn't been an off-day blitz tournament since Kasparov dominated the last one in 1999. Since they are both in town maybe Leko and Kramnik could play their much-belated world championship match blitz style on the off day!

Mig Greengard

Standings after round two

All the games in PGN (no notes) GM group A • GM group B • GM group C