Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round five report

Report by Steve Giddins / photos by Fred Lucas

As well as being a former world championship challenger, and one of the very greatest players England has ever produced, Nigel Short has always been noted for his entertaining and witty comments on his games. With just one point from his first four games, Wijk aan Zee 2010 has not been his best start to a major tournament. However, despite his troubles, the English GM continues to uphold his reputation as just about the best provider of quotes to the assembled pack of chess journalists. After scrambling a draw from a thoroughly dubious position against Magnus Carlsen in round four, Nigel explained his choice of 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 as Black: "The thing was, I suspected he would play the Scottish against an Englishman, so I decided to play the Scandinavian against a Norwegian!” He also raised a further laugh with his response, when asked whether he was satisfied with a draw against the world no. one: “Satisfied? Why should I be satisfied with a draw against a kid? I’m a grandmaster with 25 years of experience!”. As another very quotable chess great, Savielly Tartakower, was wont to say, "Bravo!"

Results of the day

Alexey Shirov continues to make the headlines over the board. Today he won his fifth (!) straight game, the third with Black, after a fascinating battle with van Wely.

Van Wely,L (2641) - Shirov,A (2723) [A29]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 21.01.2010
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a3

7...g5!? This violent thrust has been played by Korchnoi in the analogous position after 8.Rb1, and serves as evidence of the Latvian's intentions. 9.d3 g4 10.Nd2 h5 11.b4 h4 12.Nc4 hxg3 13.hxg3 Nxc4 14.dxc4 Nd4 15.Nb5 Ne6

16.Qc2?! A committal decision, presumably made with the ensuing exchange sacrifice in mind. The simple 16.Qxd8+ looks enough for a solid and safe plus. 16...c6 17.Rd1 Bd7 18.Nd6+ Bxd6 19.Rxd6 Qe7 20.Qd3 Nd4 21.Rxd4 exd4 22.Qxd4 Rh5 23.Bf4 Qxe2 24.Rd1 Be6 25.b5 Kf8 26.Bf1 Qf3 27.Bg2 Qe2 28.Bf1 Qc2 29.bxc6 bxc6 30.Re1 Kg8 31.Bd3 Qb3 32.Bd2 c5 33.Qd6

33...Bxc4? Now starts a tale of two bishop moves. Fritz 12 prefers the remarkable 33...Bd5!! 34.cxd5 Qxd3 with a big advantage. 34.Be4? Not surprisingly missing the equally remarkable zwischenzug 34.Bg6!! Rh3 and only now 35.Be4 when Black no longer has the reply 35...Bd5. 34...Bd5 35.Qf4 Bxe4 36.Rxe4 Qd1+ 37.Be1 Qf3 38.Qxg4+ Qxg4 39.Rxg4+ Kf8 40.Bd2 Rc8. The smoke of time-trouble has cleared and Black has a clear extra exchange. 41.Rc4 Ke7 42.g4 Rd5 43.Be3 Kd6 44.Kf1 Rd1+ 45.Ke2 Ra1 46.Ra4 c4 47.Kd2 c3+ 48.Kc2 Ra2+ 49.Kd3 c2 50.Bc1 Ra1 51.Rd4+ Ke6 52.Re4+ Kf6 53.Re1 Rb1 54.Kd2 Rb7 55.Re3 Kg5

With White tied down on the other flank, the entry of the black king decides.56.f3 Kf4 57.Rd3 Kg3 58.Ke2 Re7+ 59.Kd2 Kf2 0-1.

Many-times Dutch champion Loek van Wely, 37, playing in Wijk for the 20th time, lost to...

the remarkable Mr Shirov, who is now at 5.0/5 points with a 3474 performance

An editorial note with regard to Shirov's performance: this was assigned by the table generator of the ChessBase database program. Such performance calculations are not fully meaningful for players scoring 100% (or 0%). Mathematically Shirov's performance is infinite – we could expect a player rated 4000 or even 40,000 for that matter to achive no more than he has done. To obtain a practical value the program assumes he has scored 99% and adds up to 800 points to his nominal rating. If Shirov does not win a game – yes, Virginia, such things can happen – then the performance will be more realistic.

To the relief of most spectators, Vladimir Kramnik abandoned his customary Petroff, in favour of the Pirc, in search of his first win of the event. The surprise worked, and Jan Smeets, for whom time-trouble has been his besetting sin this year, was soon a mile behind on the clock, as well as objectively worse on the board.

Smeets,J (2657) - Kramnik,V (2788) [B07]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 21.01.2010
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.Be2 Bg7 6.Qd2 b5 7.Bh6 0–0 8.e5 dxe5 9.Bxg7 Kxg7 10.Bf3 c6 11.dxe5 Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 Rd8+ 13.Ke3 Ng4+ 14.Bxg4 Bxg4 15.h3 Bf5 16.g4 Bxc2 17.Rc1 b4 18.Rxc2 bxc3 19.Nf3 cxb2 20.Rb1 Rd5

By now Smeets was down to just three minutes, plus increments, to reach move 40. 21.e6 c5 22.exf7 Nc6 23.Rbxb2 Rad8 24.Ke4 Kxf7 25.Rc3 Nd4 26.Ne5+ Ke8 27.Rb6 Nb5 28.Rc2 R5d6 29.Nc4 Rd3 30.Ne3 Ra3 31.Rb2 c4 32.Ke5 c3 33.Rc2 Rd2 34.Rc1 Rxf2 35.Nd5 c2 36.Nb4 Re3+ 37.Kd5 Rd2+ 38.Kc6 Rc3+ 39.Kb7 Nd6+ 40.Ka8 a5 0-1.

Of the five draws, the biggest battle of the day was between Nakamura and Carlsen. The latter was under the cosh for much of the game, but eventually salvaged a draw, in an an ending with three pawns for a piece.

Hikaru Nakamura in round five against his big rival...

...Magnus Carlsen, who was in serious trouble but defended to a draw

Nakamura,Hi (2708) - Carlsen,M (2810) [C77]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 21.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.d3 Bd6 7.Nbd2 Be6 8.0–0 0–0 9.b3 Nd7 10.Bb2 b5 11.d4 f6 12.h3 c5 13.d5 Bf7 14.a4 Nb6 15.c4 c6 16.Nh4 Re8 17.Nf5 Bf8 18.Qg4 Kh8 19.f4 exf4 20.Qxf4 bxc4 21.bxc4 cxd5 22.cxd5 Qb8 23.Qh4

23...Nxd5. Initiating a sequence which sees Black net three pawns for a piece. 24.Rab1 Qb4 25.Bc1 Qxa4 26.exd5 Qxh4 27.Nxh4 Bxd5 28.Ba3 Re3 29.Ra1 Rd3. Commentating live on Playchess, Grandmaster Danny King felt that White should have reasonable winning chances, if he can coordinate his wayward and unstable minor pieces. 30.Rfd1 a5 31.Nhf3 a4 32.Rdc1 Kg8 33.Kf2 c4 34.Bxf8 Kxf8 35.Nxc4 Rb3 36.Nfd2 Rb4 37.Ra3 Rc8 38.Rac3 Be6 39.Na3 Rd8 40.Nf3 Rb3 41.Rxb3 axb3 42.Rc6 Bd5 43.Rb6 Rc8 44.Nb5 Rc2+ 45.Kg3 h5 46.Nbd4 Ra2 47.Ne6+ Kf7 48.Nf4 Be4

49.Rb4?! Here, Fritz 12 still strongly prefers White after 49.h4. The text seems finally to mislay any remaining winning chances. 49...h4+ 50.Kg4 b2 51.Nd2 Ba8 52.Nc4 g5 53.Rxb2 Rxb2 54.Nxb2 gxf4 55.Kxf4 Bxg2 56.Kg4 f5+ 57.Kxf5 Bxh3+ 58.Kg5 Be6 59.Kxh4 ½–½.

In his blog on Arctic Securities Magnus writes: "Today I played H. Nakamura, USA (2708). He is rated as number eight in the tournament, but following his good result in the recent World Championship for National teams in Turkey and his shared second place here after four rounds, I did not expect an easy game. He avoided mainline theory in the opening. I did not have any real problems, but got a bit too optimistic early on and underestimated maybe his ensuing attacking chances. At a critical junction I could have given an exchange for two pawns and an unclear position, but chose instead to give a knight for three pawns. In a fairly equal ending I offered a draw. He somewhat surprisingly declined, but after I had made a few inaccurate moves, he was seriously playing for a win. In the end I found a way to defend and after swapping most pieces and all pawns the game was drawn after five and a half hours. A tough fight. I’ll have the black pieces two rounds in row, facing reigning World Champion V.Anand Thursday."

Vassily Ivanchuk struggling against Nigel Short

Nigel Short had a frustrating day, having Ivanchuk firmly on the rack for almost the entire afternoon, but being unable to extract the final surrender. Caruana will be similarly disappointed, having failed to convert what should have been a winning advantage against Dominguez.

Highest ranked player in the Americas: Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez

Leko-Anand was a fairly quiet draw, whilst Tiviakov-Kariakin saw Black unable to make anything of his early structural superiority.

Peter Leko vs Vishy Anand in round five ended in a 28-move draw

World Champion Viswanathan Anand with five draws at 50%

In the B Group, Anish Giri claimed his third strong GM scalp of the event, by beating Sutovsky in mature fashion, in the ending arising from the Karpov Variation of the Grunfeld.

15-year-old Anish Giri, leading the B Group with 4.0/5 and a 2888 performance

Giri,A (2588) - Sutovsky,E (2657) [D85]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 21.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Rb1 a6 11.Rc1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qxd2+ 13.Kxd2 f5 14.e5 Be6 15.Bc4 Bxc4 16.Rxc4 0-0 17.Ke2 Rad8 18.Rb1 Rd5 19.a4 Rfd8 20.g3 h6 21.h4

21...Na5? A fatal decentralisation, from which Black's position never fully recovers. 22.Rc7 R5d7 23.Rc5 Rd5 24.Rxd5 Rxd5 25.Rb6 Kf7 26.Bd2 Bf8? Recycling the knight by 27...Nc6 28.Bc3 Nd8 was a better chance. 27.Bc3 e6

28.Ne1! Shockingly simple – there is no good defence to Nc2-e3. 28...Be7 29.Nc2 Bd8 30.Bxa5 Rxa5 31.Rxb7+ Ke8 32.Rb4 Rd5 33.Rc4 Rd7 34.Rc6 Kf7 35.Rxa6 Rb7 36.a5 Rb2 37.Kd3 Ra2 38.Ra7+ 1-0.

Philippine GM Wesley So, 16, with five drawn games in eighth place

In the C Group, the equally precocious American talent, 15-year-old Ray Robson, is also putting up a marvellous show, with today's win as Black against Peng Zhaoqin taking his score onto a superb 4.5 / 5.

GM Ray Robson, 15, with 4.5/5 points and a 2783 performance

The trauma of being mated by IM Hans Bohm in a simultaneous exhibition

In his blog on Arctic Securities Magnus writes: "On the free day Wednesday I was invited to play a football match against a Dutch team. Together with GM Kjetil Lie (who is a former 3rd division goal-getter), we played against Van Wely and Smeets, whom I beat in round two and three of the chess tournament. Dutch Television was present and duly documented our short but intense match, ending in a Norwegian 5-1 victory."

Holland vs Norway, Jan Smeets vs Magnus Carlsen in the free day soccer match

"My relation with chess is simple," says Fred Lucas. "I'm a photographer who is very fond of the game, loves the atmosphere at tournaments – it's if you can really feel all the ideas coming up on all those boards – and I love to make pictures, especially with available light. What I like most when photographing chess players is to get their emotions that are otherwise hard to see, because life immediately proceeds to the next moment. Before the start of a game most players are busy with themselves, concentrating and some give you the impression that they really don't want to pay attention to anything else than the game to come."

Links

• L'Ami wins Dieren – impressions by Fred Lucas
• Bilbao Masters 2008: photographic impressions by Fred Lucas
• Mainz 2008: photographic impressions by Fred Lucas
• Fred Lucas' 2008 Wijk aan Zee gallery
• From Momentoo: Faces of Corus
• Wijk aan Zee official photo gallery
• ChessBase Wijk aan Zee illustrated reports
• Momentoo – chess in available light
• Tea Lanchava: My life is a mix of beautiful dreams!
• From Momentoo: Faces of Calvià
• Studio Fred Lucas

Standings

Group A

Group B

Group C

Video reports by Europe Echecs

Europe Echecs video report by GM Robert Fontaine

Live commentary on Playchess

Naturally the games of the Wijk aan Zee tournament are being broadcast live on Playchess. Anyone who uses Fritz 12 to log into the server will appreciate the new features, like the following:

In the broadcast room the different events are listed as separate tournaments. Click one if the tournaments and the games that are being broadcast are displayed below, so you can load any that is of interest.

If you double-click the tournament all the games – or at least the eight most important – all the are loaded in one window. You can start an analysis engine, which follows any board you click. Naturally all boards are kept up-to-date as the moves come in.

Live audio commentary today was by GM Daniel King, who discussed the games with the kibitzers

During round five in Wijk at 6:00 p.m. there were 7500 members online on Playchess.com. Each dot on the map represents a player and his or her place of residence – the dots in the middle of the ocean are people who have not given their location correctly, or have entered weird geo coordinates. We suspected that one of them might be Katie Spotz, but she is probably too busy rowing and tweeting. The bright bell-shaped area shows where the sun is currently shining on the globe.

Schedule of commentators

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group A

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group B

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group C

Schedule (playing days)

Games begin at 13:30h local time (15:30 Moscow, 12:30 London, 7:30 a.m. NY), except for the last round on January 31st, which begins at 12:30h. There are three rest days, on January 20th, 25th, and 28th. For all three groups the rate of play is 100 minutes/40 moves + 50 minutes/20 moves + 15 minutes + 30 seconds/move.

Location: The tournament takes place in the De Moriaan Community Centre (Dorpsduinen 4, 1949 EG Wijk aan Zee). There is running commentary on the games of the Grandmaster Groups in a special Chess Pavilion, on the Village Green in Wijk aan Zee (one minute walk from De Moriaan).

Links Official web site All games in PGN: Group A – Group B – Group C All ChessBase reports on Wijk aan Zee 2010 + reports 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!