Wijk 08: Kramnik beats Nakamura, Karjakin, Leko and Caruana win

Wijk aan Zee 2010 – Round eight report

By Steve Giddins / photos by Nadja Woisin

Group A: Round 8 - Sun. Jan. 24th Vishy Anand - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Alexei Shirov - Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik - Hikaru Nakamura  1-0 Sergey Karjakin - Nigel Short  1-0 Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely ½-½ Peter Leko - Jan Smeets  1-0 Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Tiviakov  1-0	Group B: Round 8 - Sun. Jan. 24th Erwin l'Ami - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½ Liviu Nisipeanu - Parimarjan Negi ½-½ Dimitri Reinderman - Varuzhan Akobian  1-0 Ni Hua - Wesley So ½-½ Emil Sutovsky - Arkadij Naiditsch ½-½ Tomi Nyback - Anna Muzychuk ½-½ Anish Giri - David Howell  1-0
Group C: Round 8 - Sun. Jan. 24th Soumya Swaminathan - Kjetil Lie ½-½ Nils Grandelius - Robin van Kampen  1-0 Abhijeet Gupta - Li Chao ½-½ Ray Robson - Sjoerd Plukkel ½-½ Robin Swinkels - Daniele Vocaturo ½-½ Mariya Muzychuk - Benjamin Bok ½-½ Stefan Kuipers - Peng Zhaoqin  0-1	Replay all games from Group A Replay all games from Group B Replay all games from Group C

Round eight of Wijk aan Zee 2010 looked, on paper, to be the most exciting so far, featuring as it did three clashes among the faourites. However, two of these proved rather disappointing. The World Champion, Vishy Anand, has failed to get going at all in this year's tournament, and he got nowhere against Ivanchuk's Accelerated Dragon.

The board, the pieces, the clocks, the flags – everything in place? Vassily Ivanchuk

The start of the game between these two veterans ended in a 25-move draw

World Champion Vishy Anand in ninth place with 4.0/8 and a 2727 performance

Shirov-Carlsen was full of fascinating complications, but with the board still full of pieces and the position as unclear as ever, the players repeated moves.

Shirov,A (2723) - Carlsen,M (2810) [B33]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 24.01.2010
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.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.Bd3 Ne7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.c4 f5 14.0–0 0–0 15.Qh5 Rb8 16.exf5 e4 17.Rae1 Bb7 18.Qg4 Rfe8 19.cxb5 d5 20.bxa6 Bc6 21.b3 Kh8 22.Nc2

22...Bc3. The same position arose in the same players' game at the M-Tel tournament of 2008, which 22...Be5 was played and the game was won by White. Carlsen subsequently offered the repeat the line, against Topalov at Nanjing 2009, so it was clear that he had an improvement ready, although we never got to see it, since Topalov deviated first with 21.Rc1. Now we finally get to see Carlsen's (or was it Kasparov's?) idea. 23.Qh3 Qf6 24.Be2 d4 25.Bc4 Rg8 26.g3 Rbe8 27.Rd1 e3 28.fxe3 dxe3 29.Be2 Re4 30.Qg2 Re7 31.Qh3 Re4 32.Qg2 Re7 33.Qh3 ½–½. [Click to replay]

Leading: Spanish GM Alexei Shirov, with 6.0/8 and a 2889 performance

Top seed Magnus Carlsen, 19, in second place with 5.5/8 and a 2840 performance

The third big clash lived up to expectations, and saw Kramnik inflict Nakamura's first defeat of the event.

Vladimir Kramnik now in second-third place, with 5.5/8 and a 2823 performance

Hikaru Nakamura has slipped to fourth place, with 5.0/8 and a 2820 performance

Kramnik,V (2788) - Nakamura,Hi (2708) [A88]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 24.01.2010
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Nf3 d6 7.0-0 c6 8.Rb1 Ne4 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.bxc3 e5 11.Rd1 e4 12.Ng5 h6 13.Nh3 g5 14.f3 d5 15.Nf2 Kh8 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.c4 e3 18.Nd3 Nc6 19.Bxe3 Nxd4 20.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 21.Kh1 f4 22.Rb5

22...Qf6? Black's creative opening play looked a little risky, but the position would remain unclear after 22...fxg3 23.Rxd5 Qf6 24.hxg3 Be6. As Yasser Seirawan pointed out in his live commentary on Playchess, Nakamura was probably reluctant on principle to exchange on g3, preferring to keep the g2 bishop imprisoned. However, he must have overlooked, or miscalculated the consequences of, White's 24th.

23.Rxd5 Be6 24.Nxf4! gxf4. 24...Bxd5 25.Ng6+ is no better. 25.R5xd4 fxg3 26.hxg3 White has two extra pawns and the remainder presents no particular technical difficulties. 26...Rg8 27.Rf4 Qg5 28.Rh4 Rg6 29.Qc3+ Kh7 30.f4 Qxg3 31.Qxg3 Rxg3 32.Bxb7 Rb8 33.Be4+ Kg7 34.Kh2 Re3 35.Rg1+ Kf7 36.Bg6+ Ke7 37.Bd3 Rb2 38.Rg2 Rxa2 39.Rxh6 Bf7 40.Rh7 Kf6 41.c5 Ra4 42.c6 Rxf4 43.c7 Re8 44.Rxf7+ 1-0. [Click to replay]

Leko beat Smeets, after the latter suffered a tactical accident in the middlegame.

Leko,P (2739) - Smeets,J (2657) [C42]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 24.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Be6 9.0–0–0 Qd7 10.Kb1 Bf6 11.h4 h6 12.a3 a6 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Qe7 15.Qf4 Be5 16.Qe4 0–0–0 17.Bxe5 f6 18.Qe3

18...fxe5. When entering this variation, Smeets had presumably missed the blow 18...dxe5 19.Bxa6! He now thought for a long time, but the damage to his position is already fairly serious, and he eventually succumbed after a time-scramble. 19.Qa7 Qf7 20.Qa8+ Kd7 21.Qxb7 Rb8 22.Qxa6 Qxf2 23.Bc4 Bf5 24.Bd3 Be6 25.Bc4 Bf5 26.Bb3 Qb6 27.Qxb6 Rxb6 28.Rhf1 g6 29.Bd5 c6 30.Bf3 Ra8 31.Kc1 Ke7 32.h5 d5 33.hxg6 Bxg6 34.Rh1 Rh8 35.b4 e4 36.Be2 Ke6 37.Rh3 Rb7 38.Rdh1 Rbh7 39.a4 Bf5 40.Rh4 Ke5 41.Rh5 Kf4 42.Rf1+ Ke3 43.Rhxf5 Kxe2 44.R5f2+ Ke3

45.Kd1 1-0. [Click to replay]

Kariakin opened his winning account at the expense of Nigel Short, who once again had cause to curse the fickle finger of fate. Some creative play saw the Englishman trade his queen for assorted wood, but the position was far too tactically difficult for any carbon-based organism to handle accurately, and he went fatally astray.

Karjakin,Sergey (2720) - Short,N (2696) [C96]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 24.01.2010
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Re8 14.d5 Bf6 15.Rb1 Ra7 16.b3 h6 17.Nf1 Ne5 18.Bf4 Rc7 19.Ng3 Nxf3+ 20.Qxf3 Nb7 21.Nh5 Be5 22.Re3 Qh4 23.Bg3 Bxg3 24.Nxg3 Qg5 25.Rf1 Rce7 26.Qe2 f5 27.f4 Qf6 28.Nh5 Qb2 29.e5 dxe5 30.Rb1 Qd4 31.Rd1 exf4 32.Rxd4 Rxe3 33.Qd2 Re1+ 34.Kh2 f3

35.Bd1. Fritz 12 gives as its main line here the extraordinary move 35.Re4!? after which it continues 35...R8xe4 36.Bxe4 Re2 37.Qf4 fxe4 38.Qb8 Rxg2+ 39.Kh1 Nd6 40.Qxd6 Bxh3, with a position that it assesses as dead equal!

35...cxd4? Once again, it is easy if one is armed with Fritz. One simply plays the "obvious" 35...R1e2 and draws after 36.Bxe2 fxe2 37.Nf6+ gxf6 38.Qxh6 cxd4 39.Qg6+ Kf8 40.Qxf6+ Kg8 41.Qg6+ Kf8. What could be simpler? 36.Bxf3 Nd6 37.Qxd4 R1e7 38.Qb6 Ne4 39.Nf4 Rb7 40.Qc6 Nf6

Now the smoke has cleared, it becomes clear that White's queen and passed d-pawn are too strong for the black rooks. 41.Nh5 Rf8 42.Nxf6+ gxf6 43.Qxa6 Kg7 44.d6 Rd7 45.Qxb5 Rxd6 46.a4 Kg6 47.a5 Rfd8 48.b4 Ba6 49.Bh5+ Kg5 50.h4+ Kf4 51.Qc5 Bd3 52.b5 Rd5 53.Qc7+ Ke3 54.b6 Be4 55.b7 Rg8 56.b8Q Rxg2+ 57.Kh3 Rd3 58.Qc4 Rg1 59.Qxd3+ Kxd3 60.Qb3+ Kd2 61.Qb2+ 1-0. [Click to replay]

Dominguez and van Wely battled to a draw in a  rook and opposite-coloured bishops ending

Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez Perez, with 4.5/8 points and a 2752 performance

Dutch GM Loek van Wely, cheerful in spite of his dismal 2.0/8 score

The day's longest game was Caruana-Tiviakov. When the latter gave up the bishop pair in the opening, he doubtless anticipated the possibility of a certain amount of subsequent torture, but, like Monty Python before him, I am sure he didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition. However, Caruana turned the screws with an efficiency that would have done credit to Torquemada himself, and was eventually rewarded with his first victory of the tournament.

Caruana,F (2675) - Tiviakov,S (2662) [B01]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 24.01.2010
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.g3 Bg4 7.Bg2 e6 8.0–0 Be7 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 0–0 11.Ne2 Nbd7 12.Bg2 e5 13.c3 Rad8 14.Qb3 Qc7 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Be3 Nfd7 17.Rad1 Nc5 18.Qc2 Nc4 19.Bf4 Bd6 20.Bg5 Be7 21.Bf4 Bd6 22.Bc1 Rfe8 23.b3 Nb6 24.Nd4 Ne6 25.Nxe6 Rxe6 26.Rfe1 Rxe1+ 27.Rxe1 Nd5 28.a3 Qc8 29.b4 Re8 30.Rxe8+ Qxe8

31.c4 Nc7 32.Qd3 Qe1+ 33.Kh2 Qe7 34.Bg5 Qe6 35.h4 g6 36.Qd4 a6 37.Bh3 f5 38.Qa7 Qc8 39.Qd4 Bf8 40.Bf6 Ne6 41.Qe5 Kf7 42.c5 Qc7 43.Qc3 Bg7 44.Bxg7 Nxg7 45.Bf1 f4 46.Bc4+ Ke8 47.g4 Qe7 48.Kg1 h5 49.Qd3 Qf6 50.g5 Qf5 51.Qd6 f3 52.Qb8+ Ke7 53.Qd6+ Ke8

54.Bd3 Qg4+ 55.Kf1 Qg2+ 56.Ke1 Qg1+ 57.Kd2 Qxf2+ 58.Kd1 Qg1+ 59.Kc2 Qf2+ 60.Kb3 Qe3 61.Ka4 Qe7 62.Bxg6+ Kf8 63.Qb8+ Ne8 64.Qf4+ Kg8 65.Bxh5 Nc7 66.Bxf3 Nb5 67.g6 a5 68.h5 axb4 69.h6 1-0. [Click to replay]

B Group leader Anish Giri won his fifth game, crushing rival David Howell with a powerful opening novelty.

Anish Giri, 15, leads Group C with 6.0/8, 1.5 points ahead of the field, and a 2892 performance

Giri,A (2588) - Howell,D (2606) [D85]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 24.01.2010
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 0–0 10.Rc1 Rd8 11.d5 e6 12.Bg5 f6 13.Bf4 f5 14.Bc4 Qa4 15.Qe2 b5 16.Bxb5 Qxe4

17.dxe6!N This novelty may well bury the entire variation. Instead, 17.Qxe4 fxe4 18.dxe6 Bxe6 19.Nd2 eventually led to a draw in Moiseenko-Petrosian Ohrid 2009. 17...Bxe6 18.Ng5 Qxe2+ 19.Kxe2 Bxa2 20.Ra1. At this point, Fritz 12 was already announcing a near-decisive advantage for White, as Black cannot avoid serious trouble on the a2-g8 diagonal. An additional irony was that Giri's clock showed 1:44 at this point, some four minutes more than he started the game with! 20...Bf7 21.Rhd1 Rc8 22.Nxf7 Kxf7 23.Bc4+ Ke8 24.Be6 Nc6 25.Ra6 Ne7 26.Bd7+ Kf8 27.Bxc8 Rxc8 28.Rxa7 Bxc3 29.Bg5 Nc6 30.Rxh7 Be5

It is clear that White is winning comfortably. 31.Rdd7 c4 32.Bf4 Bb2 33.Rc7 Nd4+ 34.Kd2 Rxc7 35.Rxc7 c3+ 36.Kd3 Ne6 37.Bd6+ Kg8 38.Rc8+ Kf7 39.Be5 Ba3 40.Kxc3 1-0. [Click to replay]

British Champion David Howell with 4.5/8 points and a 2680 performance

US GM Ray Robson, 15, leads Group C with 6.0/8 points and a 2578 performance

Snow in Wijk

Remember the Hotel-Restaurant Zeeduin, from Friday's round six report?

This is what the hotel, where all the top players stay, looked like on Sunday

... and this the village of Wijk, covered in snow at sub-zero (Centigrade) temperatures

The beach, where in summer the bikini-clad beauties romp

It's a tough life for Wijk kids, who have to climb the steep snow-covered inclines...

...forced to drag sleds up the dunes, and then race down at break-neck speed

Curiously their cruel life on the slopes is accompanied by laughter and merriment

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Standings

Group A

Group B

Group C

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Video reports by Europe Echecs

Europe Echecs video report by GM Robert Fontaine

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Live commentary on Playchess by Yasser Seirawan

Today on the server Playchess.com GM Yasser Seirawan entertained the visitors with three hours of live commentary. He will doing live commentary again on Tuesday, January 26 and then for the last two rounds (Jan. 30 and 31). Yasser begins his lectures approximately 45 minutes after play has started. For a charge of ten Ducats (about one Euro) a visitor gets a twelve hour pass to listen to the live commentary.

Ducats are the currency used on Playchess.com. You can purchase Ducats here. The amount will be credited to your playchess.com account. You need to allow at least one working day for processing. If you want your Ducats immediately you can order them using our Click&Buy service. Ducats can also be used to buy ChessBase products. Note that you can also purchase Ducats directly from Fritz or the Playchess client using the menu "Edit – Payments – Fill up account". This takes you to a special purchase page with your account name automatically passed on, to simplify the process.

Schedule of commentators live on Playchess

16th Jan   FM Valeri Lilov 5:00 p.m. 17th Jan GM Yasser Seirawan   5:00 p.m. 18th Jan GM Yasser Seirawan 2:15 p.m. 19th Jan GM Yasser Seirawan 2:15 p.m. 20th Jan Free Day   21st Jan GM Daniel King 3:30 p.m. 22nd Jan GM Daniel King 3:30 p.m. 23rd Jan GM Yasser Seirawan 2:15 p.m.

24th Jan   GM Yasser Seirawan   2:15 p.m. 25th Jan Free Day   26th Jan GM Yasser Seirawan 2:15 p.m. 27th Jan GM Daniel King 3:30 p.m. 28th Jan Free Day   29th Jan GM Daniel King 3:30 p.m. 30th Jan GM Yasser Seirawan 2:15 p.m. 31st Jan GM Yasser Seirawan 1:00 p.m.

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Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group A

Group A: Round 1 - Sat. Jan. 16th Sergey Karjakin - Vishy Anand ½-½ Leinier Dominguez - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Peter Leko - Alexei Shirov  0-1 Fabiano Caruana - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Sergey Tiviakov - Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Jan Smeets - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Loek van Wely - Nigel Short  1-0	Group A: Round 2 - Sun. Jan. 17th Vishy Anand - Nigel Short ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely  1-0 Magnus Carlsen - Jan Smeets  1-0 Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½ Alexei Shirov - Fabiano Caruana  1-0 Vladimir Kramnik - Peter Leko ½-½ Sergey Karjakin - Leinier Dominguez ½-½
Group A: Round 3 - Mon. Jan. 18th Leinier Dominguez - Vishy Anand ½-½ Peter Leko - Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Fabiano Caruana - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Sergey Tiviakov - Alexei Shirov  0-1 Jan Smeets - Vassily Ivanchuk  0-1 Loek van Wely - Magnus Carlsen  0-1 Nigel Short - Hikaru Nakamura  0-1	Group A: Round 4 - Tues. Jan. 19th Vishy Anand - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Magnus Carlsen - Nigel Short ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk - Loek van Wely  1-0 Alexei Shirov - Jan Smeets  1-0 Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Tiviakov ½-½ Sergey Karjakin - Fabiano Caruana ½-½ Leinier Dominguez - Peter Leko ½-½
Wednesday, January 20th – Free day
Group A: Round 5 - Thurs. Jan. 21st Peter Leko - Vishy Anand ½-½ Fabiano Caruana - Leinier Dominguez ½-½ Sergey Tiviakov - Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Jan Smeets - Vladimir Kramnik  0-1 Loek van Wely - Alexei Shirov  0-1 Nigel Short - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura - Magnus Carlsen ½-½	Group A: Round 6 - Fri. Jan. 22nd Vishy Anand - Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vassily Ivanchuk - Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Alexei Shirov - Nigel Short ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik - Loek van Wely  1-0 Sergey Karjakin - Jan Smeets ½-½ Leinier Dominguez - Sergey Tiviakov  1-0 Peter Leko - Fabiano Caruana  1-0
Group A: Round 7- Sat. Jan. 23rd Fabiano Caruana - Vishy Anand ½-½ Sergey Tiviakov - Peter Leko ½-½ Jan Smeets - Leinier Dominguez ½-½ Loek van Wely - Sergey Karjakin ½-½ Nigel Short - Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura - Alexei Shirov  1-0 Magnus Carlsen - Vassily Ivanchuk  1-0	Group A: Round 8 - Sun. Jan. 24th Vishy Anand - Vassily Ivanchuk ½-½ Alexei Shirov - Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik - Hikaru Nakamura  1-0 Sergey Karjakin - Nigel Short  1-0 Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely ½-½ Peter Leko - Jan Smeets  1-0 Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Tiviakov  1-0
Monday, January 25th – Free day
Group A: Round 9 - Tues. Jan. 26th Sergey Tiviakov - Vishy Anand   Jan Smeets - Fabiano Caruana   Loek van Wely - Peter Leko   Nigel Short - Leinier Dominguez   Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin   Magnus Carlsen - Vladimir Kramnik   Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov	Group A: Round 10 - Wed. Jan. 27th Vishy Anand - Alexei Shirov   Vladimir Kramnik - Vassily Ivanchuk   Sergey Karjakin - Magnus Carlsen   Leinier Dominguez - Hikaru Nakamura   Peter Leko - Nigel Short   Fabiano Caruana - Loek van Wely   Sergey Tiviakov - Jan Smeets
Thursday, January 28th – Free day
Group A: Round 11 - Fri. Jan. 29th Jan Smeets - Vishy Anand   Loek van Wely - Sergey Tiviakov   Nigel Short - Fabiano Caruana   Hikaru Nakamura - Peter Leko   Magnus Carlsen - Leinier Dominguez   Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Karjakin   Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik	Group A: Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 30th Vishy Anand - Vladimir Kramnik   Sergey Karjakin - Alexei Shirov   Leinier Dominguez - Vassily Ivanchuk   Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen   Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura   Sergey Tiviakov - Nigel Short   Jan Smeets - Loek van Wely
Group A: Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 31st Loek van Wely - Vishy Anand   Nigel Short - Jan Smeets   Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Tiviakov   Magnus Carlsen - Fabiano Caruana   Vassily Ivanchuk - Peter Leko   Alexei Shirov - Leinier Dominguez   Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Karjakin

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Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group B

Group B: Round 1 - Sat. Jan. 16th Ni Hua - Erwin l'Ami ½-½ Emil Sutovsky - Dimitri Reinderman  1-0 Tomi Nyback - Liviu Nisipeanu  0-1 Anish Giri - Pentala Harikrishna  1-0 David Howell - Parimarjan Negi ½-½ Anna Muzychuk - Varuzhan Akobian ½-½ Arkadij Naiditsch - Wesley So ½-½	Group B: Round 2 - Sun. Jan. 17th Erwin l'Ami - Wesley So ½-½ Varuzhan Akobian - Arkadij Naiditsch  0-1 Parimarjan Negi - Anna Muzychuk ½-½ Pentala Harikrishna - David Howell ½-½ Liviu Nisipeanu - Anish Giri  0-1 Dimitri Reinderman - Tomi Nyback  0-1 Ni Hua - Emil Sutovsky  1-0
Group B: Round 3 - Mon. Jan. 18th Emil Sutovsky - Erwin l'Ami ½-½ Tomi Nyback - Ni Hua  0-1 Anish Giri - Dimitri Reinderman ½-½ David Howell - Liviu Nisipeanu ½-½ Anna Muzychuk - Pentala Harikrishna  0-1 Arkadij Naiditsch - Parimarjan Negi ½-½ Wesley So - Varuzhan Akobian ½-½	Group B: Round 4 - Tues. Jan. 19th Erwin l'Ami - Varuzhan Akobian  1-0 Parimarjan Negi - Wesley So ½-½ Pentala Harikrishna - Arkadij Naiditsch  1-0 Liviu Nisipeanu - Anna Muzychuk ½-½ Dimitri Reinderman - David Howell  0-1 Ni Hua - Anish Giri ½-½ Emil Sutovsky - Tomi Nyback  0-1
Wednesday, January 20th – Free day
Group B: Round 5 - Thurs. Jan. 21st Tomi Nyback - Erwin l'Ami ½-½ Anish Giri - Emil Sutovsky  1-0 David Howell - Ni Hua  1-0 Anna Muzychuk - Dimitri Reinderman ½-½ Arkadij Naiditsch - Liviu Nisipeanu  1-0 Wesley So - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½ Varuzhan Akobian - Parimarjan Negi  0-1	Group B: Round 6 - Fri. Jan. 22nd Erwin l'Ami - Parimarjan Negi  1-0 Pentala Harikrishna - Varuzhan Akobian ½-½ Liviu Nisipeanu - Wesley So  0-1 Dimitri Reinderman - Arkadij Naiditsch ½-½ Ni Hua - Anna Muzychuk  1-0 Emil Sutovsky - David Howell  1-0 Tomi Nyback - Anish Giri  0-1
Group B: Round 7 - Sat. Jan. 23rd Anish Giri - Erwin l'Ami ½-½ David Howell - Tomi Nyback  1-0 Anna Muzychuk - Emil Sutovsky ½-½ Arkadij Naiditsch - Ni Hua ½-½ Wesley So - Dimitri Reinderman  1-0 Varuzhan Akobian - Liviu Nisipeanu ½-½ Parimarjan Negi - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½	Group B: Round 8 - Sun. Jan. 24th Erwin l'Ami - Pentala Harikrishna ½-½ Liviu Nisipeanu - Parimarjan Negi ½-½ Dimitri Reinderman - Varuzhan Akobian  1-0 Ni Hua - Wesley So ½-½ Emil Sutovsky - Arkadij Naiditsch ½-½ Tomi Nyback - Anna Muzychuk ½-½ Anish Giri - David Howell  1-0
Monday, January 25th – Free day
Group B: Round 9 - Tues. Jan. 26th David Howell - Erwin l'Ami   Anna Muzychuk - Anish Giri   Arkadij Naiditsch - Tomi Nyback   Wesley So - Emil Sutovsky   Varuzhan Akobian - Ni Hua   Parimarjan Negi - Dimitri Reinderman   Pentala Harikrishna - Liviu Nisipeanu	Group B: Round 10 - Wed. Jan. 27th Erwin l'Ami - Liviu Nisipeanu   Dimitri Reinderman - Pentala Harikrishna   Ni Hua - Parimarjan Negi   Emil Sutovsky - Varuzhan Akobian   Tomi Nyback - Wesley So   Anish Giri - Arkadij Naiditsch   David Howell - Anna Muzychuk
Thursday, January 28th – Free day
Group B: Round 11 - Fri. Jan. 29th Anna Muzychuk - Erwin l'Ami   Arkadij Naiditsch - David Howell   Wesley So - Anish Giri   Varuzhan Akobian - Tomi Nyback   Parimarjan Negi - Emil Sutovsky   Pentala Harikrishna - Ni Hua   Liviu Nisipeanu - Dimitri Reinderman	Group B: Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 30th Erwin l'Ami - Dimitri Reinderman   Ni Hua - Liviu Nisipeanu   Emil Sutovsky - Pentala Harikrishna   Tomi Nyback - Parimarjan Negi   Anish Giri - Varuzhan Akobian   David Howell - Wesley So   Anna Muzychuk - Arkadij Naiditsch
Group B: Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 31st Arkadij Naiditsch - Erwin l'Ami   Wesley So - Anna Muzychuk   Varuzhan Akobian - David Howell   Parimarjan Negi - Anish Giri   Pentala Harikrishna - Tomi Nyback   Liviu Nisipeanu - Emil Sutovsky   Dimitri Reinderman - Ni Hua

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Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group C

Group C: Round 1 - Sat. Jan. 16th Ray Robson - Soumya Swaminathan  1-0 Robin Swinkels - Abhijeet Gupta ½-½ Mariya Muzychuk - Nils Grandelius  0-1 Stefan Kuipers - Kjetil Lie ½-½ Peng Zhaoqin - Robin van Kampen ½-½ Benjamin Bok - Li Chao  0-1 Daniele Vocaturo - Sjoerd Plukkel  1-0	Group C: Round 2 - Sun. Jan. 17th Soumya Swaminathan - Sjoerd Plukkel ½-½ Li Chao - Daniele Vocaturo ½-½ Robin van Kampen - Benjamin Bok ½-½ Kjetil Lie - Peng Zhaoqin  0-1 Nils Grandelius - Stefan Kuipers  0-1 Abhijeet Gupta - Mariya Muzychuk ½-½ Ray Robson - Robin Swinkels  1-0
Group C: Round 3 - Mon. Jan. 18th Robin Swinkels - Soumya Swaminathan  1-0 Mariya Muzychuk - Ray Robson ½-½ Stefan Kuipers - Abhijeet Gupta  0-1 Peng Zhaoqin - Nils Grandelius ½-½ Benjamin Bok - Kjetil Lie  0-1 Daniele Vocaturo - Robin van Kampen  1-0 Sjoerd Plukkel - Li Chao  0-1	Group C: Round 4 - Tues. Jan. 19th Soumya Swaminathan - Li Chao  0-1 Robin van Kampen - Sjoerd Plukkel  1-0 Kjetil Lie - Daniele Vocaturo  1-0 Nils Grandelius - Benjamin Bok  0-1 Abhijeet Gupta - Peng Zhaoqin ½-½ Ray Robson - Stefan Kuipers  1-0 Robin Swinkels - Mariya Muzychuk  1-0
Wednesday, January 20th – Free day
Group C: Round 5 - Thurs. Jan. 21st Mariya Muzychuk - Soumya Swaminathan  1-0 Stefan Kuipers - Robin Swinkels ½-½ Peng Zhaoqin - Ray Robson  0-1 Benjamin Bok - Abhijeet Gupta ½-½ Daniele Vocaturo - Nils Grandelius  1-0 Sjoerd Plukkel - Kjetil Lie ½-½ Li Chao - Robin van Kampen ½-½	Group C: Round 6 - Fri. Jan. 22nd Soumya Swaminathan - Robin v. Kampen  0-1 Kjetil Lie - Li Chao  0-1 Nils Grandelius - Sjoerd Plukkel  1-0 Abhijeet Gupta - Daniele Vocaturo  1-0 Ray Robson - Benjamin Bok  1-0 Robin Swinkels - Peng Zhaoqin ½-½ Mariya Muzychuk - Stefan Kuipers  0-1
Group C: Round 7 - Sat. Jan. 23rd Stefan Kuipers - Soumya Swaminathan ½-½ Peng Zhaoqin - Mariya Muzychuk ½-½ Benjamin Bok - Robin Swinkels  0-1 Daniele Vocaturo - Ray Robson  1-0 Sjoerd Plukkel - Abhijeet Gupta  0-1 Li Chao - Nils Grandelius  0-1 Robin van Kampen - Kjetil Lie ½-½	Group C: Round 8 - Sun. Jan. 24th Soumya Swaminathan - Kjetil Lie ½-½ Nils Grandelius - Robin van Kampen  1-0 Abhijeet Gupta - Li Chao ½-½ Ray Robson - Sjoerd Plukkel ½-½ Robin Swinkels - Daniele Vocaturo ½-½ Mariya Muzychuk - Benjamin Bok ½-½ Stefan Kuipers - Peng Zhaoqin  0-1
Monday, January 25th – Free day
Group C: Round 9 - Tues. Jan. 26th Peng Zhaoqin - Soumya Swaminathan   Benjamin Bok - Stefan Kuipers   Daniele Vocaturo - Mariya Muzychuk   Sjoerd Plukkel - Robin Swinkels   Li Chao - Ray Robson   Robin van Kampen - Abhijeet Gupta   Kjetil Lie - Nils Grandelius	Group C: Round 10 - Wed. Jan. 27th Soumya Swaminathan - Nils Grandelius   Abhijeet Gupta - Kjetil Lie   Ray Robson - Robin van Kampen   Robin Swinkels - Li Chao   Mariya Muzychuk - Sjoerd Plukkel   Stefan Kuipers - Daniele Vocaturo   Peng Zhaoqin - Benjamin Bok
Thursday, January 28th – Free day
Group C: Round 11 - Fri. Jan. 29th Benjamin Bok - Soumya Swaminathan   Daniele Vocaturo - Peng Zhaoqin   Sjoerd Plukkel - Stefan Kuipers   Li Chao - Mariya Muzychuk   Robin van Kampen - Robin Swinkels   Kjetil Lie - Ray Robson   Nils Grandelius - Abhijeet Gupta	Group C: Round 12 - Sat. Jan. 30th Soumya Swaminathan - Abhijeet Gupta   Ray Robson - Nils Grandelius   Robin Swinkels - Kjetil Lie   Mariya Muzychuk - Robin van Kampen   Stefan Kuipers - Li Chao   Peng Zhaoqin - Sjoerd Plukkel   Benjamin Bok - Daniele Vocaturo
Group C: Round 13 - Sun. Jan. 31st Daniele Vocaturo - Soumya Swaminathan   Sjoerd Plukkel - Benjamin Bok   Li Chao - Peng Zhaoqin   Robin van Kampen - Stefan Kuipers   Kjetil Lie - Mariya Muzychuk   Nils Grandelius - Robin Swinkels   Abhijeet Gupta - Ray Robson

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!