![](/Portals/all/thumbs/031/31928.jpeg)
ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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
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
Group A
Group B
Group C
Europe Echecs video
report by GM Robert Fontaine
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.
Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday, January 20th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monday, January 25th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, January 28th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday, January 20th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monday, January 25th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, January 28th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday, January 20th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monday, January 25th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, January 28th –
Free day |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
January 2010 | ||||||
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
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
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! |