Wijk R01: Anand and Topalov lose, Carlsen wins

Results of round one

Express report from Wijk aan Zee

I think I may have mentioned before on this site that after the England team returned from the 1980 European Team Championships in the Swedish town of Skara, GM Michael Stean was asked what the town was like. "Like the moon, only colder", he replied. Along the same lines, Wijk aan Zee could reasonably be described as like Hastings, only windier. The effect is exacerbated by staying in the Hoge Duin ("High Dune") Hotel, so called because it is perched on the highest sand dune in the area, with a spectacular view over the village below. Stepping outside the front door this morning, any problems about how best to get down the hill to the de Moriaan centre, where the tournament is taking place, were soon solved. I lifted one foot off the ground, and the gale-force wind did the rest. I am not sure if it was wind-related, but we also had some power problems in the playing hall during the afternoon, which had the effect of blacking out the monitors showing the games. Fortunately, though, the internet audience was unaffected, and witnessed an interesting afternoon's play.

Windswept Wijk – the beach, which is a North Sea paradise in summer

Of course there are interesting things to do if you know how to handle the wind

Games

Mamedyarov - Carlsen surprisingly started 1.e4. The positions was balanced for a long time, but the former drifted badly between moves 29-35, and then resigned a position where it was not immediately obvious that he was lost.

Mamedyarov,S (2760) - Carlsen,M (2733) [B50]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 12.01.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nf6 9.d3 0-0 10.Qd1 Nd7 11.f4 c4 12.dxc4 Na5 13.Nd5 Nxc4 14.c3 Ndb6 15.Qe2 Rc8 16.Kh2 e6 17.Nb4 Na4 18.f5 Re8 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.Nd3 Qb6 21.h4 Qa6 22.Rf2 Ne5 23.Nf4 Nc5 24.Qxa6 bxa6 25.Re2 h6 26.Kh1 a5 27.Be3 a4 28.Rd1 Rc6 29.Bd4 g5 30.Nh3 g4 31.Nf4 Rb6 32.Nh5 Bh8 33.Red2 Reb8 34.Bxc5 dxc5 35.Rd8+ Kf7 36.Rxb8 Rxb8 37.Rd2 Nc4 38.Rd7+ Ke8 39.Rxa7 Be5 40.Rxa4 Ne3

0-1.

Aronian-Topalov saw Black win the exchange, but things turned against him after 26...Rc2+, and he was eventually ground down.

Veselin Topalov at the start of an ill-fated game

Aronian,L (2739) - Topalov,V (2780) [D71]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 12.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Bf4 0–0 9.e3 h6 10.h4 Bg4 11.Rc1 e5 12.dxe5 Qe7 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5 Nb4 15.Qc4 Be6

16.Qxc7 Nd3+ 17.Kd2 Qb4+ 18.Qc3 Qxc3+ 19.Rxc3 Nxf2 20.Nd4 Nxh1 21.Bxh1 Rfd8 22.Rc7 Rac8 23.Rxb7 Bxa2 24.Rxa7 Be6 25.Rb7 Bf5 26.Bf3 Rc2+ 27.Ke1 Rc1+ 28.Kf2 Be6 29.g4 Bc8 30.Rb8 Rf8 31.h5 g5 32.Bg3 Ra1 33.Rb6 Re8

34.Be2 Bxe5 35.Bxe5 Rxe5 36.Rxh6 Re4 37.Bf3 Re5 38.Rc6 Be6 39.Nxe6 fxe6 40.Be2 Rb1 41.Rb6 Rd5 42.Bc4 Rd2+ 43.Kf3 Rbxb2 44.Rxe6 Rbc2 45.Rg6+ Kh8 46.Be6 Rc6 47.Ke4 Rd8 48.Kf5 Rc5+ 49.Kf6 Rf8+ 50.Ke7 Rf3 51.Bf5 Re5+ 52.Kf7

Rfxf5+ 53.gxf5 Rxf5+ 54.Ke6 Ra5 55.e4 Kh7 56.e5 Ra1 57.Rxg5 Kh6 58.Rg2 Kxh5 59.Kf6 Rf1+ 60.Ke7 Ra1 61.e6 Kh6 62.Kf7 1–0.

Radjabov-Anand was an ultra-sharp Semi-Slav. White missed a couple of wins in the run-up to the time control, and although he won the exchange, the presence of an extra pair of rooks always meant that it would not be trivial to win. But in the end Teimour Radjabov took the full point.

A shocking defeat for World Champion Vishy Anand

Radjabov,T (2735) - Anand,V (2799) [D43]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 12.01.2008
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bd6 a6 14.Re1 Bf8 15.Bg3 Bg7 16.Bd6 Bf8 17.Bxf8 Rxf8 18.b3 b4 19.Na4 c3 20.a3 a5 21.d5 Qe7 22.d6 Qf6 23.e5 Qf4 24.Bd3 bxa3 25.Qe2 Qd2 26.Rxa3 Qxe2 27.Rxe2 g4 28.Nxc3 Rg8 29.Ne4 Kd8 30.Nd2 c5 31.Bb5 Bd5 32.Nc4 Rg5 33.Rea2 Nxe5 34.Nb6 Rb8 35.Rxa5 Be4 36.Ra7 f6 37.R2a6 Rg8 38.Rc7 Rf8 39.Rxc5 Rf7 40.d7 Nxd7 41.Nxd7 Rxd7 42.Bxd7 Kxd7 43.Rc3 f5 44.Ra7+ Kd6 45.Rh7 Bd5 46.Rxh6 Bxb3 47.h3 gxh3 48.Rhxh3 Bd5 49.Rc2 Ke5 50.f3 Kf6 51.Kf2 Rb4 52.Re2 Kg6 53.Kg3 Ra4 54.Rh4 Ra7 55.Rb2 Kf6 56.Rhb4 Ke5 57.Re2+ Kf6 58.Rd2 Ke5 59.Re2+ Kf6 60.Kf4 Ra3 61.Rd2 Ra5 62.Re2 Ra3 63.Kg3 Ra8 64.Rc2 Ke5 65.Rh4 Rg8+ 66.Kh2 Ra8 67.Re2+ Kf6 68.f4 Ke7 69.Rh7+ Kd6 70.Kg3 Rg8+ 71.Kh3 Rg4 72.g3 Rg8 73.Rd2 Rc8 74.Kh4 Rc3 75.Rg7 Ra3 76.Rc2 Bc6 77.Rc1 Rb3 78.Rg1 Bd5 79.Kg5 Kc5 80.Kf6 Kd4 81.Re1 Rb6 82.Rd7 Rc6 83.Ke7 Ra6 84.Rd6 Ra7+ 85.Kf6 1-0.

The wizz kid from Baku, Teimour Radjabov, started with a victory over Anand

The games Adams-Gelfand, Ivanchuk-Polgar, Kramnik-van Wely and Eljanov-Leko were all balanced struggles, that were drawn without great incident.

Judit Polgar, who drew Vassily Ivanchuk in round one

Loek van Wely held Vladimir Kramnik to a draw with the black pieces

Boris Gelfand, who started with a draw against Michael Adams

Formidable! Etienne Bacrot started the B-Group with a black-pieces win over...

...13-year-old Chinese super-talent Hou Yifan

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group A

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group B

Schedule and results of Grandmaster Group C

Links

• All games so far in PGN: Group A – Group B – Group C
• Official web site
• Live coverage with commentary by GMs Rustam Kasimdzhanov and
  Yasser Seirawan is available on the Playchess server.

Live Commentary on Playchess

The first weekend of Wijk is covered on Playchess.com with live audio and video by former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Chess fans who have bought Kasimdzhanov's DVDs know how entertaining, eloquent and instructive this Grandmaster's commentary can be.

FIDE World Champion 2004-2005 and ChessBase author Rustam Kasimdzhanov

Rustam, doing live audio and video commentary of round one in Wijk aan Zee 2008

The games start at 13:30h Royal Dutch time (you can translate this to your own time zone here). There will be about three one-hour broadcasts, beginning approximately thirty 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 lectures.

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Starting from next week GM Yasser Seirawan will be taking over with live commentary. Kasimdzhanov will take over again at the end of the tournament.