Wijk R03: All games drawn, excitement in the lower groups

Results of round three

Group A standings

As you can see two players have won two games and drawn one, and lead the field. Teimour Radjabov has won two and drawn one. Then come a group of six players who have drawn all their games so far. And at the bottom of the table we find five players who have lost one and drawn two. Naturally it is unusual to see one of the two top-rated players at the end of the table, but that is a quirk that will soon be amended. That we guarantee.

Report from Wijk aan Zee by Steve Giddins

Corus is about more than just the A Group. Wonderful though that is, it remains just the top of a vast pyramid of tournaments, both professional and amateur – including numerous events such as four and ten-player all-play-all tournaments, plus rapid events, junior simuls on the rest day, etc. The total numbers expected to participate in this year's festival could well top 1,800.

At the professional level, the B and C Groups are both strong and highly interesting tournaments in their own right, and since Mihail Marin is doing such a splendid job of commentating on the A Group games, these reports will henceforth focus rather more on events in the other two groups.

As far as the A Group is concerned, I will content myself with telling you that it was largely a day of opposite-coloured bishops. The seven games yielded no fewer than four positions with polychromatic prelates, all of which were drawn.

The B Group is category 15, with an average FIDE rating of 2618, but perhaps a more telling indicator of its strength is that former world title challenger Nigel Short is playing – and he is only rated sixth out of the 14 participants! He also seems to be on a mission to break away from the 21st century stereotype opening theory, of wall-to-wall Marshalls and Moscow gambits, and instead to revive some of those lines so beloved of the 19th century. Yesterday, he increased his personal plus score on the White side of the Evans Gambit to +6, by beating Erwin L'Ami in a fine effort. Today, against young Chinese girl sensation Hou Yifan, he revived the "old" Berlin Defence to the Spanish, forsaking the popular Berlin Wall line in favour of Emanuel Lasker's favourite, 5...Be7. He later explained his opening choice by a desire to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1908 Lasker-Tarrasch match, in which the line was played three times! However, the result today was catastrophic, as a grossly over-optimistic g5-thrust saw his position demolished in just 23 moves.

Hou is she? The 13-year-old Chinese super-talent Hou Yifan (above in round two)

Hou Yifan (2527) - Short,N (2645) [C67]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 14.01.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Be7 6.Qe2 Nd6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.dxe5 Nb7 9.c4 0–0 10.Nc3 Re8 11.Rd1 Bf8 12.Bg5 f6 13.Bh4

13...g5 14.Bg3 d6 15.Ne4 Bg4 16.exf6 Bh5 17.Qe3 Bh6 18.Ne5 Rxe5 19.Bxe5 Bxd1 20.Rxd1 Qe8 21.Bc3 Nd8

22.f7+ Qxf7 23.Nf6+ 1–0

After the game, a rueful Short blamed this disaster on inadequate preparation, adding that it was "especially embarrassing to lose to an opponent who is three years younger than my daughter!" This was one of five (!) decisive results in the group.

Nigel Short (left) ananlying his first-round draw with Pentala Harikrishna

"I blundered a piece and was about to resign when my oppenent gave up his queen and I decided to hang on for a while to see if I could save it," Nigel said. And save it he did, in a splendid defensive effort.

Etienne Bacrot took the lead by beating bottom-marker Spoelman with Black, whilst 17-year-old Ian Nepomniashi scored an important victory over Aronian's second, Sargissian.

Just 17 and already so strong: Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi [photo ChessVista]

Nepomniachtchi,I (2600) - Sargissian,G (2676) [C65]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 14.01.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0–0 Nd4 6.Nxd4 Bxd4 7.Nd2 c6 8.Ba4 d6 9.c3 Bb6 10.Bb3 h6 11.Nc4 Bc7 12.Ne3 0–0 13.Qf3 g6 14.g4 h5 15.h3 hxg4 16.hxg4 Kg7 17.Kg2 Nh7 18.Rh1 Ng5 19.Qg3 Rg8 20.Kf1 Bd7

21.Nf5+ Kf8 22.Qh4 gxf5 23.Qh6+ Ke8 24.gxf5 d5 25.Qxg5 Rxg5 26.Rh8+ Ke7 27.Bxg5+ f6 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.Be3 Bb6 30.Ke2 Be8 31.Rh1 Bf7 32.Rh7 Bxe3 33.fxe3 Kf8 34.exd5 cxd5 35.Rh8+ Bg8 36.e4 Kg7 37.Rh4 Bf7 38.exd5 Bxd5 39.Bxd5 Rxd5 40.Rc4 Kh6

 41.Rg4 Kh5 42.Rg7 a5 43.Ke3 b5 44.Ke4 Rd8 45.Rg6 Rd6 46.d4 exd4 47.cxd4 Rc6 48.Rg2 Rc1 49.Kd5 Re1 50.Kc6 b4 51.b3 1–0.

Group B standings

The C Group has been the most bloodthirsty of all the GM sections, with the first two rounds producing only two draws. Today's third round added only three more, as German IM Arik Braun moved onto 3/3 by beating multiple Dutch ladies champion Peng.

Perfect score: German IM Arik Braun

Chinese-born Dutch grandmaster Peng Zhaoqin

Peng Zhaoqin (2461) - Braun,A (2536) [A57]
Corus C Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 14.01.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.a4 bxc4 5.Nc3 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Bxc4 Bg7 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9.Nf3 0–0 10.h3 Bxb5 11.axb5 Ne8 12.0–0 Nc7 13.Qe2 Nd7 14.Bf4 Nb6 15.Rfd1 Qd7

16.Ra5 Rfb8 17.e5 Rb7 18.Bg3 Rd8 19.Qe4 Nc8 20.b4 cxb4 21.Qxb4 Nb6 22.Qb3 dxe5 23.Bxe5 Ncxd5 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.Ne5 Qf5 26.Nc6 Rd6 27.Nxd5 Nxd5 28.Rxa7 Rxa7 29.Nxa7 Rf6 30.Qb2 Nf4 31.f3

31...Nxh3+ 32.gxh3 Qxf3 33.Ra1 Qg3+ 34.Qg2 Qe3+ 35.Kh1 Rf2 36.Qg4 Qe5 0–1.

The top seed in the C Group is Italian sensation Fabiano Caruana, who also won his third straight game.

Ruijgrok,D (2329) - Caruana,F (2598) [B40]
Corus C Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 14.01.2008
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 b6 4.c4 Bb7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.e5 Ng4 8.Bb2 Qb8 9.Nb5 a6 10.Na3 Be7 11.h3 Nh6 12.Nc2 0–0 13.0–0–0 a5 14.a4 f6 15.exf6 Bxf6 16.Qd3 Bxb2+ 17.Kxb2 Qc7 18.Re1 Nf5 19.Rg1 Nb4 20.Nxb4 Bxf3 21.Qxf3 axb4 22.Bd3 Rad8 23.h4 Rf6 24.g3 Qd6 25.Qe4 Qd4+ 26.Qxd4 Nxd4

27.Rg2 Rf3 28.Re3 Rdf8 29.Rxf3 Rxf3 30.Bc2 e5 31.Bd1 Rd3 32.f4 d6 33.fxe5 dxe5 34.Bc2 Rf3 35.Bd1 Rf1 36.Bc2 g6 37.Be4 Kg7 38.Bd3 Rf3 39.Bc2 Nxc2 40.Kxc2 Kf6 41.d3 Kf5 42.g4+ Kf4 43.Re2 Kxg4 44.Rxe5 Rf2+ 45.Kb1 Kxh4 46.Re6 g5 47.Rh6+ Kg3 48.Rxh7 g4 49.a5 bxa5 50.Rh5 Kf4

 0–1.

Group C standings

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.