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GM Group A
GM Group B
GM Group C
In my round one report, I described the Wijk aan Zee tournament as "a gathering of the clans", as players and officials come together each year, for the event. The same is true of the press room. Regular habitues meet up each year, to follow the progress of the tournament. Many have their own favourite seats in the crowded room, and last year, I witnessed the peremptory way in which one leading Dutch chess journalist evicted an interloper, who had occupied his regular spot. "I have been sitting at this table every day for fifteen years!", declared the outraged IM. I waited with baited breath, to see whether the squatter would come back with the obvious retort "Well, it must be someone else's turn then!" But no – decorum prevailed, and the suitably chastened outsider meekly moved aside.
Nowadays, the press room is under the charge of Tom Bottema, but amongst his "great predecessors", few could stand higher than the legendary Berry Withuis, whose death was announced yesterday. Throughout the 1960s and onwards, Withuis was the king of the Beverwijk/Wijk aan Zee press room, and generations of chess journalists depended on him to enable them to file their copy. Everyone who has written extensively about Dutch chess of the period, from Hein Donner to Hans Ree to Jules Welling, has a story about Withuis. Apart from his numerous chess activities, he was a political activist with strong Communist leanings, a friend of Botvinnik and other leading Soviet players, and a controversial and lively character in all respects. The official tournament website reports that he died on 16 January, just a couple of days short of his 89th birthday. Thus is another link broken with the glorious past of the Wijk aan Zee tournament.
The tournament web master and IT chief in the press room: Dennis van Veen
Round 3 of the tournament certainly provided plenty for the Press Room crowd to get their teeth into. The big drama of the day came in the match-up between Ivanchuk and Radjabov, which culminated in a furious time-scramble.
Ivanchuk,V (2779) - Radjabov,T (2761) [E97]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 19.01.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0–0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Ne8. 9...Nh5 is much the most usual move, and has been the scene of several successful Radjabov games, notably against Van Wely. 10.a4 f5 11.a5 Nf6 12.Bg5 Nh5 13.exf5 gxf5 14.Qd2 Nf6 15.c5 Bd7 16.b5 Be8 17.c6!? Commenting on Playchess, Yasser Seirawan expressed his surprise at this move, as locking the queenside should be in Black's favour. Positionally, 17.b6 is White's programmed move, undermining the base of Black's pawn chain on c7, in good Nimzowitschian fashion. However, it is not clear that it results in so much after 17...axb6 18.axb6 Rxa1 19.Rxa1 cxb6 20.cxd6 Qxd6. 17...b6 18.Nh4 Bf7 19.Bd3 Bg6 20.f3 Qe8
Round about here, Fritz 11 is highly optimistic about White's position, but it may be that it overrates White's space advantage on the queenside. 21.Kh1 Kh8 22.Bc2 Qf7 23.g4!? Always a critical idea in such structures, trying to wrench control of the central white squares, but in the words of George W Bush, the danger to the white king should not be "misunderstimated". 23...Nfg8 24.Ra4 Rae8 25.axb6 axb6 26.Ra7 Rc8 27.Nxg6+ Qxg6 28.Rg1 Qf7. By this stage of the game, Ivanchuk was down to barely a minute on the clock, to reach the time control at move 40 (Wijk uses a classical time control, with no increments in the main stage of the game). Radjabov himself had only about ten minutes, but in such a complicated position, such a lead on the clock is almost worth an extra piece. 29.Rg3 e4 30.Ne2 Nf6 31.Nf4. Now the real blitz started, with the rest of the game being played in about about a minute. 31...exf3 32.gxf5 Nfxd5 33.Rxf3 Nxf4 34.Qxf4 Bf6 35.Bb3 Qh5 36.Bxf6+ Rxf6 37.Be6 Rcf8
38.Rxc7?? Tragic. After 38.Rg3 best play seems to be 38...Rxe6 39.fxe6 Qd1+ 40.Kg2 Qe2+ and a draw by perpetual. 38...Rxe6 39.fxe6 Rxf4 40.Rxf4 Qd5+. The final sting in the tail; the rook on g4 drops off. 41.Kg1 Qg5+ and 0–1. [Click to replay]
A disaster for Ivanchuk, who now has 0/2 with the white pieces. In his Playchess commentary, Seirawan pointed out that during the Wijk aan Zee tournament, Ivanchuk faces a FIDE disciplinary hearing, with respect to his missed drug test at the Dresden Olympiad. Given the Draconian nature of the sanctions he potentially faces (a possible two-year ban), it would not be surprising if that were playing on his mind, and may explain his poor form so far.
Just as in round one, both top seeds lost. Morozevich obtained a comfortable position as Black against Kamsky, but then, in the words of Seirawan, "...did some horrible things to his position".
Very impressive against Morozevich: US grandmaster Gata Kamsky
Kamsky,G (2725) - Morozevich,A (2771) [C78]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 19.01.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.a4 Rb8 9.axb5 axb5 10.d3. The main line is 10.d4 with long and heavily-analysed complications. In keeping with his style ever since his junior days, Kamsky prefers a less critical continuation, leading to a more manoeuvering style of game. 10...0–0 11.h3 Ne7 12.Na3 Ng6 13.Nc2 h6 14.Re1 Bb6 15.Ne3 c6. Black looks to be very comfortable here, but it soon becomes clear that Morozevich has ambitions to complicate the game. 16.Nh2 Kh8. 16...Be6 would be a solid option, but Black instead starts a plan of taking the initiative on the kingside. 17.Nhg4 Nxg4?! Commenting on the game for the Russian site Crestbook, Sergey Shipov was critical of this risky move, but it is all part of Black's idea. 18.hxg4 Qh4 19.d4 exd4?! Another move which drew the opprobrium of the online GM commentators. Black concedes the centre without good reason, but Morozevich clearly felt that his piece pressure on the centre would be effective. 19...Be6 is again a solid alternative. 20.cxd4 Qf6
21.Nf5! Kg8. Shipov speculates, highly plausibly, that Morozevich had intended 21...Bxf5 22.exf5 Bxd4 but only now spotted the dastardly refutation 23.g5! hxg5 24.Qh5+ Kg8 25.Qxg6. 22.Be3. Now White has been able to support his centre, and it is clear that Black's entire strategy over the past few moves has been refuted. As so often, a poor strategic decision results from a tactical oversight. Having obtained a clear positional advantage, Kamsky punches it home in convincing style. 22...Bxf5 23.gxf5 Ne7 24.Bc2 Rfd8 25.b4 c5. Passively waiting for White to prepare the e4-e5 break was hardly attractive, so Morozevich tries his only breakout, but it is crisply refuted. 26.bxc5 dxc5 27.Qg4! Rxd4 27...cxd4 is met by 28.e5 Qxe5 29.Bxh6 Qf6 30.Bg5 winning. 28.Bxd4 Qxd4 29.Qg3 Nc6 30.e5 c4 31.Rad1 Qb2 32.f6 g5 33.Re2 Qb4 34.Qh3 1–0. As Fritz 11 will inform you in a nanosecond, it is mate in 11! For the human player, it is enough to see that there is no defence to the threats of Qxh6 and Qf5. [Click to replay]
Downs and ups and this time downs: Alexander Morozevich
Carlsen drew his third straight game, after making no impression on Movsesian's Slav. Daniel Stellwagen continued his excellent start, holding Aronian very comfortably as Black, and indeed, standing rather better in the final position.
Aronian,L (2750) - Stellwagen,D (2612) [B13]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 19.01.2009
1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 dxc4 7.Bxc4 h6
8.Bh4 Qxd4 9.Qxd4 Nxd4 10.0-0-0 e5 11.Nf3 Nxf3 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Bb5+ Ke7 14.Nd5+
Kd8 15.gxf3 Bd6 16.Rd2 Be6 17.Rhd1 Bc5 18.Nb6+ Ke7 19.Nxa8 Rxa8 20.Bd7 Bxa2
21.Bg4 Bd4 22.f4
draw. [Click to replay]
Of the remaining games, Adams-Dominguez saw Black hold, seemingly without too much trouble, in a 6.Bc4 Najdorf, whilst the all-Dutch pairing of van Wely and Smeets saw a theoretical battle in the Botvinnik Semi-Slav.
Van Wely,L (2625) - Smeets,J (2601) [D44]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 19.01.2009
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.exf6 Bb7 12.g3 c5 13.d5 Qb6 14.Bg2 0–0–0 15.0–0 b4 16.Rb1 Qa6 17.dxe6 Bxg2 18.e7 Bxf1 19.Kxf1 Bxe7 20.fxe7 Rdg8 21.Ne4
21...Rxg5. Novelty. 21...Qc6 was Kamsky-Kramnik, Dos Hermanos 1996. 22.Nxg5 Re8 23.Qe2 Qg6 24.Ne4 Rxe7 25.Re1 Kd8 26.Qxc4 Qg4 27.Qd5 f5 28.Qa8+ Kc7 29.Qxa7+ Kc6 30.Qa8+ Kc7 draw. [Click to replay]
The longest game of the day was a grim struggle between Kariakin and Wang Yue. A Rossolimo Sicilian produced a typical petrified type of middlegame structure, and although Fritz was claiming a large advantage for White in the early middlegame, nothing concrete seems to have been missed. The players get full credit for their fighting spirit, but the eventual results of 75 moves' of remorseless battle was a draw.
Amazing: IM Manuel Bosboom, the second-lowest seed in the event, is leading
in the C-Group
Finally, I should point out that, whilst these daily reports are concentrating on the A Group, much excellent chess is also being played in the B and C groups. Here on ChessBase, we will have a "catch-up" report on these two sections, on Wednesday's rest day.
Nigel Short leaves out a round to follow the other games on Playchess? No,
the former World Championship challenger finished his game against Erwin l'Ami
in just 19 moves and THEN came over to the chess server to listen and watch.
Amongst other games, I will bring you coverage of Nigel Short's demolition of Erwin l'Ami, in today's third round, which is bound to please all lovers of open, attacking chess!
In deadly form, with 2½ out of three: GM Nigel Short from
Britain
Short,N (2663) - L'Ami,E (2603) [C48]
Corus B Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 19.01.2009
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Nxe5 Nxb5 6.Nxb5 c6 7.Nc3 Qe7
8.Nf3 Nxe4 9.0-0 Nxc3 10.dxc3 d5 11.Bg5 Qd6 12.Re1+ Be6 13.Nd4 c5 14.Nxe6 fxe6
15.Qh5+ g6 16.Qg4 Kf7 17.c4 d4 18.Qf3+ Kg8 19.Bf6 1-0.
Erwin l'Ami showing us what it feels like to face an in-form Nigel Short
All pictures by Jeroen van den Belt
Today on the server Playchess.com GM Yasser Seirawan entertained the visitors with three hours of live commentary. Espeically poignant was the way Yasser and, we might add, many visitors and GM colleagues, suffered when Vassily Ivanchuk blew a good position to lose again just before the time control.
Yasser Seirawan will be on Playchess with live commentary again on Friday January 23, Saturday January 24 and Sunday January 25. Additional days of commentary will be announced. Seirawan provides a minimum of three one hour lectures per round, 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.
Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan
GM Robert Fontaine wraps up each round for the French Chess magazine and portal Europe Echecs
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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 it to read, replay and analyse the PGN games. |
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