Round 3 Summary

By Steve Giddens

Players in the Amateur Open waiting for the games to begin

Sergey Tiviakov vs Vladimir Kramnik: ½-½
The first game to finish. Both players followed a long theoretical line of the Petroff/Russian Defence, leading to heavy simplification, and a double rook ending in which White’s extra pawn was purely symbolic. The speed of play suggested that both players’ preparation extended right down to the ending.

Vishy Anand before the start of the game (behind him David Navara)

Viswanathan Anand vs Levon Aronian: ½-½
Anand produced what looked like an important novelty against the Marshall, 19 Qg2. Despite Aronian’s imaginative response (23…Bb1) White looked to be better, but after Anand’s 26 Qe1 (26 Kg2 was Yasser Seirawan’s more natural suggestion), Black equalised with the aid of some tactics: if 30 Rb1 Re8!, whilst in the game, 30…Bxg3! led to a perpetual. Nigel Short suggested that White could perhaps claim a small edge after 31 Qd2 Qxd2 32 Bxd2 Bd6! 33 a4 b4, but it is very little, and Vishy clearly did not think it worth trying.

Former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov

Ruslan Ponomariev vs Magnus Carlsen: 1-0
A disaster for Carlsen, who was possibly still haunted by yesterday’s loss to Navara. His early play was a little artificial, and once he allowed 11 Bb5! (10…Nbd7? should be replaced by 10…Be7 and 11…0-0), followed by 14 Na4! he was already lost. He gave Q for R+B, but his remaining queenside pieces were so awful that he had no chance to hold.

Ponomariov,R (2723) - Carlsen,M (2690) [D10]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 15.01.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Ne5 h6 7.Qb3 Ra7 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Bd2 e6 10.Rc1 Nbd7 [10...Be7]

11.Bb5! Bd6 (11…axb5 12.Nxb5 Ra6 13.Nc7+ Ke7 14.Bb4+ +–) 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bxd7+ Qxd7 14.Na4 0-0 15.Nb6 Qd8 16.Nc8 Qxc8 17.Rxc8 Rxc8 18.Qb6 (+-) Bb8 19.0-0 Kh7 20.Rc1 Bc2 21.Ba5 Kg6 22.Qb4 Rc4 23.Qd2 Bf5 24.Rxc4 dxc4 25.Bb6 Ra8 26.Qe2 e5 27.Qxc4 exd4 28.Qxd4 f6 29.f4 Bb1 30.Qd5 1-0

Loek van Wely vs Alexander Motylev: ½-½
An English, Reversed Dragon. Motylev’s rather aggressive plan of 9…f5 and 10…Bf6 was well met by 11 e4!, and White soon had a nice advantage – two bishops, split Black queenside pawns, big white square weaknesses. Rather than patiently improve the position, eg with Yasser’s 23 h4, keeping the d-pawn blockaded and improving the kingside, van Wely forced matters, but after eschewing the natural 25 f4 Bg7 26 Bxg7+ Kxg7 27 Re6, which appears very strong, he lost control of the tactics in time-trouble. Motylev managed to liquidate down to a R+ opposite B ending, with all pawns on one side, and once he was allowed to take on f2 (44 f4 looks like the last chance for White) a draw resulted.

David Navara vs Peter Svidler: ½-½
The same anti-Grunfeld line seen yesterday in Kramnik-Shirov, but Svidler played much more energetically. His h6-g5-f5-f4 plan undermined White’s key d4-pawn, and although his own king was exposed, Black’s activity always ensured that White would have no time to attack it. Rather surprisingly, Svidler offered a draw in a position where he looked to have a clear initiative.

Alexei Shirov vs Teimour Radjabov: 0-1
Probably the most exciting game of the day. Shirov tried to improve on the Rd1 game van Wely-Radjabov with 17 Kg2, but obtained no more than reasonable compensation for his pawn. After the tempo loss 25 Qa5 and 26 Qd5, Black broke open the kingside and forced a winning ending in a flurry of tactics up to the first time-control:

Shirov,A (2715) - Radjabov,T (2729) [E97]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 15.01.2007
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 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Ne6 Bxe6 14.dxe6 Nh5 15.g3 Bf6 16.c5 f4 17.Kg2 Nc6 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nd5 Nd4 20.Bb2 Nxe6 21.g4 Nhg7 22.Nxf6 Rxf6 23.Qd5 Qe7 24.Red1 Rd8 25.Qa5 b6 26.Qd5 Rff8 27.Rac1

27…h5! 28.gxh5 (28 h3 Qh4) Qh4!? (28…Nxh5 looks safer and good – Seirawan) 29.Rc6 g5! 30.Rxd6 g4! 31.Rxe6 (31 Bxe5 Qh3+ 32 Kg1 g3 –+) Rxd5 32.Rh6+ Kg8 33.Bc4 gxf3+ 34.Kh1 Nxh5?! (34…Rf7 35 Bxd5 Qh3 is simpler) 35.Rg1+ Ng3+! 36.Rxg3+ fxg3 37.Rxh4 g2+ 38.Kg1 f2+ 39.Kxg2 f1Q+ 40.Bxf1 Rd2+ 41.Kg3 Rxb2. Black is winning the ending. 42.Bc4+ Kg7 43.Bb3 Rb1 44.Kg2 Rc8 45.Kf3 Rc3+ 46.Kg4 Rf1 47.Kh5 Kf6 0–1.

Preparing to do battle against the young Ukrainian GM: Veselin Topalov

Sergey Kariakin vs Veselin Topalov: ½-½
A Najdorf English Attack. Topalov’s 14…Rc8 was a novelty, diverging from 14…Nb6, played in a number of previous games, including Naer-Kariakin (!) 2003. Following 16…Qb7, White seized control of the light squares with 17 Na5 and 18 f5, and soon stood very well. The h4-pawn dropped off and Black appeared busted, but desperately resourceful defence by Topalov (notably 41…Bd2!) kept him on the board. Kariakin missed winning chances with the equally spectacular 42.Qh5 (and again on the next move), and once he allowed the queens off (45.Kb2 is the last winning chance), Black was able to hold the rook ending.

Key game, in which Karjakin was crushing Topalov, who found a way to draw

Karjakin,Sergey (2678) - Topalov,V (2783) [B90]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 15.01.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 h5 9.Qd2 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Be7 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.h3 b5 13.Bd3 h4 14.f4 Rc8 15.Rhe1 g6 16.Qf2 Qb7 17.Na5 Qb8 18.f5 gxf5 19.exf5 Bc4 20.Nxc4 bxc4 21.Be4 Nxe4 22.Nxe4 Nf6 23.Qf3 Qc7 24.Nc3 Rg8 25.Bf2 Rh8 26.Nd5 Nxd5 27.Rxd5 f6 28.Re4 Rb8 29.Rxh4 Rxh4 30.Bxh4 Qb7 31.b3 Kd7 32.Be1 Qc6 33.h4 Rc8 34.Qd1 Rg8 35.g3 Bf8 36.Bf2 Bh6 37.Bc5 Bf8 38.Bf2 Bh6 39.Rc5 Qg2 40.Be1 cxb3 41.axb3

41...Bd2! 42.Rc4? Karjakin missed 42.Qh5!, which leaves the rook and bishop en prise. 42...Re8 (not 42...dxc5 43.Qf7+ Kd6 44.Qxg8 Qf1 (44...Bxe1 45.Qd8+ Kc6 46.Qa8+ skewers the king and wins the queen) 45.Qd8+ Kc6 46.Qxd2) 43.Qf7+ Re7 44.Rc7+ Kxc7 45.Qxe7+ with excellent chances to win. 42...d5 43.Ra4 Bxe1 44.Qxe1 Rxg3 45.Rxa6 Qg1 46.Qxg1 Rxg1+ 47.Kb2 Ke7 48.Re6+ Kf7 49.Rd6 e4 50.Kc3 Rf1 51.Rd7+ Kf8 52.Rd8+ Kf7 53.Rd7+ Kf8 54.Rd8+ ½-½

New hairstyle, enhanced playing strength: Karjakin at 17

• Replay and download the games

Standings after three rounds

Other sections

In Group B Jan Smeets and Bu Xiangzhi are on a rampage, each scoring 2.5/3, Smeets with a 2900+ performance so far. In Group C it is Nepomnaichtchi, Bosboom and Negi who are raking in the points, with 2.5/3 each (13-year-old Parimarjan Negi is playing at a 2715 level so far).

Watch out for this boy: Parimarjan Negi

Behind this group with 2.0/3 we find 12-year-old Hou Yifan, who won her second game with black and, in spite of the loss yesterday, has so far been performing at a 2673 level.

Did we say Parimarjan? Watch out for Hou Yifan!

Yesterday all six games of Group B were drawn, today there were five decided encounters and just one draw. In Group C the same statistics for today. Overall the least number of draws is, expectedly, in the C Group (only 29%) and the highest in the A Group 57%

Live audio commentary by Yasser Seirawan

For those of you who were not able to catch it live on the server, you can listen to Yasser's broadcasts at any time on a pay-per-view basis (two ducats or about 30 cents per session).

The files are to be found on the Playchess server in the room Chess Media System – Events and Reports. If you do not have them already you can purchase ducats here. They can be used to follow GM Seirawan's live broadcasts and cost ten ducats (= €1 or $1.30) per round – a very reasonable rate for hours of excitement and pleasure.

Videos

More video clips from the very active Chessvibes chess blog.

Postgame analysis by Radjabov – 9:08 min

Part II – 9:00 min

Part II – 9:12 min

Links

• All games so far: Group A – Group B – Group C
• All ChessBase reports
• Live coverage on Playchess with commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan
• Official web site