Wijk aan Zee Round 13 30th January 2005
Michiel Abeln is on the spot in Wijk aan Zee. He is sending photos, analysis and some comments. The report is compiled by Mark Crowther who is making additional editorial comment.
Vladimir Kramnik had a quick draw against Alexander Morozevich in the final round. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
The last round of a super tournament is usually not the most exciting. Still it was a bit of a surprise to see that Vladimir Kramnik had no energy left to take on Alexander Morozevich and within 45 minutes a draw was agreed on.
Michael Adams before his game against Alexander Grischuk. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
Michael Adams and Alexander Grischuk also played a typical last round game, no excitement.
Peter Svidler and Vesselin Topalov before round 13. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
Peter Svidler against Vesselin Topalov was a similar story where the Petroff once again was solid enough for an easy draw.
Peter Leko had to wait a while to see if his draw against Judit Polgar was enough to win the event alone. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
Peter Leko also drew rather quickly with Judit Polgar. He chose a rather timid setup that did not come as a surprise for Polgar. She was never in any danger and after some exchanges both players agreed a draw. This result proved enough, after a long wait, to take clear first for Leko.
Winner Peter Leko. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
After the game Leko gave a press conference in which he made the following remarks: “I was actually quite lucky with the drawing of lots. This may sound weird with 7 blacks, but at least I was 200% concentrated and you have to get the maximum out of all your whites. I am very happy with this victory because it was the only grand slam I was missing, I have already won Dortmund and Linares and also I feel I played very well. I mean there is only one way to win here in Wijk aan Zee, you have to beat Vishy. He will win 4 or 5 games so you have to win against him if you want to win here.
I started here with a good game against Sokolov where I was pressing and missed a win in time trouble. But actually I consider my game against Svidler to be the best. Over the board I found all kind of subtleties in an important line of the Najdorf and refuted his play. Against Ponomariov and Vlad and Mickey I was also pressing but they both played very precisely. There were only two games in which I was in danger, against Grischuk and Morozevich who both played very solidly according to the Russian chess school. The both had some slight pressure, but I was never in danger of losing.
Yesterdays game against Topalov was not that difficult. Topalov played quite fast and I equalized, but then I played e5 and he gets all the dynamic chances that he likes. Then I found the plan of transferring the knight to f3 as d3 was not possible for the knight. This knight transfer was a long term plan and when I launched the knight on f3 I knew I was safe. In time trouble I missed a win, but he defended well so I think the draw was a correct result. The end position is equal I think. Maybe I can play on for 100 moves or so, but objectively I think it’s a draw. I did not surprise myself here. I made 7-7 in the match and from a chess point of view I was completely even with the World Champion and his monster preparation.
Already in the last few years I feel I belong to the top group of players in classical chess. Of course Vishy wins a lot of tournaments, but some of these are rapid chess, but in classical chess I don’t think he is better. I have had good results for quite some time except for Dortmund last year, but there I was preparing for the match and I could only see Kramnik opposite to me, I had no creativity. I am happy to play again. I play against strong opposition but they don’t have this monster preparation, so there is room for some creativity, let’s just play chess. This tournament is very special. It’s the start of the new year while Linares is after this and here everybody wants to start the new year well and has been preparing for this.”
Van Wely had to wait a long time but he finally won a game in the last round against Nigel Short. With the win Van Wely got back to 50% and an excellent result. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
Loek Van Wely has had an incredibly solid tournament drawing all but one game which was an aberration against Peter Svidler. In the final round he took on Nigel Short's Queen's Gambit. He got a nice position which Short allowed to become a winning advantage fairly quickly.
Van Wely,L (2679) - Short,N (2674) [D35]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee (13), 30.01.2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qf3 Bg6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 10.Nf3 Nd7 11.Nh4 Be7 12.g3 Nb6 13.f3 a5 14.Kf2 a4 15.Rc1 [15.Be2 Nc8 16.e4 a3 17.b3 dxe4 18.fxe4 0-0 19.Rac1 Bb4 20.Bd3 Rd8 21.Nxg6 hxg6 22.Ke3 Nd6 23.Rhd1 Re8 24.Kf3 Re7 25.Rd2 Rd8 26.Rdc2 Bxc3 27.Rxc3 Rde8 28.d5 cxd5 29.exd5 Re3+ 30.Kg2 R8e5 31.Bc4 Nxc4 32.bxc4 Re2+ 33.Kf3 Rxa2 34.R3c2 Rxc2 35.Rxc2 b5 36.cxb5 Rxd5 37.Ra2 Rd3+ 38.Kf4 Kg7 39.b6 f5 40.b7 Rb3 41.Rxa3 Rxb7 42.h4 Kh6 43.Kf3 Kh5 44.Ra8 Rb3+ 45.Kf4 Kh6 46.Ra7 Kg7 47.Rc7 Rb1 48.Kf3 Rf1+ 49.Kg2 Rd1 50.Kf3 Kf6 51.Ra7 Ke6 52.Rb7 Rd7 53.Rb5 f6 54.Ra5 Rd3+ 55.Kf4 g5+ 56.hxg5 Rd4+ 57.Ke3 Re4+ 58.Kf3 fxg5 59.Ra6+ Ke5 60.Ra5+ Kf6 61.Ra6+ Re6 62.Ra3 Rd6 63.Ra2 Rd3+ 64.Kf2 Ke5 65.Ra8 g4 66.Re8+ Kd4 67.Rd8+ Kc3 68.Rf8 Rf3+ 69.Kg2 Kd2 70.Ra8 Ke2 1/2-1/2 Gustafsson,J-Sokolov,I/Lost Boys Open, Amsterdam NED 2001 (70)] 15...Nc8 16.Be2 Nd6 17.Rhd1 0-0 18.Bd3
White would like to change these bishops because then black's kingside weaknesses will tell. 18...Rfe8? [Short makes a big mistake here, he should have played 18...Bxd3 19.Rxd3 f5 and white will start to torture black, but it's not a win yet.] 19.g4 Now that white gets this for free he has a large advantage. 19...Bf8 20.Ne2 Bh6 21.f4 Now black is forced to exchange and it's clear that white has a bog advantage. 21...Bxd3 22.Rxd3 Bf8 23.Ng3 Ra5 24.Rc2 Rb5 Van Wely also considered here a setup with the pawn on b2 and rooks on c2 and e2, but after lengthy thought he decided in favor of the game continuation. 25.Nhf5 Nc4 26.b3
26...axb3 [Short should have played 26...Nd6 27.Nxd6 Bxd6 28.bxa4 Ra5 and white has the advantage but at least it's not so clear as in the game.] 27.Rxb3 Rxb3 28.axb3 Na5 29.Nh5 Re6 30.Ra2 b6 31.Ra4 1-0
Viswanathan Anand had a huge time advantage against Ivan Sokolov but it didn't translate into winning chances over the board. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
Anand tried for a long time to win against Sokolov, but he never had a real chance of gaining the full point. Sokolov sacrificed a pawn but in compensation his bishop was much stronger than the bishop on b7. In Sokolov’s time trouble Vishy tried some things, but Sokolov played solidly and on move 48 a draw was agreed. Vishy said that he missed too many chances in this tournament especially against Van Wely and against Svidler in round 4. He thought Leko deserved to win here because he made the least mistakes. Today he had an outside chance to win the tournament if he would beat Sokolov, but this is very hard as Ivan doesn’t lose often with white, although here in Wijk aan Zee it happened twice. His best games were against Mickey and Ponomariov, the game against Morozevich was not so good because at some point black was worse.
Two of the hardest workers in the event were the last to finish. Ruslan Ponomariov never had enough to win against Lazaro Bruzon as their game finally finished in a draw. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
The last game to finish was between Ruslan Ponomariov and Lazaro Bruzon. But even this long game was not that exciting. The game always a tiny bit better for white, but Bruzon said he was never in danger of losing.
Dolf Vos, President of the organising committee. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
The closing ceremony was started with the traditional pea soup for all the participants. The tournament was a great success with more visitors than ever and also over 40,000 unique visitors each day on the website. After the pea soup was finished the C-group was called to stage and Vladimir Georgiev received first prize. A very good performance of him considering that he was also coaching Stefanova during the tournament. In the final standings highest Dutchman L’Ami was also promoted to the B-group next year.
Sergey Karjakin makes the A group next year. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
After that some chocolate deserts were served, then the ceremony for the A- and B- Groups started. First Sergey Karjakin was called to the stage to receive both a special prize and first prize for the B-Group. Karjakin said during the tournament that he was not happy with his performance, having too many bad positions and twice missing a win in one, so let’s see what he is capable of when he is in form!
Peter Leko thanks the organisers. Photo © Michiel Abeln.
Then the players of the A-group received their prizes. Peter Leko received first prize and thanked the organization. He pointed out that this is a tournament full of fighting chess where in principle there are never discussions on short draws, simply because it is not needed!
The last announcement were the dates for next year’s tournament, January 14th-29th 2006.