73rd Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2011 (5)
Anand hits the front after 5 rounds
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 22nd January 2011
Malcolm Pein looks at the 5th Round of Wijk aan Zee where Viswanathan took the sole lead.
Jan Smeets lost to Viswanathan Anand to allow the World Champion to take the lead. Photo © Frits Agterdenbos. | http://www.chessvista.com/
Vishy Anand took the lead of the Tata Steel tournament at Wijk aan Zee by defeating Jan Smeets with black. The Indian world champion looks highly motivated and that is no surprise as this is the first year that the tournament has been sponsored by an industrial conglomerate from his home country.
US number one Hikaru Nakamura took some major risks against Ruslan Ponomariov who was a pawn up when the draw was agreed and possibly should have played on. Or let me put it another way, had the game been played at the London Chess Classic, under the rules we employ, the game would have had to continue.
Anand defended the Ruy Lopez with the solid Breyer Defence and Smeets chose not to test the champion's preparation but played something solid himself. On another day the game might have petered out to a draw but Anand continued to press and sacrificed rook for bishop and two pawns in the endgame. The position remained level but was now more complex and Smeets soon miscalculated.
Viswanathan Anand
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Jan Smeets
Position after 43.Bc5
J Smeets - V Anand
43...Rxc5! 44.bxc5 Bc4 45.Rd1 Rb2+ 46.Kc1 Rc2+ 47.Kb1 Ke7
(The c5 pawn will fall and Black will try to advance his king)
48.c6 Kd8 49.Ra4 Bb5 50.Ra2 Kc7 51.c4 Rxc4 52.Rc1 Rd4!
(There are few winning chances if rooks are exchanged)
53.Rd2 Ba4 54.Rc5 Bc2+ 55.Kb2 Rd6 56.Kc3 h4 57.g3?
(White should mark time with his rook for example 57.Rf2 Rxc6 58.Rxc6+ Kxc6 59.Kb4 Kb6 60.Kc3 Kc5 61.Rd2 a5 62.Rf2 a4 63.Rf1 Kb5 64.Ra1)
57...hxg3 58.h4
(58.Rg2 d2 59.Rxd2 Rxd2 60.Kxd2 g2)
58...g6 59.Rd5 Rxc6+ 60.Kb2 Rb6+ 61.Kc3 Rb3+ 62.Kc4 Rb1 63.Rg2 Bb3+ 64.Kxd3 Bxd5 65.exd5 Rb3+ 0-1
Viswanathan Anand
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Jan Smeets
Position after 65...Rb3+
Scores:1 Anand (India) 4/5; 2 Nakamura (USA) 3.5; 3-5 Aronian (Armenia),Giri (Holland), Vachier-Lagrave (France) 3; 6-9 Kramnik, Nepomniachtchi (Russia), Ponomariov (Ukraine), Carlsen (Norway) 2.5; 10-12 L'Ami, Smeets (Holland), Wang Hao (China) 2; 13 Grischuk (Russia) 1.5; 14 Shirov (Spain) 1.
Luke McShane remains at the head of Group B at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee after drawing with Laurent Fressinet. McShane has 4/5
This won Game of the Day in Group B round 3, 6.e4 looks more aggressive than 6.Nf3 which is the other main line. White single mindedly pushes his'd' pawn.
R Wojtaszek - Li Chao
Gruenfeld g3
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nb6 7.Ne2 c5 8.d5 e6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Nec3 exd5 11.exd5 Bf5 12.g4 Bxb1 13.Rxb1 Qd7 14.Ne4 Na6
(14...Nxd5 15.Nxc5 Qd6 16.Qxd5; 14...Qxd5 15.Nf6+ Bxf6 16.Bxd5)
15.g5! Qf5 16.d6 Rad8 17.Qf3 Nc4 18.Bf4 Nb4 19.Rfc1 b5 20.b3 Nd5 21.Bg3 Na3 22.Rxc5! Nxb1
Li Chao
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R Wojtaszek
Position after 22...Nxb1
23.Rxd5! Qc8
(23...Qxf3 24.Bxf3 Nc3 25.Nxc3 Bxc3 26.Rxb5 Intending Rb5-b7 and d6-d7)
24.Nf6+ Kh8 25.h4
(Making space for the king but 25.Be5 was also strong)
25...Qc2 26.Qd3 Qc1+ 27.Kh2 Nc3 28.Rc5 b4 29.d7 Qb2 30.Bh3 Qxa2 31.Rc8 a6 32.Qe3 Qe2 33.Rxc3 1-0
WGM Jennifer Shahade and GM Joel Benjamin will be among the celebrities at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this weekend teaching stars how to perfect their game.
The former US champions are at the event to promote Liz Garbus' new documentaryBobby Fischer Against the World, which debuts at the festival. I understand that a feature film on Fischer entitled 'Pawn Sacrifice' starring Toby Maguire of Spiderman fame, should be released either this year or next.
