Corus Wijk aan Zee 2010 (2)
Carlsen's first win
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 19th January 2010
Magnus Carlsen won for the first time at the Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament. Alexey Shirov is on 2/2.
Shirov vs Caruana Rd2. Photo © Michiel Abeln. | http://www.chess.co.uk/twic
The Corus tournament A group at Wijk aan Zee started in earnest in the second round as the world number one Magnus Carlsen registered his first victory, defeating Jan Smeets of Holland in the game below that ends with an entertaining king hunt. Alexey Shirov leads on 2/2 after defeating the teenager abiano Caruana.
Chess tournaments tend to kick a man when he is down and following his losing start the drawing of lots had rewarded Nigel Short with his second black and Vishy Anand, the world champion as his opponent. Short decided to play boldly and grabbed a couple of pawns which he was able to return later to secure a level double rook and pawn endgame.
In Group B David Howell was a pawn up and drew with Indian prodigy Parimargan Negi in round two he was a pawn down and drew with Indian Pentyla Harekrishna.
M Carlsen - Smeets
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d4 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.Na4 Qb5 17.a3 Nb8
(17...exd5 18.axb4 cxb4 19.Qg4 d4 Carlsen - Shirov Sofia 2009)
18.axb4 cxb4 19.Qd4 Nc6
(19...Rxd5 20.Qxa7 Nc6 21.Nb6+ Kc7 22.Bf4+ wins)
20.Nb6+
(20.dxc6 Rxd4 21.cxb7+ Kc7 22.Be3 is another wild line)
20...axb6 21.dxc6 Bxc6 22.Bxc6 Qxc6 23.Qg4 Bc5 24.Ra7 Rd7 25.Rxd7 Kxd7 26.h4 Kc7 27.h5 e5 28.h6 Bd4 29.Qe2 b3 30.Be3 Qd5
(30...Bxe3 31.Qxe3 Qxf6 was the critical line)
31.Rd1 Kc6 32.Qg4! b5 33.Bxd4
(Smeets had prepared 33.Qg7 Rxh6!! [33...Ra8!? 34.h7 Qf3] 34.Bxh6 (34.Qxh6 Bxe3! unclear) 35...Bxh6 36.Rd1 b4 wins) ]
33...exd4 34.Rxd4 Qe5
(34...Qe6 35.Qxe6+ fxe6 36.f7 Kc5 37.Rg4 c3 38.Rg8 cxb2 39.f8Q+ wins)
35.Qd7+ Kc5 36.Qa7+ Kc6 37.Qd7+
(The computer demonstrates that the calm 37.Rd1 wins because the h6 pawn is immune 37...Rxh6 38.Qa8+ Kb6 39.Qd8+ Kc5 40.Qc8+ Kb4 41.Qf8+)
37...Kc5 38.Rf4 Qxb2
(38...Kb6! 39.Rd4 Kc5 40.Rd1)
39.Rf5+ Kb4 40.Qxb5+ Kc3 41.Rf3+ 1-0
Jan Smeets
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Magnus Carlsen
Position after 41.Rf3+ winning after 41...Kd2 42.Qd5+ Kc1 43.Qxc4+ Qc2 44.Rc3 or 41...Kd4 42.Qb6+ Kd5 43.Rf5+ Ke4 44.Rf4+ Kd3 45.Qe3+ Kc2 46.Rxc4+
Hikaru Nakamura won in style against Loek van Wely with an original version of a typical sacrifice against the Najdorf.
H Nakamura - L Van Wely
Corus A Wijk aan Zee
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.g4 b5 11.g5 Nd7 12.0-0-0 Nc5
(12...b4 13.Nd5 Radjabov - Volokitin 2006)
13.a3 Rb8 14.b4 Nd7 15.Nd5 exd5 16.exd5 Be7 17.Re1 Ne5 18.fxe5 Bxg5+ 19.Kb1 dxe5 20.Nc6 Bf6
(20...0-0)
21.Bd3 h5
(21...0-0 22.Rhg1 Kh8 23.Ref1 Be7 24.Bxh7)
22.Rxe5+ Bxe5 23.Re1 Bg4 24.Qf4 0-0 25.Rxe5 g6 26.Qf6 Rbe8 27.Ne7+ Rxe7 28.Rxe7 Qxh2 29.Bxg6 Qh1+ 30.Kb2 Qxd5 31.Bxf7+ Qxf7 32.Rxf7 Rxf7 33.Qxa6 Kg7 34.Qxb5 Kg6 35.Qc4 Rd7 36.b5 Kg5 37.b6 Bf3 38.Qb5+ Rd5 39.Qb3 1-0
Telegraph columns are online again, see www.telegraph.co.uk/chess
Round two results
Anand draw Short, Queen's Gambit Ragozin,
Carlsen 1-0 Smeets Semi Slav Botvinnik,
Ivanchuk draw Tiviakov Scandinavian Defence,
Karjakin draw Dominguez Sicilian Najdorf English Attack,
Kramnik draw Leko Queen's Indian,
Nakamura 1-0 Van Wely, Sicilian Najdorf, 6.Bg5,
Shirov 1-0 Caruana, Ruy Lopez Open,
