Corus Wijk aan Zee (1)
Cautious start in the first round
IM Malcolm Pein - Monday 18th January 2010
There was a cautious start to the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Loek van Wely defeated Nigel Short and Alexei Shirov beat Peter Leko.
Loek van Wely against Nigel Short. Photo © Michiel Abeln. | http://www.chess.co.uk/twic
There was a cautious start to the Corus tournament A group at Wijk aan Zee as in four of the seven games the lower rated players had white and with the exception of Fabiano Caruana, who attacked Vasily Ivanchuk's Sicilian, they were content to draw.
Nigel Short lost to the lowest rated participant Loek Van Wely in a classic Queen's Gambit Exchange in which White developed a minority attack with two pawns attacking Black's three on the queenside. The result pawn weakness on c6 is hard to defend and Short's problem were exaggerated by the inferiority of his bishop to the enemy knight at close quarters. In this line Black seeks counterplay on the kingside but Short's decision to exchange dark squared bishops limited his attacking chances although he did have one sacrificial idea that should have been tried. Exchanging the 'bad' bishop as shown in the line given below at move 12 is the solid way to play.
L Van Wely - N Short
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 c6 7.e3 Be7 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3 Re8 10.h3 Nf8 11.Bf4 a5 12.0-0 Ng6
(12...g6 13.a3 Ne6 14.Bh2 Ng7 15.Rab1 Bf5)
13.Bh2 Bd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Rfe1 Be6 16.a3 Re7 17.Rab1 Rae8 18.b4 axb4 19.axb4 Bd7 20.b5 Ne4
(20...c5 21.dxc5 Qxc5 22.Rec1 with Nd4 to come, Black has a weak pawn on d5)
21.bxc6 bxc6 22.Rb6 Nxc3 23.Qxc3 Qf6
(Threat Bxh3)
24.Bxg6 Qxg6 25.Kf1 f6 26.Ra1 Qh5 27.Ne1 Qf5
(27...Bxh3!? 28.gxh3 Qxh3+ 29.Ke2 f5 30.Qxc6 Rxe3+!= 31.fxe3 Qxe3+ 32.Kf1 Qf4+ 33.Kg1 Rxe1+ 34.Rxe1 Qg3+ or 30.Nd3 f4 31.Ne5 fxe3 32.Qxe3 Qh5+ 33.Kd2 c5; Black wins after 29.Kg1 Re4! and 29.Ng2 Qh1+)
28.Kg1 Qg5 29.Kh2 Qf5 30.Nd3 Qe6 31.Kg1
(Now White infiltrates undisturbed)
31...Rc8 32.Rb7 Rf7 33.Raa7 Be8 34.Qb4 Rd8 35.Nc5 Qc8 36.Qb6 h5 37.Rc7 Rxc7 38.Rxc7 Qa8 39.Ra7 Qc8 40.Rb7 Bf7 41.Qa7 Rf8 42.Nd7 Re8 43.Nxf6+ gxf6 44.Rxf7 Qf5 45.Rg7+ Kh8 46.Qf7 1-0
Nigel Short
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Loek Van Wely
Final position after 46.Qf7
Round one results
Caruana draw - Ivanchuk, Sicilian Scheveningen,
Dominguez draw - Kramnik, Petroff Defence,
Karjakin draw Anand, Ruy Lopez,
Leko 0-1 Shirov, Ruy Lopez,
Smeets draw Nakamura, Sicilian Najdorf,
Tiviakov draw Carlsen, Ruy Lopez
Van Wely 1-0 Short, Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation
The game of day.
T Nyback - LD Nisipeanu
Corus B
Bogo Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 d5 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.a3 Bxd2+ 7.Bxd2 Ne4 8.Rd1 0-0 9.e3 Bd7 10.Qc2 Be8 11.b4 a6 12.Bc1 f5 13.Be2 Bh5 14.Bb2 f4 15.exf4 Rxf4 16.0-0 Qf6 17.cxd5 exd5 18.Qb3 Qd6 19.Qe3 Nf6 20.Qd2 Ne4 21.Qe3 Nf6 22.Qd2 Rf8 23.Rde1 Ne4 24.Qe3 Qg6 25.Kh1 R8f5 26.h3 Qf7 27.Rg1 Bxf3 28.Bxf3 Rxf3 29.gxf3 Rxf3 30.Rxg7+ Kxg7 31.Rg1+ Kf8 32.Qh6+ Ke8 0-1
In Group B David Howell began with white against the Indian prodigy Parimargan Negi and won a pawn in complications but could not convert his advantage.
