Corus Wijk aan Zee 2010 (13)
Dramatic finish leaves Carlsen the winner
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 2nd February 2010
There was a dramatic end to the Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee as Alexey Shirov agreed a draw in a winning position and then saw world number one Magnus Carlsen save a draw from what appeared to be a hopeless endgame against Fabiano Caruana and take yet another first prize.
Magnus Carlsen took first place after a tense final round. Photo © Mark Crowther | http://www.chess.co.uk/twic
There was a dramatic end to the Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee as Alexey Shirov agreed a draw in a winning position and then saw world number one Magnus Carlsen save a draw from what appeared to be a hopeless endgame against Fabiano Caruana and take yet another first prize. Shirov had to settle for a share of second place with Vladimir Kramnik who drew quickly with Sergei Karjakin to finish on 8/13.
Shirov launched a typically violent assault against Lenier Dominguez and a lengthy time scramble erupted as both players had used nearly all their time and were relying on the 30 second increment with the time control nowhere in sight. Shirov is one of the greatest attacking players in the history of the game and sacrificed a knight and then a rook in successive moves but his Cuban opponent is a former world Blitz champion and defended stoutly while playing some of his moves instantly.
On the 30th move Dominguez cannily offered a draw which Shirov, with less then a minute on the clock, accepted. You can try to find the winning move below that Shirov missed. Carlsen appeared to be lost and Shirov must have assumed he would be in a tie for first but as Anand said to me: “It's Magnus so he'll probably find a way to draw' and so it proved.
Nigel Short entertained the crowd briefly with a sacrificial counter to Jan Smeets' Petroff Defence but had to force perpetual check and ended the event without a win. Short's performance was similar to the London Chess Classic, he played some good games but could not convert his advantages.
Final scores:
1 Carlsen 8.5/13; 2-3 Kramnik, Shirov 8; 4-5 Anand, Nakamura 7.5; 6-7 Karjakin, Ivanchuk 7; 8-9 Dominguez, Leko 6.5; 10 Caruana 5.5; 11-12 Van Wely, Short 5; 13-14 Tiviakov, Smeets 4.5;
A Shirov - L Dominguez
Sicilian Najdorf
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Bc4 Qb6 8.Bb3 e6 9.Qd2 Be7 10.0-0-0 Nc5 11.f3 Qc7 12.Kb1 0-0 13.g4 b5 14.a3 Rb8 15.h4 Bd7 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.g5 Bd8 18.h5 a5 19.g6 Nxb3 20.Nxb3 fxg6 21.hxg6 h6 22.Nxa5!!
(22.Qxd6 Qxd6 23.Rxd6 Bc8 is nothing special, Black's bishops are strong)
22...Rxf3!
(22...Qxa5 23.Rxh6! b4 24.Rh8+ Kxh8 25.Qh2+ mates)
23.e5 Be8! 24.exd6 Qxa5 25.Rxh6! gxh6 26.Qxh6 Bf6 27.d7 Bxc3 28.dxe8Q+ Rxe8 29.Qh1!!
(An incredible move if 29.Qh7+ Kf8 wins and not 29.Rd7 Rf1+ 30.Ka2 Ra1+ 31.Kxa1 Qxa3+ 32.Kb1 Qxb2#)
29...Re7!
(29...Rf5 30.Rd7 wins)
30.Qxf3 Bg7
(30...Be5!)
draw
Leinier Dominguez Perez
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Alexei Shirov
Position after 30...Bg7 White to play and win.
N Short - J Smeets
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 Bc5 5.Bc4 Nxf2 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qd5+ Kg6 8.Bg5 Qe8 9.Nh4+ Kxg5 10.Nd2 Kh6 11.Nf5+ Kg6 12.Nh4+ Kh6 13.Nf5+ Kg6 14.Nh4+ draw
