The John Henderson Report: Round 11 January 28th 2000.

BLACK IS OK IN LEKOLAND!

You've all heard of superheroes like Batman, Spiderman and Superman? Well, here at Wijk aan Zee, the Dutch have their own superhero: Reinderman - Dimitri Reinderman. He's literally one of the most colourful characters around the chess scene, and each year he dyes his hair a different colour for the occasion. Last year, after being promoted from the B-Group into the main grandmaster tournament (where he finished last, but nearly caused a minor sensation when he was much better against Kasparov), his hair was a striking orange and he soon became the focus of target for the many photographers.

Of course, its Dimitri Reinderman.

Such was the shock for some of the players, they took it all as a bad joke. One in particular (for the sake of anonymity, we'll just call him Garry - who incidentally, now has a similarly striking grey hair-do!) believed it demeaned the status of the game whilst it was having massive exposure to the media.

This year, back in the B-Group once again, Reinderman has come up with a wonderful shade of shocking blue! Up against America's Maurice Ashley in round three, it looked as if our superhero was about to be "sleighed" with his queen trapped on a6. However, as they say for superheroes, "with one bound he was free…"

Reinderman,D-Ashley,M

Reinderman-Ashley Corus B white to play his 28th

28 Rxf6! Rxf6 29 Rxf6 Rb6 [29 ..Kxf6? 30 Nd5+!] 30 Qa8 Rb8 [30 ..Kxf6 31 Qf8+ Ke6 (31 ..Kg5 32 Qe7+ Kh6 33 Ng4+) 32 Ng4 Be8 33 Qxe8+ Qe7 34 Qc8+ Kf7 35 Qh8 Ke6 36 Qc8+] 31 Qa6 Rb7 32 Qa8 Bc8 33 e5 Qxe5 34 Qxc8 Qxe3+ 35 Kh1 Qe1+ 36 Kh2 Qe5+ ½–½

The world champion approves whole-heartedly of the dress code and work ethic of the young Hungarian, Peter Leko. Immaculately groomed, he cuts a dashing figure with his trademark white shirt and jacket emblazoned with the blue logo of his sponsor, "Westfalische Fergas -AG".

Peter Leko is sponsored by WFG.

He regularly puts in an eight-hour day at the chessboard as he works his way up the ratings towards his goal of replacing Kasparov as the world no.1. Now firmly established in the top-ten, his latest rating of 2725 (and climbing) makes him the new world no.6, and many now see the young Hungarian as a realistic contender to the Kasparov throne.

He was brought up in the notoriously tough Hungarian school of chess, which makes him a hard player to beat across the board due to his extensively honed opening theory. As Black, he relies heavily on his knowledge of the Sveshnikov Sicilian that was passed on to him by his early trainer, Andras Adorjan, who kept on rehabilitating the variation with a series of articles and booklets entitled, "Black is OK!"

Up against Kasparov today in the eleventh round of the Corus Tournament, Leko went a long way in establishing his credentials as the "coming man" after a masterly handling of the nuances in the Sveshnikov against the world champion.

Leko and Kasparov have a friendly post-mortem.

Kasparov,G - Leko,P
Sicilian Sveshnikov

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Bg5 a6 8 Na3 b5 9 Bxf6 gxf6 10 Nd5 f5 11 c3 Bg7 12 exf5 Bxf5 13 Nc2 Be6 14 a4 0–0 15 axb5 axb5 16 Rxa8 Qxa8 17 Nce3 (This seems to be new yet as with Kasparov's novelty yesterday against Nikolic ( 13...Be6) it is completely sensible.17.Bxb5 is well met by 17...Nd4! and the black queen prepares to land on g2.Also 17.Nc7 Qa2 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Bxb5 Qxb2! 20.bxc6 Qxc3+ is good for black) 17 ..Qb7 18 g4 (18. g4 clamps down on the key f5 break for Black which he hopes will ultimately liberate the Bg7. It also prepares to support the Knight on d5 with Bg2 if necessary. 18.Bd3 f5 19.Bc2 was a quieter alternative.) 18 ..Ne7 19 Bg2 Nxd5 20 Bxd5 (It makes sense for White to swap white squared bishops but usually not at the expense of allowing black to recapture on e6 with a pawn and create a central pawn mass with control over the key d5 square.) 20 ..Qe7 21 h4 (A remarkable concept, not just attacking but aiming to restrict the black queen and in prevents the freeing idea of ...Bh6 and takes on e3. 21...Bh6 would be met by 22.g5 . Note that the f5 break is well and truly blocked). 21 ..Rc8 22 g5 Rc5 23 Be4 d5! (The only move to free Black’s game. In their post-mortem, both players agreed that other moves would have allowed White to get a stranglehold on the position.

Kasparov-Leko (11) after 23. ...d5!

24 Nxd5 Bxd5 25 Bxd5 e4 26 Ke2 (A pure Steinitz move! And one that attempts to complicate the position in an effort to play for the win. However, in the pressroom, Vishy Anand and Nigel Short criticized this move believing that Kasparov had missed his chance of winning with the more natural 26 Qd2. During the post mortem, 26 Qd2 was mentioned to the players as being better. However, it didn't take long for both players to see through it: 26 Qd2!? Qe5! (Leko immediately showed his impressive handling of the nuances in the Sveshnikov Sicilian. 26 ..Qc7? 27 Kd1! Qe5 28 Bb3 b4 29 cxb4 Rc7 30 Re1 and White's untangling himself.) 27 Bb3 Qc7 (with the idea of ..Rxc3!) 28 Rh3 (28 Kd1 Rc6! 29 Kc2 b4) 28 ..b4 29 cxb4 Rc1+ 30 Bd1 Rb1 31 Ra3 Qh2 32 Ke2! (with the idea of playing Bc2!) (32 Ra8+ is too early as the rook is needed on a3 to stop Black's ideas of drawing with a potential ..Qh1+ and ..Qf3+.32 ..Bf8 33 Ke2 Qh1 34 Rxf8+ Kxf8 35 Qd6+ Kg7 36 Qf6+ Kg8) 32 ..Qxh4 (Anything else allows White to mount his own mating attack: 32 ..Qg1 33 Ra8+ Bf8 34 Rd8 Qg4+ 35 Ke3 Qxh4 36 Qd5! Qh3+ 37 f3) 33 Ra8+ Bf8 34 Qd8 (34 Rd8 Qh5+ 35 Ke1 Qh1+ 36 Ke2 Qf3+) 34 ..Rxb2+ 35 Bc2 Qg4+ 36 Kd2 e3+! (the saving move!) A) 37 fxe3? Qg2+ 38 Ke1 Qg1+ 39 Ke2 (39 Kd2 Qf2+ 40 Kc3 Qxc2+ 41 Kd4 Rxb4+ 42 Ke5 Qe4+ 43 Kf6 Qe6#) 39 ..Rxc2+ wins; B) 37 Kxe3 Qxb4 38 Rc8 Ra2 draws.) 26 ..Qe5 27 Bb3 Qc7 28 Qg1! (I think Garry's instincts told him that he had to start mounting his own counterattack now. Trying to hang on to the pawn was dangerous: 28 Qd2 Rf5 29 Rh3 (29 Ra1 Qh2 30 Ra8+ Bf8 31 Qe3 Qxh4) 29 ..b4 30 cxb4 (30 c4 Qc5 31 Qd8+ Bf8 32 Re3 Qe5) 30 ..Qb6 31 Kf1 Bd4 32 f3 e3 (32 ..exf3 33 Qd3 Qa7 34 Rxf3 Qa1+ 35 Kg2 Qg1+ 36 Kh3 Qh1+ 37 Kg3 Qg1+ 38 Kh3 Qh1+) 33 Qd3 Qxb4 34 Qxf5 Qxb3 35 Qc8+ Kg7 36 Qc1 Qb5+ 37 Kg1 (37 Kg2 Qe2+ 38 Kg3 Be5+ 39 f4 Qf2+ 40 Kg4 Qxf4+ 41 Kh5 f5) 37 ..e2+ 38 Kg2 Qe5 39 Rh1 Bxb2 40 Qb1 Bc3) 28 ..b4 29 g6 hxg6 30 Qxg6 Kf8 31 Qg3 (During the post mortem, Kasparov revealed that he'd taken a long time on the clock here to try and make 31 Qg4 work. He thought that all the lines were working and he had a mate on the board until he discovered Leko's saving (and winning!) continuation of 35 ..Rxf2+! Therefore, he had to play the drawing 31 Qg3. 31 Qg4? bxc3 32 Rg1 f5 33 Qg6 cxb2 34 Rd1 This was Garry's original idea. The concept being a potential Rd8+! and Qf7 mate 34 ..Rc2+ 35 Kf1 Rxf2+! 36 Kxf2 Qf4+ 37 Kg1 Bd4+ A) 38 Kh1 Qf3+ 39 Kh2 Be5+ 40 Kg1 Qe3+ 41 Kf1 (41 Kh1 Qh3+ 42 Kg1 Bh2+ 43 Kf2 Qf3+ 44 Ke1 Bg3+) 41 ..Qh3+ 42 Qg2 Qxb3; B) 38 Rxd4 38 ..b1Q+ 39 Rd1 Qe3+ 40 Kh1 Qf3+ 41 Kg1 Qbxd1+ 42 Bxd1 Qxd1+ 43 Kh2 Qd2+) 31 ..Qxg3 32 fxg3 bxc3 33 bxc3 Rxc3 34 Bd5 Rxg3 ½–½

The draw allowed Kasparov to remain in first place, and odds-on to lift the title for the second year running, as he holds onto his one-point lead in the tournament with just two rounds left to play.

Kasparov keeps his full-point hold at the top as Russia's Vladimir Kramnik, failed yet again to covert a better position when he could only draw with Viktor Korchnoi, a result that stopped the rot for the veteran player.

Viktor gives Vladimir the benefit of his experience.

Kramnik now faces his toughest challenge yet when he has white against Kasparov in the penultimate round, with the young Russian needing a win to keep his tournament hopes alive.

"I was extremely lucky today," explained the exciting young Russian player, "Weird Al Morozevich", during a press conference after his game. A whole piece down and facing Armenia's Smbat Lputian (and wearing his lucky tartan jacket!), Morozevich was at a loss for words to describe what had exactly happened during the game - especially when he found out that he'd won the spectators daily prize of 500 guilders for the Game of the Day!

During the press conference, he pointed out at least three instances where Lputian had stubbornly refused to take the win that was available for the Armenian. A fourth and final blunder sealed Black's fate. "After his incredibly bad 30. ... e4??, I was finally out of the woods," Morozevich said.

Morozevich,A (2748) - Lputian,S (2605)
K.I.A vs French Def

1 e4 e6 2 d3 d5 3 Qe2 ( Morozevich believes that this is White's best chance for enterprising play.) 3 ..dxe4 I liked Viktor Korchnoi's handling of this system with Black against Jan Timman in round 8: 3 ..Nf6 4 Nf3 Be7 5 g3 b5 6 Bg2 dxe4 7 dxe4 b4 8 a3 Ba6 9 Qd2 Nc6 10 e5 Nd5 11 Bf1 Bxf1 12 Kxf1 a5 with advantage.) 4 dxe4 b6 5 Nd2 Ba6 6 Nc4 Nf6 7 Nf3 Nc6 8 c3 Be7 9 e5 Nd7 10 Qe4 Bb7 11 Qg4 g6?! (Criticized by Morozevich during his press conference after the game. He has a point as it badly weakens the black squares on the kingside. Instead, he thought that Black should have opted for: 11 ..Kf8 with ideas of ..h5 and ..Nc5.) 12 Bh6 b5 13 Ne3 Ndxe5 14 Nxe5 Nxe5 15 Bxb5+ c6 16 Qe4 (Morozevitch preferred 16 Qa4 but surely after 16 ..Qb6 Black's doing fine?) 16 ..Qc7 17 Be2 f5! (It was only here that Morozevich realised that he was in deep trouble.) 18 Qa4 Nf7 (Morozevich revealed that he actually considered resignation at this stage(!) as 19 Bg7 Rg8 20 Bd4 was better as 20 ..Kf8!, threatening 21 ..c5, was overwhelming for Black.) 19 Bf4 e5 20 Bg3 f4 21 Nd5 Qd6 22 0–0–0 fxg3 23 Nf4 Qf6 24 Nd5 Qd6 25 Nf4 Qb8! (It's just a full piece ahead.) 26 Ne6 Ng5 27 Bc4 Nxe6 28 Bxe6

Morozevich-Lputian (11) after 28. ...Bxe6

28 ..gxh2?? (28 ..gxf2! just leads to a forced win: 29 Rhf1 Rf8 30 Bd7+ Kf7 31 Rxf2+ Kg7 32 Rxf8 Qxf8) 29 Rxh2 Bd6 (29 ..Qc7!) 30 f4 e4 31 g3 Qc7 32 Qd4 (The tables are now turned! White now has the advantage.) 32 ..Rf8 33 Qxe4 Qe7 (33 ..Rf6 34 Bb3+ Kf8 35 Qd4! Qe7 36 Rxh7) 34 Rxh7 Qxh7 35 Rxd6 Qc7 36 Bf7+ Kxf7 37 Qxg6+ 1–0

Short-Anand a symmetrical Petroff.

It was another lacklustre performance today from the world no.2, India's Vishy Anand, as he agreed a relatively quick draw with England's Nigel Short (whose wife, Rhea, and daughter, Kyveli, arrived today) after a mere 23 moves with the Petroff Defence. "I could have blundered around for some more without risking anything," said Short afterwards, "but why take the trouble? It was a draw straight from the opening."

Nigel and Rhea Short with their daughter, Kyveli.

Short's fellow countryman, Michael Adams, progressed further up the table after another impressive win against the Dutch no.1, Jan Timman. It was a trademark Adams wins as he out manoeuvred Timman to nurture a small advantage from the opening into an endgame win with relative ease.

Judit Polgar won her first game of the event against Jeroen Piket.

Judit Polgar scored her first victory of the tournament after showing nice technique and maneuvering in the Ruy Lopez to outplay Holland's Jeroen Piket who has now fallen back after his fine start to the tournament.

The craziest game of the tournament so far went to the third Dutchman in the tournament, Loek Van Wely, after he failed to convert his material plus into an endgame win against the Dutch champion, Bosnia's Predrag Nikolic.

After a long session, van Wely found himself down to rook and two (connected) against Nikolic's lone rook. Roberto Cifuentes, Van Wely's second, was pulling out what little hair he had left as van Wely, incredibly, misplayed the easiest of endings to allow his opponent to get a stalemate on the 94th move.

Kasparov-Leko as they prepare for battle.

Malcolm Pein Analyses

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.c3 Bg7 12.exf5 Bxf5 13.Nc2 Be6 14.a4 0-0 15.axb5 axb5 16.Rxa8 Qxa8 17.Nce3 This seems to be new yet as with Kasparov's novelty yesterday against Nikolic ( 13...Be6) it is completely sensible. 17.Bxb5 is well met by 17...Nd4! and the black queen prepares to land on g2 Also 17.Nc7 Qa2 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Bxb5 Qxb2! 20.bxc6 Qxc3+ is good for black 17...Qb7 18.g4 Leko went into a big think here, Kasparov had only used 15 minutes by this point. 18. g4 clamps down on the key f5 break for Black which he hopes will ultimately liberate the Bg7. It also prepares to support the Knight on d5 with Bg2 if necessary. 18.Bd3 f5 19.Bc2 was a quieter alternative 18...Ne7 19.Bg2 An assessment of slightly better for white looks reasonable. 19...Nxd5 20.Bxd5 It makes sense for White to swap white squared bishops but usually not at the expense of allowing black to recapture on e6 with a pawn and create a central pawn mass with control over the key d5 square. 20...Qe7 21.h4 A remarkable concept, not just attacking but aiming to restrict the black queen and in prevents the freeing idea of ...Bh6 and takes on e3. 21...Bh6 would be met by 22.g5 . Note that the f5 break is well and truly blocked. Times: (1:33/0:59) 21. ..Rc8 22. g5 Rc5 23. Be4 Threatening 24. Qh5 but Leko has a resource. d5 24. Nxd5 24.Bxd5 Bxd5 25.Nxd5 Qb7 wins Bxd5 25. Bxd5 e4 Thats it, the bishop is out and Black should be OK with ...b4 and ...e3 in the air. 26. Ke2 26.Qb3 e3 27.Ke2 exf2+ 28.Kxf2 Qd6 29.Bxf7+ Kh8 Only serves to expose the white king; 26.Qd2 A) 26...Qe5 27.Bb3 Qc7 28.0-0 intending Rd1 with advantage(28.Ke2 also looks good) ; B) 26...b4 27.cxb4 Rb5 28.b3 Rxb4 29.Bc4 and Black has some work to do (1:00/0:42) Qe5 27. Bb3 Qc7 Black needs to stop Qd8+ but in addition it keeps an eye on h5 and prepares Rf5 followed by Qf428. Qg1 (0:48/0:23) with the idea of g6 but 28. Qd2 looks better eg 28. Qd2 Rf5 29. Rd1 (29. Rh3!?) 29. ...Qh2 b4 29. g6 hxg6 30. Qxg6 Kf8 Calmly avoiding all threats, its time to bale out.. 0:35/0:20) 31. Qg3 Qxg3 32. fxg3 bxc3 33. bxc3 Rxc3 34. Bd5 Rxg3 There is nothing left, an interesting battle. Had Kasparov underestimated 25...e4? He had a long think after that. 1/2-1/2 (0:19/0:04)

Round 11 (January 28, 2000)

Kasparov, Gary         -  Leko, Peter            1/2   34  B33  Sicilian; Sveshnikov
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Lputian, Smbat G       1-0   37  C00  French
Adams, Michael         -  Timman, Jan H          1-0   41  C42  Petroff defence
Polgar, Judit          -  Piket, Jeroen          1-0   45  C92  Ruy Lopez
Short, Nigel D         -  Anand, Viswanathan     1/2   23  C42  Petroff defence
Korchnoi, Viktor       -  Kramnik, Vladimir      1/2   43  E15  Nimzo indian
Van Wely, Loek         -  Nikolic, Predrag       1/2   94  E32  Nimzo indian


Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (NED), 15-30 i 2000                cat. XVIII (2697)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 Kasparov, Gary         g RUS 2851 * . = = 1 = = 1 1 . = = 1 1  8.0  2856
 2 Kramnik, Vladimir      g RUS 2758 . * = = = 1 = = = = 1 1 = .  7.0  2784
 3 Leko, Peter            g HUN 2725 = = * = = . = = 1 = = 1 1 .  7.0  2800
 4 Anand, Viswanathan     g IND 2769 = = = * = = . = 1 = = . 1 =  6.5  2770
 5 Morozevich, Alexander  g RUS 2748 0 = = = * = = . . 1 = 1 = 1  6.5  2765
 6 Adams, Michael         g ENG 2715 = 0 . = = * = 1 . = 1 = = 1  6.5  2761
 7 Piket, Jeroen          g NED 2633 = = = . = = * 1 0 0 1 1 . =  6.0  2736
 8 Timman, Jan H          g NED 2655 0 = = = . 0 0 * = = . 1 = 1  5.0  2662
 9 Nikolic, Predrag       g BIH 2659 0 = 0 0 . . 1 = * = = = 1 =  5.0  2658
10 Polgar, Judit          g HUN 2658 . = = = 0 = 1 = = * 0 0 . =  4.5  2625
11 Short, Nigel D         g ENG 2683 = 0 = = = 0 0 . = 1 * . = =  4.5  2646
12 Lputian, Smbat G       g ARM 2605 = 0 0 . 0 = 0 0 = 1 . * 1 =  4.0  2598
13 Korchnoi, Viktor       g SUI 2659 0 = 0 0 = = . = 0 . = 0 * 1  3.5  2577
14 Van Wely, Loek         g NED 2646 0 . . = 0 0 = 0 = = = = 0 *  3.0  2519
---------------------------------------------------------------------------