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| Round 5 Wijk aan Zee |
The John Henderson Report: Round 5 January 20th 2000.
Round 5 Results and Standings.
Round 5 (January 20, 2000)
Kasparov, Gary - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 45 D17 Slav defence
Kramnik, Vladimir - Lputian, Smbat G 1-0 50 E07 Nimzo indian
Leko, Peter - Timman, Jan H 1/2 34 C00 French
Nikolic, Predrag - Piket, Jeroen 1-0 61 D62 QGD;
Korchnoi, Viktor - Short, Nigel D 1/2 18 C03 French; Tarrasch
Polgar, Judit - Anand, Viswanathan 1/2 27 B65 Sicilian
Van Wely, Loek - Adams, Michael 0-1 76 A17 English; 1.c4
Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (NED), 15-30 i 2000 cat. XVIII (2697)
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
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1 Kasparov, Gary g RUS 2851 * . . . = 1 . . = 1 . . 1 . 4.0 2920
2 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2758 . * = . . = . 1 1 . . . . 1 4.0 2944
3 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2769 . = * = . . 1 . . . = = . . 3.0 2763
4 Leko, Peter g HUN 2725 . . = * . = . = . . = . . 1 3.0 2764
5 Piket, Jeroen g NED 2633 = . . . * . 0 . . . 1 . = 1 3.0 2755
6 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2748 0 = . = . * . . . = . 1 . . 2.5 2730
7 Nikolic, Predrag g BIH 2659 . . 0 . 1 . * = . . = . . = 2.5 2669
8 Short, Nigel D g ENG 2683 . 0 . = . . = * . = . 1 . . 2.5 2691
9 Adams, Michael g ENG 2715 = 0 . . . . . . * = . = 1 . 2.5 2714
10 Korchnoi, Viktor g SUI 2659 0 . . . . = . = = * . . 1 . 2.5 2728
11 Timman, Jan H g NED 2655 . . = = 0 . = . . . * . . 1 2.5 2678
12 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2658 . . = . . 0 . 0 = . . * = . 1.5 2563
13 Van Wely, Loek g NED 2646 0 . . . = . . . 0 0 . = * . 1.0 2463
14 Lputian, Smbat G g ARM 2605 . 0 . 0 0 . = . . . 0 . . * 0.5 2320
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THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL
SITTING proudly in its purpose-built display case in the tournament hall, close to the GM tournament, is the solid-silver "Hoogovens Schaaktoernooi Trophy" that's soon to be re-christened the "Corus Trophy" once the 2000 winner is known. Since 1938, there's been a long-list of famous winners: Dr Max Euwe, Bent Larsen, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, Efim Geller, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Viktor Korchnoi, Anatoly Karpov and of course the defending champion, Garry Kasparov. In fact, of the world champions since the war, only the names of Vassily Smyslov and Bobby Fischer are missing.
The Historic Winners Trophy
The trophy is held in such high-esteem in this part of Holland that, much like the winners trophy at Wimbledon, it never leaves the area with a special replica of it given to the winners. Today, as we reached the fifth round and the second rest-day, two players broke away from the pack to become favourites to have their names added to the newly named trophy: Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, the 1999 and 1998 winners.
The two Russian's both won their games with White today in fifth-round action to take a one-point lead over their nearest rivals in the standings of the Corus Tournament. One, Garry Kasparov, quite convincingly, and the other, Vladimir Kramnik, with more than just a little bit of luck.
Kasparov convincing against
Morozevich.
Before his game with the enterprising young Russian, Alexander Morozevich, Garry Kasparov had a score of 3/3 against his opponent - one classical game at Sarajevo 1999, and two rapid play games. Playing his favourite Slav Defence, the same opening he had used in Sarajevo, Morozevich came up with a theoretical novelty with 11..g5?!. Kasparov remained unfazed by it all, took off his jacket, and thoroughly outplayed his younger opponent.
Kasparov-Morozevich was an old line of the
Slav. Kasparov won a pawn and the game
Kasparov,G (2851) - Morozevich,A (2748)
Slav Defence
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Nf3 4 e3 a6 5 Qc2 b5 6 b3 Bg4 7 Nge2 Nbd7 8 Nf4 was Kasparov-Morozevich, Sarajevo, 1999. 4 ..dxc4 5 a4 Bf5 6 Ne5 Nbd7 Morozevich doesn't go in for the topical piece sacrifice lines with 6...e6 7 f3 Bb4. Instead, as most of his openings in chess, prefers something from a bygone era in the game - this time a line that was popular in the 1930s and was thoroughly tested during the Alexander Alekhine vs Max Euwe title matches in Holland in 1935 and 1937. 7 Nxc4 Qc7 8 g3 e5 9 dxe5 Nxe5 10 Bf4 Nfd7 Popular in the early 80s was 10 ..Rd8 11 Qc1 Bd6 (11 ..Nfd7? 12 Bxe5 Nxe5 13 Qf4! Bd6 14 Qxf5 Nxc4 15 Qe4+ Ne5 16 f4 wins material.) 12 Nxd6+ Qxd6 13 Bg2 a5!? 14 0–0 but gradually praxis showed that the bishop pair in an open position gave White a lasting edge. 11 Bg2 g5?! Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Alexander Morozevich!
Kasparov-Morozevich after 11.
...g5
The enterprising young Russian hits the world champion with an unseen TN – and one that'll probably never see the light of day again following Kasparov's careful handling. Morozevich has also pioneered, and popularised, the sounder continuation of 11 ..f6 12 0–0 Nc5, which he has a big plus score with. 12 Ne3 12 Nxe5 gxf4 (12 ..Nxe5 13 Bxg5 Rg8 14 Bf6 Ng4 15 Qd4) 13 Nxd7 Qxd7 14 Qxd7+ Kxd7 15 Rd1+ Bd6 16 gxf4 Rhg8 17 Be4 12 ..gxf4 13 Nxf5 0–0–0 13 ..Rg8 14 Qc2 14 Qc2 Ng4 An interesting shot is 14 ..Nc4!? 15 Qb3 f3! 16 Bxf3 Nde5 17 Bg2 Rd2 15 a5! A dual purpose move, threatening a6 to weaken the h1–a8 diagonal (not to mention stopping ideas of ...Qb6) and allows the rook to enter the game to good effect from a4. 15 ..fxg3 16 hxg3 a6 17 Ra4! A powerful rook move. Kasparov's technique from here in is awesome. 17 ..Ndf6 18 Ne4 Nxe4 19 Bxe4 The weak h-pawn now becomes a liability for the young Russian. 19 ..h5 20 Kf1! Castling by hand gets the king out of any potential threats whilst utilizing the semi-open h-file for the rooks to hit the doomed h-pawn. 20 ..Kb8 21 Kg2 Be7 22 Nxe7 Qxe7 23 Bf3 Ne5 24 Bxh5 Qe6 25 Qc3 f6 26 Rah4 Qf5 27 Bf3 Rxh4 28 Rxh4 Qb1 28 ..Nxf3 29 Qxf3 is hopeless for Black. 29 Rh1 Rd1 29 ..Qf5 30 b4. 30 Rxd1 Qxd1 31 b4 Kc7 32 Qc5 Qd6 33 Qxd6+ Kxd6 34 Be4 Now watch the technique as Kasparov restricts the scope of Morozevich's knight to create a passed pawn on the kingside. 34 ..Nc4 35 Bd3 Nb2 36 f4 Nd1 37 g4 Ne3+ 38 Kf3 Nd5 39 Ke4 Nxb4 40 Bc4 c5 41 g5 fxg5 42 fxg5 Ke7 43 Kf5 Nc2 44 Ke5 Ne3 45 Be6 c4 and after 46 g6 c3 47 g7, White queen’s first and mates, so 1–0
Kramnik's win wasn't so smooth though. Facing the hapless Smbat Lputian of Armenia in a balanced Catalan, the world no.3 overreached badly, messing up his position in his eagerness to decide the encounter as forcefully as he could. Lputian, who has been unlucky not to score more points in the tournament and is languishing at the bottom of the table with just a half point to his name, rose to the occasion. With Kasparov passing by occasionally to shake his head at Kramnik's muddling, the Armenian steadily improved his position to reach the point where he could deliver the coup de grace. Then, inexplicably, he blundered.
Vladimir Kramnik was a somewhat fortunate
winner
As a result, Lputian remained an exchange down and although he survived yet another serious case of time trouble - reaching the control at the 40th with only seconds left on his clock - he never got a second chance. Exhausted and disappointed, he resigned on his 50th move. "I felt sorry for him," said Kramnik when he came into the pressroom after his lucky win. "He played so well today. Of course, it's always good to win but I can't say I'm satisfied with this kind of game. I was trying to win too hard, which is always sort of dangerous, especially when you're in a slightly worse position."
Kramnik-Lputian (5) Here black could play 31.
...Qa8!
31. ...Qd8? Unbelievably, the self-pin with 31. ..Qa8! would have sealed Lputian his first full point as 32 Qa4 Bf6 33 Ra7 (33 Qxa6 Bxa1 34 Ra7 Qf3 35 Qxa1 e5) 33 ..Qc8! 34 Qxa6 Bxa1 35 Qxa1 e5 is winning. 32 Rxa6 Rf8 33 Qc4 Qd1+ 34 Qf1 Qxf1+ 35 Kxf1 Bc5 36 f4 g5 37 Raa7 Bd4 38 Rd7 Bh8 39 Ra4 e5 40 f5 Quicker would have been 40 Ke2!? exf4 41 gxf4 gxf4 42 Kf3 Be5 43 Raa7 Rb8 44 Rab7 Rxb7 45 Rxb7. 40 ..Rxf5+ 41 Ke2 Bg7 42 Ra6 b5 43 Rb6 g4 44 Ke3 Kh7 45 Ke4 Rg5 46 Rxb5 Kg6 47 Rbb7 Bf6 48 Rh7 h4 48 ..Rf5 49 Rh6+ Kxh6 50 Kxf5 Bd8 51 Rb8 Be7 52 Rh8+ Kg7 53 Rxh5 49 Rxh4 Bg7 50 Ra7 1–0
Holland's Jeroen Piket, still level with the two Russians at the outset of the round, went down with Black and fell back to a shared third place in the tournament. Not to put too fine a point on it, Piket must have been upset with his performance in Thursday's round. Pitted against Dutch champion Predrag Nikolic in a Queen's Gambit, he sacrificed a pawn on the 20th move but failed to free his game. Nikolic, however, was unable to cash in on his advantage and after conducting a tough defence for some twenty moves, Piket finally came out of the woods, winning his pawn back on the 44th to reach a dead-drawn ending.
The only problem was that he was running short of time and in the flurry of moves to the second control on the 60th, he committed a fatal blunder, allowing his opponent to create a mating web.
Nikolic-Piket (5) Piket has almost
reached a draw but he found ...
54…Kg7?? 54. ..Rd7 55 Rc8 Qg7 would have secured the half point. 55 Re6 Qc7 56 Qd4+ Kh7 57 Re8 Rg7 58 Qd5 Qb7 59 Qd8 Rf7 60 Rh8+ Kg7 61 Qd4+ 1–0
After resigning, a disappointed Piket came into the pressroom to explain what had gone wrong. "The worst," he said, "was that I have played this same line with White myself, here, at this same tournament, in 1994, against Chile's Ivan Morovich, who found the right way to counter White's opening advantage and drew easily, without the pawn sacrifice. Unfortunately, I only remembered when it was too late!"
Loek van Wely, the third Dutch contender in Wijk aan Zee, also suffered badly with a miscalculation. Playing White in a Nimzo-Indian against England's Michael Adams, he reached a slightly better position but missed a tactical nicety that cost him two pawns, and with it the game - but not without a long struggle.
Van Wely-Adams (5) White set
himself up for hours of grief and a loss by finding the wrong move
here.
20. fxe5? White would be much better in the ending after 20 dxe3! Ng4 (20 ..Be6 21 Bxe5 Ng4 22 Rc1 Nxe3 23 Bc7 Bxc4 24 Bc6) 21 Re1 (21 Bxe5 Be6 22 Bc7 Bxc4 23 Rb1 Nxe3 24 Bc6 Nd5) 21 ..exf4 (21 ..Be6 22 h3 Nh6 23 Bxe5 Bxc4 24 Bc6 Rc8 25 Rd1 Nf5 26 Kf2) 22 exf4 Be6 23 h3 Nh6. 20 ..exd2 21 h3 21 exf6 Bg4 22 fxg7 Re8 23 Bd5 Re7; 21 Rd1 Ng4 22 Rxd2 Ne3 23 Ra2 (23 Bf1 Nxf1 24 Kxf1 Be6 25 Rc2 Ra8) 21 ..Rd8 22 Rd1 Ng4! 23 Bc3 Ne3 24 Rxd2 Rxd2 25 Bxd2 Nxg2 Quicker would have been 25 ..Nxc4 26 Bf4 Bd7 27 Bf1 Bxb5 26 Kxg2 Kf8 27 e6 Bxe6 28 Bf4 Bxc4 29 Bc7 Ke7 30 Kf3 Bxb5 31 Bxb6 Kd6 32 h4 Kd5 33 Ke3 Bd7 34 Bd8 Kd6 35 Ba5 h6 36 Kf4 f6 37 Bd8 Ke6 38 Ke4 Bc6+ 39 Kd3 Bb5+ 40 Ke4 Bd7 41 Kd3 Kd6 42 Ke4 Bg4 43 Kf4 Bd1 44 Ke3 Bc2 45 Kd2 Bb1 46 Ke3 Ke6 47 Bb6 c4 48 Bd4 Kf5 49 Bc3 Bc2 50 Kf3 Bd1+ 51 Ke3 g5 52 Bb2 Bh5 53 Bc3 Bf7 54 Kf3 Bd5+ 55 Kf2 Bc6 56 Ke3 Ba4 57 Kf3 Bd1+ 58 Ke3 Kg6 59 Kd4 Be2 60 Bb4 Kh5 61 Bf8 f5 62 Ke5 Bd3 63 hxg5 hxg5 64 Ba3 Kg4 65 Bc1 Be2 66 Bd2 Bd1 67 Kd4 Bb3 68 Ke5 Ba2 69 Bc1 c3 70 Kd4 c2 71 Ke5 Bb3 72 Bd2 Ba4 73 Bc1 Bd7 74 Bd2 Kxg3 75 Bxg5 Kf3 76 Bc1 Ke2 0–1
Viktor Korchnoi of Switzerland saw his peace offer accepted after just 18 moves from a French Defence against England's Nigel Short, who agreed afterwards that "our game was a bit short," but maintained that "it was nevertheless quite interesting." The point was, he added, that "all the nice variations remained hidden and just never materialized on the board."
Korchnoi-Short round 5. A French Tarrasch
ending in a draw.
Korchnoi,V (2659) - Short,N (2683)
French Defence
1 d4 e6 2 e4! Played instantly!Short reckoned that Korchnoi wanted to avoid his Tartakower Defence as he didn’t get much change out of it against Karpov in their title matches. 2… d5 3 Nd2 Be7 Very trendy and quite difficult to play against. This has already become a firm favourite of Short’s, and a move we're going to see more of in response to the Tarrasch. 4 e5 c5 5 c3 cxd4 6 cxd4 Nc6 7 Ndf3 Bb4+ 8 Bd2 Qa5 Both players in the post mortem thought that 8 ..Qb6!? was a better idea, giving lines in support like 9 Bxb4 Nxb4 (9 ..Qxb4+ 10 Qd2 Nge7 11 Rc1 Qxd2+ 12 Kxd2 Bd7) 10 Qb3 Qa5 11 Nd2 9 Ne2 Bxd2+ 10 Qxd2 Qxd2+ 11 Kxd2 f6 12 exf6 Dubious is 12 Nc3?! fxe5 13 Nb5 e4 14 Nc7+ Kd8 15 Nxa8 exf3 16 gxf3 Nxd4 17 Rc1 Ne7 18 Be2 Nec6 19 Rhg1 g6 12 ..gxf6 13 Nf4 Nge7 14 Re1 Kf7 15 Bd3 Bd7 16 g4! Nxd4 17 Nxd4 e5 18 Nxd5 ½–½
Judit Polgar of Hungary held a slight advantage throughout her game with White against India's Viswanathan Anand's Sicilian Richter-Rauzer but decided to run no risks and settled for the half point after almost five hours of play. "Sure I had a nice position," she commented. "I think I was probably better all the time but after two consecutive losses I was quite happy to draw with 'Vishy'. At least I didn't have to propose the draw. It was a move repetition."
After a bad start to the tournament Polgar played a careful
draw against Anand in round 5.
Polgar,J (2658) - Anand,V (2769)
Sicilian Richter-Rauzer
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Be7 8 0-0-0 0-0 9 f4 Nxd4 10 Qxd4 Qa5 11 Bc4 Bd7 12 Rhe1 Bc6 13 Bb3 Rfe8 14 e5 dxe5 15 Qxe5 Qxe5 16 fxe5 Nd7 17 Bxe7 Rxe7 18 g3 Rc8 19 Re3 Nf8 20 Ne2 Rec7 21 Nd4 Bd7 22 c3 Ng6 23 h4 Rc5 24 Rde1 Ne7 25 Rd1 Ng6 26 Rde1 Ne7 27 Rd1 Ng6 ½-½