Wijk aan Zee, Round 11: An Insane Round

Today's round at Wijk aan Zee was simply remarkable! Starting from the top: Tournament leader Levon Aronian came into the round not just doing well on the scoreboard but playing very good chess. His round 11 opponent was David Navara, who was having an absolutely terrible event. Better still, Aronian had White. Did it matter? Not a bit. Aronian was outplayed by Navara, and though he put up heroic resistance he still went down to defeat in the second time control.

Okay, so that meant that the coast was clear for Vassily Ivanchuk to catch Aronian in first, or at least give it a good run. He had White against Boris Gelfand, and Gelfand too has had a pretty bad event. So, of course...Ivanchuk lost. He tried to get blood from a stone, and the usual result is that it's the person's blood that ends up on the stone. His 26.a4 was doubtlessly intended as a temporary pawn sac; it turned out to be a gift that Gelfand used to win the game.

Next up: Magnus Carlsen. He had White against his regular customer, Veselin Topalov. Surely he'll win, right? He didn't get anything out of the opening either, and then he went bonkers a la Tal, throwing all his pieces at Topalov's king and sacrificing anything that slowed him down. Topalov was winning, but happily for Carlsen and for fans of berzerk chess, he (Topalov) chose the panicky 25...Qxf7. 25...Bd3 would have maintained a winning edge; instead, the position became very unclear. Carlsen had more time and the initiative, and managed after all to score a full point.

Three of the other four games finished with a winner as well. Sergey Karjakin broke both his streak and Loek van Wely's by defeating him. That brought one-draw Karjakin back to 50% while sending van Wely to -1 after the latter's first non-draw. In the battle of Azeris, Teimour Radjabov beat Vugar Gashimov, and in the battle of teenagers Fabiano Caruana beat Anish Giri. The one draw was in the battle for American bragging rights. Hikaru Nakamura grabbed a pawn early on, but Gata Kamsky's dogged defense helped him save the game. (I haven't looked closely, but my impression was that Nakamura really should have pulled out the victory.)

After 11 of 13 rounds, here are the standings:

1. Aronian 7.5
2-3. Carlsen, Radjabov 7
4-5. Caruana, Ivanchuk 6.5
6. Nakamura 6
7-8. Kamsky, Karjakin 5.5
9-10. Gelfand, van Wely 5
11-13. Topalov, Gashimov, Giri 4
14. Navara 3.5

Round 12 Pairings:

• Topalov - Giri
• Navara - Caruana
• Gelfand - Aronian
• Radjabov - Ivanchuk
• Karjakin - Gashimov
• Nakamura - van Wely
• Carlsen - Kamsky

In Group B, there was more of the same. Pentala Harikrishna had been (and still is) leading, and had been dominant, but in this round he was beaten relatively convincingly by Sipke Ernst. Harikrishna still leads with 8/11, but Alexander Motylev and Erwin L'Ami are just half a point behind.

In Group C, Maxim Turov was also in trouble, but managed to draw. Hans Tikkanen won, and they share the lead with 8.5/11. Top seed Matthew Sadler tried heroically, but he went back to his drawing ways and remains two points back with two rounds to go.

Gibraltar Underway

Not the rock, but the annual tournament. It's an open Swiss of surprising strength, led this year by Peter Svidler, Shahkriyar Mamedyarov and Judit Polgar, along with quite a few other very big names. The official site is here.

Wijk aan Zee, Rounds 9 & 10: It's Aronian's Tournament to Lose

In the last two rounds of the A-group tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the neck-and-neck battle between the world's top players, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, has turned into a breakaway for the Armenian GM. In round 9 he defeated Fabiano Caruana with some very deep preparation, beating the anti-English line Alexander Grischuk used to torture all his opponents in last year's Candidates' matches. By his own admission Aronian got a bit sloppy late in the game, but with a very difficult position and almost no time on his clock Caruana was unable to save the game.

Meanwhile, Carlsen was doing his usual thing, getting little from the opening but pressing as hard as possible. This strategy has paid Carlsen huge dividends the past couple of years, but over the last few rounds as often as not it has gotten him into trouble. This time he went too far, and Sergey Karjakin defeated him in convincing fashion. For Karjakin, it was his first ever win over Carlsen at a classical time control, and also continued his pattern of losing two and then winning two. (Granted, there was the interruption in round 8 when he drew with Hikaru Nakamura. On the other hand, he promptly continued the pattern by losing to Gata Kamsky in round 10!)

Round 10 saw Aronian extend his lead with a complicated win over Anish Giri, punctuated by an attractive, sacrificial mating combination at the end. Carlsen drew comfortably with Black against Nakamura, but that leaves him a point and a half behind with three rounds to play.

That cleared the way for the volatile Vassily Ivanchuk to leap into second. He has come to life, defeating Giri in round 9 and David Navara in round 10. In the first game, Ivanchuk's tricky 34.Ne6 gave him some advantage in a rook ending that Giri was unable to hold. In the second game, Ivanchuk played the Modern Benoni, and when Navara completely abandoned his kingside Black was able to break through on that flank, winning material and the game.

The other round 9 games were drawn, but in today's round 10 Caruana won with Black in a Paulsen against Veselin Topalov, whose score is a most uncharacteristic -2 =8, with no wins. Only two other players are winless so far - Navara, who is having an awful tournament and in dead last, and Loek van Wely, who is having a very good tournament, ratings-wise. Van Wely is the lowest seed in the event at 2692, but he has drawn all ten games!

Standings After Round 10 (of 13):

1. Aronian 7.5
2. Ivanchuk 6.5
3-4. Carlsen, Radjabov 6
5-6. Caruana, Nakamura 5.5
7-8. van Wely, Kamsky 5
9. Karjakin 4.5
10-13. Topalov, Giri, Gelfand, Gashimov (the 3G network?) 4
14. Navara 2.5

Round 11 Pairings (on Friday; Thursday is a rest day):

• Carlsen - Topalov (Carlsen has generally done extremely well against Topalov, so it's a good chance to get back in the race.)
• Kamsky - Nakamura (The battle for American bragging rights.)
• van Wely - Karjakin (All draws vs. only one draw.)
• Gashimov - Radjabov
• Ivanchuk - Gelfand (A good chance for Ivanchuk to challenge for the lead, given Gelfand's poor form.)
• Aronian - Navara (A great chance for Aronian to almost put the tournament on ice.)
• Caruana - Giri

In the B-group, Pentala Harikrishna is looking unstoppable. In round 9 he defeated Ilya Nyzhnyk, and today he outplayed Daniele Vocaturo in the tactics to win again. He has 8/10, good for a one point lead over Alexander Motylev (and Erwin L'Ami, in case he wins his game).

In Group C, then co-leaders Maxim Turov and Hans Tikkanen both won their games to remain tied, but in round 10 Tikkanen lost to the low-rated Pieter Hopman (a great name for a basketball player!), so Turov's draw with Elisabeth Paehtz gives him a half-point lead over Tikkanen with 8/10. And good news for Matthew Sadler fans: after eight consecutive draws, he finally won again in round 10. He's tied for 4th-6th with 6 points.

Wijk aan Zee 2012, Round 8: Carlsen and Aronian Still Lead

There were many draws in the A-group during round 8 of Wijk aan Zee, but it doesn't mean that the games were either dull or bloodless.

Teimour Radjabov entered the round half a point behind Magnus Carlsen - his opponent - and Levon Aronian. It would have been great for him to win, obviously, but despite having the black pieces Carlsen obtained an enduring, nearly serious pull in a minor piece ending. It was enough to be better and to push, but not enough to win. Like Carlsen, Aronian too had Black, but against Veselin Topalov it was enough to equalize and quickly draw a Queen's Gambit Declined.

Much more spectacular was the draw between Fabiano Caruana and Vassily Ivanchuk. There Caruana went for some sacrifices, but they were only enough in the end to force a perpetual. Another game that was spectacular for a while was the Najdorf battle between Anish Giri and Vugar Gashimov, but Giri always seemed to have the worst of it and lost the day's only decisive game.

Boris Gelfand was very close to joining Giri in the losers' circle, but was bailed out when Gata Kamsky missed a couple of non-trivial winning lines during the time trouble phase of a major piece ending. Finally, Karjakin-Nakamura and Navara-van Wely were drawn as well, giving rise to these standings going into the tournament's second rest day:

Standings After Round 8 (of 13):

1-2. Carlsen, Aronian 5.5
3. Radjabov 5
4-6. Ivanchuk, Caruana, Nakamura 4.5
7-8. Giri, van Wely 4
9-11. Topalov, Karjakin, Kamsky 3.5
12-13. Gashimov, Gelfand 3
14. Navara 2

Round 9 Pairings (on Tuesday):

Carlsen - Karjakin
Aronian - Caruana
Kamsky - Radjabov
Ivanchuk - Giri
Nakamura - Topalov
van Wely - Gelfand
Gashimov - Navara

In the B-group, Harikrishna drew and maintained his lead over Motylev, but it was cut to half a point after the latter won. Harikrishna has 6/8.

In the C-group, Turov drew with Schlechter Sadler, and was caught by Tikkanen in first as both players have 6.5 points.

The 10th Anniversary of Ponomariov's Winning the FIDE World Championship

Some friends of Ukranian GM and 2002 FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov have made a nice video commemorating the 10th anniversary of that fine accomplishment, and features comments and well-wishes from various notables, including Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. The whole thing speaks quite well of Ponomariov as a person - and it's great for him to have such fans and friends!

This Week's ChessVideos Show: Quick Ruy XVIII

This week we continue our series on the Ruy Lopez, and we're close to wrapping up the section on the Open Ruy. Having finished with 9.Qe2, 9.Be3 and 9.Nbd2 it's time for 9.c3, and this time around I take a look at the very sharp lines with 9...Bc5. This is some very entertaining theory, so even those of you who wouldn't touch either side of the Open Ruy with a proverbial 10-foot pole might still find the show enjoyable.

Have a look here and see for yourself. The show is free, as always (free one-time only registration required), and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

Wijk aan Zee 2012, Round 7: Carlsen and Aronian Tied Once Again

It's a two-man race at Wijk aan Zee - or at least that's how it seems. In fact, while Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian have been taking turns leading (both alone and with each other), Teimour Radjabov is and has been only half a point behind most of the way.

Today was Carlsen's day. He didn't have much with White against Boris Gelfand, who played very well for the first 30 moves. As often happens against Carlsen's opponents, however, Gelfand burned a little too much time trying to keep everything under control, and once time trouble started looming he really fell apart. Carlsen does deserve some credit, obviously, but Gelfand is playing pretty poorly in this tournament.

Levon Aronian had been alone in first, and remains tied there after a pretty easy draw with Black in a Catalan against Vassily Ivanchuk. Not a bad result! As for Radjabov, he also drew comfortably and quickly with the black pieces; in his case against Hikaru Nakamura in a Sveshnikov Sicilian.

The other four games may have been less significant to the race for first - though it's really a bit too early to tell, with six rounds left - but they were all hard-fought. The longest game was the 99-move marathon between Sergey Karjakin and Veselin Topalov, which was not just a battle between players but a battle of streaks as well. Karjakin had only decisive results (two losses, then two wins, then two more losses) while Topalov, uncharacteristically, came in having drawn all six games. For a good chunk of the game it looked like both streaks would come to an end, but from around move 30 on Topalov went from winning to better to equal to worse to lost. Thus Karjakin not only kept his streak alive but kept the 2-2-2 pattern alive as well. (I'm sure he'd like it to continue in round 8 but change afterwards.)

Loek van Wely also came into the round having drawn all his games, but his streak continued. Like Topalov, he had very good winning chances - in his case, against Anish Giri - but a late lapse enabled his young countryman to find an ingenious escape.

Gata Kamsky won a very nice game on the white side of a Berlin against David Navara, while Vugar Gashimov and Fabiano Caruana drew in a different line of the Ruy.

Standings After Round 7 (of 13):

1-2. Carlsen, Aronian 5
3. Radjabov 4.5
4-7. Caruana, Giri, Ivanchuk, Nakamura 4
8. van Wely 3.5
9-11. Topalov, Karjakin, Kamsky 3
12. Gelfand 2.5
13. Gashimov 2
14. Navara 1.5

Round 8 Pairings:

• Radjabov - Carlsen
• Topalov - Aronian
• Caruana - Ivanchuk
• Karjakin - Nakamura
• Giri - Gashimov
• Gelfand - Kamsky
• Navara - van Wely

In the B-group, Pentala Harikrishna drew, but is still a point ahead of Alexander Motylev. (They have 5.5 and 4.5 points, respectively.) Timman lost again and dropped to a -1 score.

In Group C, Maxim Turov drew with Hans Tikkanen, his closest pursuer, and thus they maintain their relative positions. Turov leads with 6 points, Tikkanen is in clear second with 5.5. Meanwhile, Matthew Sadler drew yet again - that's six in a row! - and is in a tie for 4th-6th on 4 points.

I've analyzed several group A games, which you can find here.

How Much Do Top Players Study? Caveat Lector!

From Hikaru Nakamura on ICC, kibitzing the Wijk aan Zee games after drawing against Teimour Radjabov:

CapilanoBridge(GM) kibitzes: None of us tell the truth about how much we study ;)

Wijk aan Zee 2012, Round 6: Aronian Alone At The Top

Levon Aronian is simply on fire, and maybe by year's end he too will threaten or surpass Garry Kasparov's all-time rating record of 2851. (Of course it's pretty likely that Magnus Carlsen will pass it first, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Aronian follow suit.) Except for his round 3 loss to Carlsen, he is just about rolling the field and leads the A-group at Wijk aan Zee with a fine score of 4.5/6.

Aronian took the lead by defeating Vugar Gashimov on the white side of a Modern Benoni. Gashimov's queenside pawns got overextended, and when he lost the c-pawn White's extra pawn and bishop pair helped him to grind out the point.

Carlsen started the round tied with Aronian for the lead, and while he didn't win today it wasn't for want of effort. Carlsen equalized with Black against David Navara early on, and the game could very reasonably have been drawn after about 25 moves. Carlsen played and played (and played), but the only result was that he almost got into trouble later on in the game, and had to be a little accurate to save it. Finally, after 81 moves, the players split the point.

Teimour Radjabov caught up to Carlsen, half a point behind Aronian, by defeating Sergey Karjakin. Radjabov was pushing for a long time, but it was only when Karjakin fell into a neat trick near the end that White finally won. After 60.b6! Rxa4 61.b7 Rb4 62.Rc4+! it was time to resign, as 62...Bxc4 63.Nc2+ is followed by 64.Nxb4 and 65.b8Q. It was a nice tactic, but nothing an in-form Karjakin would have missed. His tournament has been quite odd thus far: two losses, two wins, and now two more losses.

Anish Giri beat Gata Kamsky in a long game, but it could have been much shorter had he played 24.Nxg4. Instead, he had to work hard in a superior but probably drawn ending, waiting for a mistake. Eventually that mistake came and the youngster won in 86 moves.

Another case of young guy beats older guy was the game Boris Gelfand-Hikaru Nakamura. Gelfand was fine in the opening, a Leningrad Dutch, but when he tried too hard - and took too long on the clock - looking for an advantage, he was ripe for the picking. Nakamura sharpened the game, and won when Gelfand blundered in time pressure.

Caruana-van Wely and Topalov-Ivanchuk were both drawn, though in both cases White had excellent winning chances.

Standings After Round 6 (of 13):

1. Aronian 4.5
2-3. Carlsen, Radjabov 4
4-7. Caruana, Giri, Ivanchuk, Nakamura 3.5
8-9. van Wely, Topalov 3
10. Gelfand 2.5
11-12. Kamsky, Karjakin 2.5
13-14. Navara, Gashimov 1.5

Round 7 Pairings:

• Karjakin - Topalov
• Nakamura - Radjabov
• Carlsen - Gelfand
• Kamsky - Navara
• van Wely - Giri
• Gashimov - Caruana
• Ivanchuk - Aronian

In Group B, Pentala Harikrishna reasserted himself after a couple of draws, defeating the previously resurgent Jan Timman. Harikrishna has 5/6, good for a one-point lead over Alexander Motylev.

In the C-group Maxim Turov was finally held to a draw (admittedly, it's only his second game so far against a titled opponent). Swedish GM Hans Tikkanen did the job, and they remain a point apart atop the leaderboard: Turov has 5.5/6, Tikkanen 4.5. Matthew Sadler remained stuck in his drawing rut, failing today to beat even the 2279-rated FM Etienne Goudriaan, and with the white pieces. (Admittedly, FMs sometimes have their days!) It was a really spectacular game though, and I wholeheartedly recommend my readers find it and even spend some time analyzing it. Sadler is tied for 4th-6th with 3.5 points.

Chess Cafe Book of the Year: The Voting is Open

More about this here.