Round 1 14th January 2001

OUT IN THE COLD

BRRRRRR! It’s January, and it’s freezing. That can only mean one thing – Wijk aan Zee!

Yip, it may be cold this time of the year in the little Dutch seaside resort that has become a chess mecca, but, unlike nasty Raymundo Keene and his censorship thugs at the Brain Games match, you at least know here that they’ll be a genuine warmth shown by the organisers to the press – not only that, unlike Brain Games, they really, really, really know how to organise a chess tournament! Besides, it’s too cold in Wijk to be thrown out!

Making my way to the De Moriaan Centre, the venue for the tournament, I could help thinking to myself: There’s something different with the building from last year. But what? It wasn’t till I noticed that the town’s monument to the tournament that has been running since 1940 was missing that it finally twigged (and was confirmed to me by the tournament director, Jeroen van den Berg): the temporary extension onto the building to accommodate the commentary room had been increased by about five foot – all for the aid of the insatiable Dutch chess fans as hundreds of them fight their way in to listen to the entertaining, daily commentaries.

As we entered the bus that took us to the official opening ceremony at the nearby Dudok Huis Conference Centre within the Imuiden Steel Works, I could see that the whole gang was here. On board, we had world champion’s – we even had Garry Kasparov!

With an opening speech by the chief executive of Corus, Mr Franswillem Briet, he explained that despite the company going through a difficult period, they were extremely proud of the fact that they were keeping their tradition of hosting the worlds’ most important Chess Tournament – now in it’s 63^rd year.

Formalities aside, it was then down to the important business of the day: the drawing of lots. For this, players were invited up onto the stage to pick a promotional videotape of last year’s event, inside which was their number. Of course, as is traditional with this part of the tournament, you get to keep the item they select with their number on it. Unfortunately, I had already been sent a promo copy of the tape, so I knew what was on it – me, basically! Believe me, out of the 4 minutes or so on the tape, you’ll be hard pushed to find a scene where I’m not prominently in it – it’s a sort of chess video nasty. I know exactly how Ivanchuk must have been feeling when, after selecting his tape with his number on it, he tried desperately to offer the tape back to the organisers. “No, no, Mr Ivanchuk. You have to keep the tape!” Never mind, Chucky. You can always record over it.

Of course, it’s changed days at the top with Anand and Kramnik have world titles of one description or another, and Kasparov out in the cold, his only comfort being his undisputed world No.1 spot – thanks to his good friends at FIDE. With the latest rating-list just published prior to Wijk, it came as some surprise to find Kasparov’s rating had not budged from his high of 2849 with no games played in the last six months – Funny, I can distinctly remember him losing heavily to Kramnik. Maybe the Brain Games match was just a bad Kasparov dream like that one Pam Ewing had in the cult series Dallas. You know, where, two years after the producers killed off good old Bobby, they had to bring him back to revive the show by explaining away his absence to one of Pam’s very long dreams.

But no, this is reality. He’s not the world champion and we had two press conferences after the opening ceremony by Anand and Kramnik to confirm the fact. I sneakily suspect that, after listening to both champs, they had both agreed to say exactly the same thing!

The new world order of Kramnik and Anand, confessed little time had been left to prepare for the “Tournament of the Year”. Both players will be relying on their earlier preparation for London and New Delhi respectively. Kramnik “didn’t do any chess for two months” after his victory in the match against world number one Garry Kasparov. Nevertheless, he has come to Wijk aan Zee with only one goal in mind: “to win the tournament!”. As for FIDE’s plan to limit the time controls: “It is bad for chess, there’s no point to it. It is unacceptable!”. Anand was a bit more temperate in his answer: “There is nothing against trying faster timecontrols in some tournaments, but they shouldn’t take drastic steps. You know, FIDE would be much better experimenting first with the new timecontrol.” Anand also revealed that Kirsan had sought his views on the new changes by asking him to respond to all the proposals. Vishy replied to Kirsan that, since he was heavily involved in the little matter of trying to win the New Delhi and Tehran shindig, he didn’t really have the time to respond to his proposals.

Both players were more agreeable when it came to the January FIDE-ratings. Because FIDE didn’t rate the Kasparov-Kramnik match, Kramnik and Anand feel the new rating list is a joke (Anand also took the liberty to bring the unrated 1993 match Kasparov vs Short back into memory). Oh, and what about that so-called “World Prestige Match” between the two? No change in the answers there, both certainly want to play but don’t want to be actively involved in the politics of organising the match. “It’s an important match,” said Anand, “but I don’t go to bed at night dreaming about it!” Take my advice, Vishy, don’t go for a shower after that dream. You just might find Garry in there!

After all his problems last year with the spectators’ prize at Wijk, guess who one the first one of the tournament? Step forward the peoples champion Garry Kasparov! After his day in the commentary session had ended, Gert Ligterink came up to me in the press room to tell me that Garry had easily won the first of the daily prizes. “Oh that’s nice,” I said to Gert. “Now everybody has something. Kramnik the BGN world title, Anand the Fide world title…and now Garry has the daily spectators prize!”

Tiviakov,S (2597) - Kasparov,G (2849) [B23]

1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 d6 3 f4 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Bc4 There must be a large majority of club players out there who, at one stage in their chess life, has played this line of the Grand Prix Attack - The Vinken Variation, named after the German-born Dutch player Joseph Vinken (1919-83), who popularised it during his match with Kramer in 1942. 5 ..Nc6 6 0–0 e6 7 d3 Nge7 8 Qe1 0–0 Black has to be careful not to make too many weakening concessions on the kingside, i.e. 8 ..h6 (8 ..d5? 9 exd5 exd5 10 Nxd5!) 9 Bb3 a6 10 e5 Nf5 11 Kh1 Nfd4 12 Ne4 Nxf3 13 Rxf3 dxe5 14 fxe5 Nxe5 15 Rf1 g5 16 Qg3 0–0 17 Bxg5 hxg5 18 Nxg5 Ng6 19 Rae1 Qe7 20 Rf5 Bf6 21 Nxe6 fxe6 22 Rxe6 Kg7 23 Rxe7+ Bxe7 24 Rxf8 Bxf8 25 h4! And Boris resigned. 1–0 V Anand-B Gelfand, Wijk aan Zee 1996. 9 Bb3 Too timid. As any club player whose played this line will testify, 9 f5!? is a sure thing...kind of. 9 ..d5! (9 ..exf5? leads to a ferocious attack after 10 Qh4!) 10 Bb3 c4 11 dxc4 d4 12 f6 Bxf6 13 e5 Bg7 14 Ne4 Nxe5 15 Nxe5 Bxe5 16 Bg5 f5 17 Qh4 Rf7 18 Nf6+ Bxf6 19 Bxf6 Qf8 20 Bxd4 Nc6 21 Be3 Qe7 22 Qxe7 Rxe7 23 c5 Kg7 24 Bg5 Re8 25 Rad1 h6 26 Bd2 e5 27 Bc3 Be6 28 Bxe6 Rxe6 29 Rd7+ Re7 30 Rxe7+ Nxe7 31 Bxe5+ Kf7 32 Rd1 Nc6 33 Bc7 Re8 34 Kf2 Re7 35 Bd6 Re4 36 c3 a5 37 b3 a4 38 Bc7 Re7 39 Bb6 axb3 40 axb3 f4 41 b4 Ne5 42 Bd8 Re8 43 Bc7 Kf6 44 Bxe5+ Rxe5 45 Rd7 Re3 46 c4 Rc3 47 Rxb7 Rxc4 48 Ke2 Rc2+ 49 Kd3 Rxg2 50 c6 Ke6 51 b5 f3 52 c7 Kd7 53 b6 1–0, Short,N - Oll,L, Keres Memorial, 1998. 9 ..Na5! 10 Be3 b6 11 Bf2 Bb7 12 Bh4 Nxb3 13 axb3 Qd7 14 Qg3 [14 Kh1 f6 15 d4 cxd4 16 Nxd4 f5 17 Rd1 fxe4 18 Bxe7 Qxe7 19 Nxe4 e5 20 Nc3 Rad8 21 Qe2 Rd7 22 fxe5 Rxf1+ 23 Rxf1 dxe5 24 Qc4+ Kh8 25 Nde2 e4 26 Nf4 e3 27 Nfd5 Qe6 28 Nb4 Qxc4 29 bxc4 Bxc3 30 bxc3 e2 31 Rg1 Be4 0–1 Gamboa,N-Wojtkiewicz,A/St Martin 1993] 14 ..f5!

Black's already better. White has got no plan of attack and, after ..f5!, black has all the central control to unleash the power of his bishop pair. 15 Rae1 Nc6 16 exf5 gxf5 17 Re2 Rae8 18 Rfe1 Kh8! With ideas of a future ..Rg8, hitting g2. 19 Qh3 Nd4 20 Nxd4 Bxd4+ 21 Kh1 Rg8 22 Nd1 Rg6! Now Kasparov has multiple threats: doubling (even tripling!) on the g-file and also pinning with ..Rh6 - take your pick. 23 c3 Bg7 24 Ne3 [24 Bg5 Rg8! (24 ..h6 25 Qh5! Qf7! (25 ..Kh7 26 Ne3=) 26 Ne3 Rf8) 25 Ne3 Bf6 26 Bxf6+ Rxf6 27 Kg1 Qg7!] 24 ..Rf8 25 Bg5 h6 26 Bh4 [26 Qh5! Qf7!] 26 ..b5 27 Nf1 b4 28 cxb4 cxb4 29 Ne3 Rg8 30 Bg3 Bd4 The black pieces are a study in harmony. 31 Nc4 R8g7 32 Qh5 Kh7 33 Ne3 Qb5!

With so many weaknesses to defend, something has to give soon in the white camp. 34 Rd2 a6 35 Qh3 h5! Ouch! Taking on h5 is taboo as ..Rh6 wins on the spot. Now, however, Tiviakov can’t defend against the further push of the pawn to h4. 36 Ree2 [36 Qh4 Rh6! 37 Ree2 Bxe3 38 Rxe3 Bd5 39 Rc2 Qb6!] 36 ..h4 37 Be1 Bxe3 38 Qxe3 [38 Rxe3 Qc6! 39 Qxh4+ Rh6 40 Qf2 Rxg2 41 Qxg2 Rg6! 42 Rh3+ Kg7 43 Rg3 Rxg3 44 hxg3 Qb5!] 38 ..Qc6 39 Qh3 Qc1 40 Qxh4+ Rh6 41 Rc2 Qd1 42 Rcd2 Qb1 43 Qf2 Rxg2 44 Qxg2 Bxg2+ 45 Kxg2 Qa2 The rest is a mopping-up exercise. 46 Rc2 Rg6+ 47 Bg3 Qxb3 48 Red2 a5 49 Kf2 a4 50 Rc6 a3 51 bxa3 bxa3 52 Ke2 e5 53 fxe5 f4 0–1

If you can remember last year at Wijk, it was a certain Alexander Morozevitch, with four spectator best game prizes, that so irritated Kasparov. It seems that the exciting young Russian literally shuts his eyes during the game and randomly places his pieces around the board – and it works! Piket was simply just winning this game until a fatal error.

Piket,J (2632) - Morozevich,A (2745) [D07]

1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 The Chigorin Defence - A Morozevitch speciality! 3 cxd5 Qxd5 4 e3 e5 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Bd2 Bxc3 7 bxc3 [For the more adventurous, 7 Bxc3!? exd4 8 Ne2 Bg4 (8 ..Nge7!?) 9 f3 Bxf3 (9 ..Be6!? 10 Nxd4 Nxd4 11 Qxd4 Qxd4 12 Bxd4 f6 13 Kf2) 10 gxf3 Qxf3 11 Nxd4 Qxh1 12 Nxc6 Nf6 (12 ..Qxc6 13 Bxg7!) 13 Na5 is all pretty exciting stuff.] 7 ..Nf6 8 f3 0–0 The opening variation seems to be very pleasant for white, but his massive pawn center can not be put into motion without proper preparation. Black is ahead in development and his pieces exert lot of pressure in the center. 8 ..e4, exd4 and Qd6 are all options also. 9 e4 Qd6 [9 ..Nxe4? 10 fxe4 Qxe4+ 11 Qe2 Qd5 12 Qf3±] 10 d5! Ne7 11 c4 Nh5 [11 ..Nd7 12 Ne2 Nc5!? 13 Nc3 f5 14 Be3 fxe4 15 Nxe4 Nxe4 16 fxe4 Qg6 17 Qc2!; 11 ..b6!?] 12 Qb3 c5 13 Ne2 f5!? 14 Nc3!

[After 14 exf5!?, I suppose Piket was a bit worried about falling into some sort of Morozevich, murky home-preparation after: 14 ..Nxf5! 15 g4 Nh4 16 gxh5 Nxf3+ 17 Kd1 Bg4 18 Kc1 Bxh5 with a very unbalanced position.] 14 ..b6 15 Bd3 Ng6 16 g3 Qe7?! [16 ..f4 17 g4 Nf6 18 Nb5 Qe7 19 Bc2 Bd7 , and white's got an edge - but it's more or less an equal struggle. As it is, Morozevitch's move gives Piket a big advantage.] 17 exf5 Bxf5 18 Bxf5 Rxf5 19 Ne4! Nf6 [19 ..Raf8 20 0–0! Qd7 21 a4 Nf6 22 Ng5 and black's got problems.] 20 Bg5 Qf8 21 Bxf6 [21 0–0! looks as if it could have been more decisive: 21 ..Nxe4 (21 ..h6 22 Bd2 Qe7 23 Qd3!) 22 fxe4 Rxf1+ 23 Rxf1 Qd6 24 Qa4! h6 25 Bd2 with a big advantage.] 21 ..gxf6 22 0–0–0 Rh5 23 h4 Rh6 24 h5 Ne7 25 g4 f5 26 g5 fxe4 27 gxh6 Qf4+ 28 Kb1 exf3 29 Qd3 [29 Rhf1! Rf8 (29 ..e4 30 Qc3! Nf5 31 Qf6) 30 Qa4! Qf5+ 31 Kb2 Nc8 32 d6!] 29 ..Nf5 30 Rde1 Nd6? [30 ..Ng3! 31 Rhg1 Kh8 32 Re3 Rf8] 31 Rhg1+ Kh8 32 Rg7 Qxh6 33 Rd7 Rf8 34 Qc3 Qf6 35 h6??

[35 Kb2!=] 35 ..f2 36 Rf1 Qf5+ 37 Ka1 Ne4! [37 ..Qxd7 38 Qxe5+ Kg8 39 Qg5+ Kh8 40 Qe5+=] 38 Qd3 Qxd7 39 Qxe4 Qf5 40 Rxf2 Qxf2 0–1

For my money, Alexei Shirov is the the player whose likely to take most the spectator prizes this year. No wonder when his opponents allow him to play what has become an easy point for him – the Perenyi Variation. The press room can’t wait for his game with Van Wely – we speculated that the Dutchman was more than likely to go down in similar style in one of the sidelines of this game against Topalov.

Shirov,A (2718) - Topalov,V (2718) [B81]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e6 7 g4 e5 8 Nf5!?

The ultra-sharp Perenyi Variation. Although the young Hungarian grandmaster Bela Perenyi, whom the variation is named after, tragically died in a car accident in 1988, he left behind to the game a lasting legacy with his intriguing knight sacrifice in the Scheveningen, which once again has come under the microscope after new developments have been found for White – notably by a certain Mr Shirov! 8 ..g6 9 g5 gxf5 10 exf5 [10 gxf6 f4 11 Bc4 Be6 12 Bxe6 fxe6 13 Qh5+ Kd7 14 Qf7+ Kc6 15 Bd2 Qd7 16 Qh5 b5 17 a4 b4 18 Ne2 a5! Ljubojevic,L-Polugaevsky,L Roquebrune 30, 1992] 10 ..d5 11 Qf3 [11 gxf6 d4 12 Bc4 Qxf6 13 Nd5 Qc6 14 Bxd4 Bb4+ 15 c3 Qxc4 16 Be3 Ba5 17 Nf6+ Ke7 18 Nd5+ Ke8 19 Nf6+ Ke7 20 Bg5 Bc7 21 Ne4+ Ke8 22 Qg4 b5 23 Nf6+ Ke7 24 0–0–0 Qxg4 25 Nxg4+ Kf8 26 Bh6+ Ke7 27 Bg5+ Kf8 28 Bd8 Bxf5 29 Bxc7 Nc6 30 Nh6 Bg6 31 Rd6 Nb4 32 cxb4 Kg7 33 h4 Rhc8 34 h5 Rxc7+ 35 Kd2 Be4 36 Rg1+ Kh8 37 Ke3 Bb7 38 Rgd1 Re8 39 Nf5 Bc8 40 Rd8 Bxf5 41 Rxe8+ Kg7 42 Rxe5 1–0 Shirov,A-Gelfand,B/Wijk aan Zee 1996/CBM 51] 11 ..d4 12 0–0–0 Nbd7 13 Bd2 [13 gxf6 dxc3 14 Bc4 Qxf6!] 13 ..Qc7 [13 ..Qa5 14 gxf6 dxc3 15 Bxc3 Qxa2 16 Qe3 Nb6 17 Qxe5+ Be6 18 fxe6 Bh6+ 19 f4 Qa1+ 20 Kd2 0–0–0+ 21 Bd4 Qa4 22 Qc5+ Kb8 23 Ke1 Nc8 24 Be5+ Ka8 25 Bg2 Rxd1+ 26 Kxd1 1–0 Shirov,A-Illescas Cordoba,M/Barcelona ESP 2000/TWIC 301] 14 gxf6 [14 Bd3? Nc5 15 Bc4 dxc3 16 Bxc3 Nfe4 17 Rhe1 Nxc3 18 Qxc3 Bg7 19 f6 0–0 20 Rxe5 Be6! Wedberg,T-Novikov,I Copenhagen op 1991] 14 ..dxc3 15 Bxc3 Qc6 16 Qg3 Bh6+ [16 ..Qxh1 17 Bg2 Bh6+ 18 Bd2 Bxd2+ 19 Kxd2 Qxg2 20 Qxg2 a5 21 f4 exf4 22 Qg7 Rf8 23 Re1+ Kd8 24 Re7 Kc7 25 Qxf8 1–0 Shirov,A-Van Wely,L/Istanbul Oly 2000/TWIC 313] 17 Kb1 Bf4 18 Qd3 Rg8N

[The latest wrinkle - Up to now, ..0–0 was the trend: 18 ..0–0 19 Rg1+ Kh8 20 Bb4 Rg8 (20 ..Nc5 21 Qc3 Qxf6 22 Bxc5 Bxf5 23 Qa3 Rfc8 24 Bd3 Qe6 25 Bxf5 Qxf5 26 Be7 Rxc2 27 Ka1 Rc6 28 Bd8 Bh6 29 Qe7 Qe6 30 Qxb7 Rac8 31 Qb4 Bg7 32 a3 e4 33 Ba5 Rc2 34 Rb1 Qe5 35 Rg3 Rb8 36 Bb6 Rxb2 37 Rxb2 Qxb2+ 38 Qxb2 Bxb2+ 39 Kxb2 Rxb6+ 40 Kc3 Rf6 41 Kd4 Rxf2 42 Kxe4 Rxh2 43 Kf5 Rh6 44 Rc3 Kg7 45 Rg3+ Rg6 46 Rc3 h6 47 a4 Rg5+ 48 Kf4 Ra5 49 Rc4 Kg6 50 Rc6+ f6 51 Rc4 h5 52 Kf3 Rf5+ 53 Ke3 Kg5 54 Rc1 h4 55 Rg1+ Kh5 56 Rg8 h3 57 Ke4 Rg5 0–1 Kalka,A-Van Wely,L/Gelsenkirchen GER 2000/TWIC 318) 21 Rxg8+ Kxg8 22 Be7 h6 23 Be2 Nxf6 24 Qd8+ Kh7 25 Qf8 Be6 26 Qxa8 Bxf5 27 Ka1 Nd5 28 Qf8 Qe6 29 Bc5 Bxc2 30 Rg1 Bg6 31 h4 Bh2 32 Rd1 Nf4 33 Rd8 1–0 Shirov,A-Van Wely,L/Polanica Zdroj POL 2000/TWIC 303] 19 Bh3!

Stopping - at a later stage after ..Qxf6 - black developing the white-squared bishop by taking on f5; and, of course, conveniently allowing the option of Rhe1. Now, If you put great stock on the valued opinion of our little silicon friends like Fritz and Junior (or in my case Hiarcs) at this juncture, they - with the scores on the doors being –1.97 in black's favour - they firmly believe in the black cause. Me? I think I'd rather trust the opinion of Planet Shirov! 19 ..Kd8?? I'm sorry, but I always thought that the idea of this game was to get out of the way of pins! Admittedly the position does look a tad on the difficult side for black to defend - but surely Topalov had to try something like: 19 ..Qxf6 20 Bb4 Qb6 (20 ..Nf8 21 Rhe1!) 21 Qc4, and it can't be long before Shirov's resignation since the computer assessment for black has now increased to -2.19? The piffling little matter of the black king caught in the middle of all these white pieces is easily defended against. Please send the correct defense from here in to: Mr Fritz, c/o ChessBase, Deepest Hamburg, Germany. 20 Bb4 Qxf6 We opened a book in the press room at this stage to see whether Topalov would have simply admitted his previous move was wrong, and continue with: 20 ..Ke8!? (20 ..Kc7 21 Bd6+ Kd8 (21 ..Kb6 22 Qb3+ Ka7 23 Qxf7!) 22 Rhg1! Rg5 (22 ..Re8 23 Qa3!) 23 Rxg5 Bxg5 24 Qg3 h6 25 Bxe5 Ke8 26 Bd6!) Then again, he could always hope that Kirsan Illyumzhinov, by a special FIDE presidential decree, would simply allow the retraction of duff moves as yet another of one of his bright ideas for changing the game in order to make chess more "interesting". 21 Qc4 Rg5 22 Rd6 Qg7 23 f6 Rg1+ 24 Bf1! [24 ..Qg2 (24 ..Qg4 25 Ba5+ Ke8 26 Qc7!) 25 Ba5+ Ke8 26 Re6+!! Kf8 27 Bb4+ Nc5 28 Qxc5+ Kg8 29 Qf8#] 1–0

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of TWIC, Chess & Bridge Ltd or the London Chess Center.