Round 2 15th January 2001

KASPAROV HAT TRICK?

IT’S a common enough question I usually get asked by the unsuspecting chess public. What or where exactly is Wijk aan Zee?

My stock answer is that I usually tell them that in Wijk they play chess 365 days a year, your wife not only allows you to visit the chess club but also comes with you, you find chess set’s in all the cafés and bars, and, in place of the Gideon Bible, your hotel will happily replace it with the latest Informator. Yes, it’s a sort of chess equivalent of Shangri-la - only colder. Much, much colder.

There’s a running joke here that if you want to get ahead at Wijk then you need to get a hat! Furry, woolly, Seattle Mariner baseball variety, whatever – but you most definitely need a hat; which I suppose is handy for putting on show the latest snazzy head fashions from Russia, generally modelled by that hot-head himself, Garry Kasparov.

The little northern Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee is only about an hour’s drive from Amsterdam, and used to be a small fishing-village. Floods and fires, but in particular wars and piracy ruined the village in the middle of the 15^th century. Its nadir came in 1811 (population 211, according to the local church records – get a life, Henderson!) when, in an effort to presumably find somewhere to hold a chess tournament, that “well-known” player, Napoleon Bonaparte, annexed Holland to France. In the middle of the 19^th century some wealthy families from Amsterdam discovered Wijk aan Zee as their little paradise retreat. Similarly the chess world discovered Wijk aan Zee as its own little paradise!

The tradition of holding an international chess tournament in this part of the Netherlands wasn’t the original plan when it started in 1938. Then, it was solely for the benefit of employees of the local steel factory, Hoogovens. But the floodgates were opened in 1940 when former world champion and Dutch hero Max Euwe got in on the act – they’ve never looked back since as it grown in stature and strength to become the best tournament in the world. Look over the impressive winner’s trophy that’s got engraved upon it a veritable Who’s Who of the chess world, and the only two post war world champions war missing are Vassily Smyslov and Bobby Fischer.

No one has ever won three-in-a-row at Wijk aan Zee. On the eve of the 63rd Corus Tournament, the strongest tournament ever, in an effort to show that he is far from finished after losing his world title, Garry Kasparov boldly announced, "OK, let's see what we can do about that!"

Looking to set the record, a determined Kasparov seems to have got back to his old winning ways at Wijk. Two games with Black, and we now have two victories to give Kasparov a perfect score to lead the field. Ominously, though, he's got the little matter of two world champions on his tail: Kramnik and Anand

After defeating Kasparov in their title match, Vladimir Kramnik's first book about his life and games came out in Russian under the apt title, The Breakthrough. It describes not only Kramnik's success, but also a favoured theme from his games. One such theme has to be his handling of the White side of the Gruenfeld Defence that so scared Kasparov in their BGN match that he only dared to play it once - losing horribly!

Since that match, Peter Leko has also fallen to left over preparation from that BGN match, and now, from round two, the Dutch champion Loek Van Wely has become the latest victim in a game that saw Kramnik take the "Audience Prize" for the best game of the day.

An all-round (in the literal sense) good guy, Kramnik even braved a visit to the bear pit of the pressroom to kindly go over some of the finer points to his game for the assembled hacks. I didn’t ask the glaringly obvious question: Vladimir, how come you make it look so easy?

Kramnik,V (2772) - Van Wely,L (2700) [D85]

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5!? Either very brave or very dumb. Kramnik must have analysed so many variations in the Grünfeld for his BGN match against Kasparov that have yet to see the light of day after Garry gave up after his defeat in game two. In fairness to Van Wely, the Grünfeld is, after all, one of his main weapons against d4. But alas, the result was as predictable as pea soup on the menu at Wijk! 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Nf3 The Modern Exchange Variation - a line that took all the fun and joy out of the Grünfeld when it became all the vogue in the middle to late 1970s.Kramnik seems to be a serial killer with it these days. First we've had Kasparov, then Leko, now Van Wely - who's going to be next on the hit list of work left over from the BGN match? 7 ..c5 8 Be3 Qa5 9 Qd2 Nc6 For the record, Kasparov opted for 9 ..Bg4. 10 Rc1 cxd4 11 cxd4 Qxd2+ 12 Kxd2 0–0 13 d5 Rd8 14 Ke1 Na5 14 ..Ne5 15 Nxe5 Bxe5 16 f4 Bd6 17 Kf2 e5 18 Bc5 Bxc5+ 19 Rxc5 exf4 20 Kf3 Bd7 21 Bd3 Rac8 22 Rhc1 g5 23 Rc7 Rxc7 24 Rxc7 Ba4 25 Kg4 h6 26 Rxb7 Rd7 27 Rb4 Bd1+ 28 Kf5 Kg7 29 h4 f6 30 hxg5 hxg5 31 e5 fxe5 32 Kxe5 f3 33 gxf3 Bxf3 34 d6 Rd8 35 Bf5 Bc6 36 d7 Rf8 37 Rd4 1–0 Kramnik,V-Leko,P/Budapest HUN 2001/TWIC 322. 15 Bg5 Bd7 15 ..Bf6 16 Bd2 b6 17 Rc7 Bg4 18 Ba6 e6 19 Ng5 Be5 20 Rxf7 exd5 21 f4 Bg7 22 f5 dxe4 23 Bxa5 bxa5 24 Bc4 Bc3+ 25 Kf2 e3+ 26 Kg3 Be5+ 27 Kxg4 Rd4+ 28 Kh3 Rxc4 29 f6 Bxf6 30 Rxf6 Re8 31 Re1 e2 32 Kg3 Ra4 33 Kf2 Rxa2 34 Ne6 a4 35 Rb1 a3 36 Rb7 e1Q+ 37 Kxe1 Rxg2 38 Rg7+ Kh8 39 Rgf7 h5 40 Kf1 Rxh2 41 Rxg6 Rxe6 42 Rxe6 Kg8 43 Rxa7 1–0 Kasparov,G-Romanishin,O/Moscow 1981. 16 Bd3 Rdc8 17 Ke2 e6 18 Be3N

Just what exactly constitutes a TN? Kramnik had spent a lot of time finely tuning all these lines for glory over Kasparov, so I suppose all claims go to him. However, being a Grünfeld Defence aficionado also, my trusty database managed to kick up an obscure game with 18 Be3!?N - played in the Bristol Open in England no less! For what its worth, I think that Black handled the play better in that game with 19 ..Ba4. For the record, the older continuation was 18 Bd2 exd5! 19 exd5 (19 Bxa5 dxe4 20 Bxe4 Re8!) 19 ..Re8+ 20 Be3 , after which Black is equal.] 18 ..exd5 19 exd5 b6? "A mistake in a critical position," according to Kramnik. "Black's problem is the knight on a5 is out of play." Let us return to that aforementioned game from the Bristol Open: 19 ..Ba4! 20 Rxc8+ Rxc8 21 Bxa7 Rd8 22 Rc1 Bf8 23 Bb6 Rxd5 24 Rc8 Nc6 25 Ra8 Bb5 26 Bxb5 Rxb5 27 Be3 Kg7 28 Nd4 Ra5 ½–½ Weeks,C-Easton,A/Bristol 1991] 20 Ba6! Rd8 21 Rhd1 Bc8 According to Kramnik, critical for Black's survival was 21 ..Ba4!? 22 Rd3 b5!, with the idea of ..Nc4 - always a good sign for Black in the Grünfeld. 22 Bxc8 Kramnik couldn't find anything concrete after 22 Bb5 Bd7 23 Bc6. 22 ..Raxc8 23 Rxc8 Rxc8 24 Nd4 Bf8?

"Black should have played 24 ..Bxd4! 25 Rxd4 f6 26 Kd3 Kf7 27 g4," according to Kramnik, "and, despite the clear White advantage, Black may still be able to hold the draw due to the lack of material." 25 Nb5 a6 26 d6!! Rc2+

26 ..axb5 27 d7 Rd8 28 Bxb6 Nc6 29 Bxd8 Nxd8 30 Rd5!, and, apart from Re5 winning, Kramnik also has Rxb5 and pushing the a-pawn. 27 Kd3 Rxa2? Black's only chance, Kramnik felt, was going for 27 ..Rc6 28 d7 Be7 29 Nc3 Rd6+ 30 Ke2 Rxd1 31 Kxd1 Bd8 32 Nd5 Kf8 33 Kc2, and he felt the he "was probably winning." However, with a little assistance from my good friend "Herr Fritz", there might not be any probability about it with the unusual 29 Na7!?, depriving Black of the c6 square: 29 Na7!? Rd6+ 30 Ke2 Rxd1 31 Kxd1 Bd8 32 Nc8 Nc4 (32 ..b5? 33 Bb6 Bxb6 34 Nxb6 Nc6 35 Nd5 Nd8 (35 ..Kf8 36 Nb4! Nd8 37 Nxa6 Ke7 38 Nc7 Kxd7 39 Nxb5) ) 33 Bd4 Kf8 34 g4 f6 (34 ..b5? 35 Bc5+ Kg7 36 Be7!) 35 f4 Kf7 36 f5! gxf5 37 gxf5 b5 38 Ke2 If Black doesn't do anything, White will just waltz's his king into c6 via d3-e4-d5. 38 ..Ne5 39 Bb6 Bxb6 40 Nxb6 Ke7 41 Nd5+ Kd8 42 Nxf6. 28 d7 Nb7 28 ..Be7 29 Nc3 Rb2 30 Nd5 Bd8 31 Rc1 is winning. 29 Nc3 Rb2 30 Nd5 Rb5 31 Kc2 Bc5 32 Bh6! Kramnik: "Other moves were winning too, but I was going for mate!" And he went on to quickly demonstrate what he had in mind: 32 ..f5 33 Nc7 Ra5 34 d8Q+ Nxd8 35 Rxd8+ Kf7 36 Rd7+ Kg8 (36 ..Kf6 37 f4!, threatening Bg7 and Bg5 mate!) 37 Nd5 and, to stop the mate with Nf6+ and Rxh7, Black has to drop more material with 37 ..Bd4 38 Ne7+ Kf7 39 Nc6+. 32 ..f6 33 Nc7 1–0

With Kasparov winning the Audience Prize for best game in round one, and now Kramnik in round two, in the natural order of things then I suppose Anand should pick up the round three prize – when he’s up against Kasparov!

However, today he was having one or two little problems with the back-marker, Sergey Tiviakov, which was only resolved by his opponents mishandling of a delicate position in time-trouble.

Anand,V (2790) - Tiviakov,S (2597) [B77]

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6 5 Nc3 Bg7 6 Be3 Nf6 7 Bc4 0–0 8 Bb3 d6 9 f3 Bd7 10 Qd2 Rc8 11 0–0–0 Nxd4 An idea in the Dragon that was introduced into tournament praxis by Veselin Topalov against Nigel Short in 1996 at Novgorod. 12 Bxd4 b5?! 13 Nd5!?

Faced with many options here, Anand opts for Short's instinctive choice against Topalov - and probably the best move. 13 Kb1 a5!; 13 g4 a5 14 g5 Ne8 15 Bxg7 Nxg7!; 13 e5 dxe5 14 Bxe5 Bc6 15 Qg5 Qb6=; 13 Bxa7!? Qa5 14 Bd4 Be6 (14 ..b4 15 Nd5 Nxd5 16 Bxg7 Kxg7 17 exd5 Ba4 18 Qd4+ Kg8 19 c4!) 15 Nd5 Qxd2+ 16 Kxd2! (16 Rxd2? Bxd5 17 exd5 (17 Bxf6 Bh6!) 17 ..Bh6!) 16 ..Nxd5 17 Bxg7 Kxg7 18 exd5 13 ..Nxd5 14 Bxg7 Kxg7 15 exd5! Leaving Black with a backwards e-pawn to defend, that'll come under pressure after Rhe1. 15 ..a5 16 a3 Qb6 16 ..a4?! 17 Ba2 Bf5 18 c3 Qb6 19 g4 Bd7 20 Rhe1 Rfe8 21 Re4. 17 Rhe1 Rfe8 18 g4 b4 19 a4 Also worthy of consideration was exchanging the queen's, with: 19 axb4 axb4 20 Qd4+ Qxd4 21 Rxd4 Rb8 22 h4 f5 23 Kd2, and, after a Ra1, White is better due to the more active rooks. 19 ..Qc5 20 Kb1 e5! Finally ridding himself of that awkward e-pawn. 21 dxe6 Bxe6 22 h4 22 Bxe6 Rxe6!=. 22 ..Bxb3 23 cxb3 Rxe1 24 Rxe1 h5!

Spot on! If 24 ..Rc6 25 Ka2! d5 26 Re5 Rd6 27 h5 Rd8 28 hxg6 hxg6 29 Rh5!, and Black's got problems. 25 Ka2! Safety first! 25 ..hxg4 26 fxg4 Rh8! 26 ..Rd8 27 Qf4!] 27 Qf4! Rxh4 28 Rf1 Qe5?

28 ..f5! was the only defence! 29 Qg5 Rh2! (29 ..Rxg4? 30 Qe7+ Kg8 31 Rh1 Rg2 32 Qf6! wins - Black no longer has the Rxb2+ resource.) 30 Qe7+ (30 Rxf5? Rxb2+! 31 Kxb2 Qc3+=; 30 gxf5 Rxb2+!) 30 ..Kg8 and White can't do anything because of the threat of ..Rxb2+!, drawing. 29 Qxf7+ Kh6 30 Rf6? 30 Rg1! with the threat of g5 mating is hard to meet: 30 ..Qg7 (30 ..Kg5 31 Rd1!) 31 Qf4+ Kh7 32 Re1! Rh3 (32 ..d5 33 Rc1!) 33 Qxd6 Rf3 34 Rh1+ Kg8 35 Qd8+ Rf8 36 Qxa5 and Black can safely resign with a clear conscience. 30 ..Rxg4 31 Re6 Qg7 31 ..Qd4 32 Qf8+ Qg7 33 Qxd6 32 Qf3 Qd4 Black also gets stretched after 32 ..Rg5 33 Qf4 Qd7 34 Re2; 32 ..Rd4 33 Qe3+ Kh5 34 Re7 Qf6 35 Ra7! Qf4 (35 ..Rd5 36 Qh3+ Kg5 37 Qg2+!) 36 Rxa5+. 33 Qf8+ Kh5 33 ..Qg7 34 Qxd6. 34 Rxd6 Qe5 35 Qd8!

With the subtle threat of Rd5. 35 ..Rg5 36 Rd7 36 Rd4! leaves Black in zugzwang! 36 ..Qg7 (36 ..Rg4 37 Rd5; 36 ..Rf5 37 Rh4#) 37 Rd1 Kh6 38 Rd7 Qe5 39 Re7! 36 ..Kg4 There was always the suicidal king march: 36 ..Rf5 37 Rh7+ Kg4 38 Qh4+ Kf3 39 Re7 Qf4 40 Qh1+ Kg3 (40 ..Kf2 41 Qe1+ Kf3 42 Qe2+ Kg3 43 Re3+ Kh4 44 Re4) 41 Re1! 37 Rd1! Qe3 37 ..Qc5 38 Qe8! 38 Rd4+ Qxd4 39 Qxd4+ Kh5 40 Qh8+ Kg4 41 Qg7 Kh5 42 Qh7+ Kg4 43 Kb1 Kf5 44 Qf7+ Ke4 45 Qf6 1–0

So, who do you think is the strongest player of the three: Anand, Kasparov or Kramnik? Well, why don’t you head toward the tournaments own website at http://www.coruschess.com, from where you’ll find they have organized a poll for you to vote on your own preference.

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