Corus R5: Shirov also beats Van Wely
Alexei Shirov also defeated Loek van Wely today and now leads the Corus Chess Tournament with 5 out of 5. The Spaniard is 1.5 points ahead of Carlsen, Nakamura and Ivanchuk. Giri is in sole lead in the B group again, and so is Robson in the C group.
The Corus Chess Tournament takes place January 16-31 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Next to hundreds of amateurs, three Grandmaster Groups (A, B and C) with 14 players each play a closed round-robin. The rate of play is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, and 30 seconds increment starting from move 1.
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Games round 5
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Round 5
14:59 CET
Yesterday was the first of three rest days and for the TV program De Wereld Draait Door a football match between Holland and Norway was organized, in which both teams played with the official shirts. Unfortunately I couldn't be there but it's not clear if it had made a difference since the DWDD team didn't even allow official Corus photographer Fred Lucas to shoot on the scene. I did hear that that Kjetil Lie is a fantastic footballer and that he basically decided matters by himself, with 4 goals in a match that was won 5-1 by the Norwegians.
Today it's chess again, and the first that catches the eye is Vladimir Kramnik's opening choice with Black against Jan Smeets. A) Not the Petroff, and B)... the Pirc. Yes, the opening that's not considered to be a real test to 1.e4, and the opening that's mainly used by GMs who want to beat weaker opponents during the first few rounds of 9-round Swisses. Kramnik might well be trying to win this one, since in his (only) previous game against Smeets, he was easily held to a draw in a Scotch, when the ex-World Champion played for Groningen in the Dutch league in March 2007.
In the top encounter Nakamura-Carlsen White goes for ultra-solid play with a Delayed Exchange against the Ruy. Tiviakov is in a similar mood (his usual mood) and tries his pet Qe2 against Karjakin, who makes it look totally harmless. Caruana went for 1.d4 against Dominguez and it looks like he has to be careful already in a Grünfeld. Short has successfully managed avoid theoretical waters and has a classical, tiny edge against Ivanchuk's IQP position.
Leko and Anand are in a very unclear, queenless middlegame arising from a 4...Bc5 Ruy Lopez while Shirov continues aggressively against Van Wely. About his move 9...g4, which we've seen in a similar position in the Korchnoi-Spassy match last month, Jon Speelman said on the Chess.FM broadcast (with typical native British accent): "What a hero, what a hero!" Host Mig said "it seems like these days this is a move before breakfast".
16:32 CET
Except for a quick draw between Leko & Anand and So & Harikrishna in group B, all games are still running. We were wrong about Caruana-Dominguez: after the strong move 20.Re6! it's Black who is in danger. At the moment of writing Caruana is thinking about his 24th move, where Qd8! seems close to winning.
Short is still trying to get more than an edge, now in an ending, and after Van Wely's exchange sacrifice against Shirov it looks about equal there as well. In Smeets-Kramnik, 8.e5 looks dubious as it leads by force to an ending where Black is fine, if not already better. The youngest of the three Dutchmen is under pressure there. For a while Nakamura seemed to have serious pressure against Carlsen, with a menacing knight on f5, but with some cool defensive moves Carlsen avoided real problems. The long line Nakamura went for, starting with 23.Qh4, looks risky. Tiviakov and Karjakin seem to be heading to a draw, although Black might be more comfortable.
Naiditsch-Nisipeanu is an interesting Panov Caro-Kann in group B where the complications seem to favour White.
Giri is doing well again, in a better ending against Sutovsky. Peng-Robson from C is another good one to follow today.
18:07 CET
Anish Giri also beat Emil Sutovsky and is now on a fantastic 4/5. Ni Hua probably won't win today, and so the reigning Dutch champion will take the sole lead in the B group again. A good reason to have him doing the press conference! This just finished in the press room, and Anish explained his success as follows: "They just make some mistakes and then I win." Press officer: "OK, but this group is stronger than the Dutch Championship. They have 2700." Giri: "Yes, but they also make mistakes."
Meanwhile, Naiditsch beat Nisipeanu in a very powerful game, and in C Robson beat Peng with Black. Kramnik outplayed Smeets in the ending, and to the question why he went for the Pirc, the Russian answered that he was was sure Smeets would refute it. "The problem is I'm playing the Petroff for a very long time already and I had no doubt he was going to refute the opening and then I thought: I still have a long career and if he's going to refute it, what am I going to do. For this game I thought: I can do it with Anand, but not with this guy."
20:01 CET
Van Wely collapsed against Shirov, and so the Spaniard is now on an amazing 5/5. "I believe that he definitely shouldn't take on c6 immediately. After that all the time I have this idea of ...c5 and doing something on the diagonal", the tournament leader said after today's game. He thought first Re1 would have been better, after which it's roughly equal.
Nakamura pressed a lot today, and "deserves credit for declining my draw offer", as Carlsen said after the game. The American eventually reached an ending with rook, two knights and two pawns against rook, bishop and three pawns, but it was impossible to win this ending. Caruana was disappointed as he was almost sure he missed a win against Dominguez. He thought 24...Bf6 was an adequate answer to 24.Qd8, but then 25.Rc1 Bxe7 26.Rxc6 Bxd8 27.Rc8 wins a piece.
Short also had to be satisfied with a draw, and he complimented his opponent Ivanchuk for his great defence. "Against any other GM I would have won this." In our opinion the Englishman is playing fine so far, and fully deserves his return into the A group. Tiviakov easily survived Karjakin's bit of pressure. In B, Howell beat Ni to take over clear second place. The Englishman is half a point behind Giri.
Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group A
Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group B
Corus 2010 | Schedule & results Grandmaster Group C
Corus 2010 | Round 5 Standings Grandmaster Group A
Corus 2010 | Round 5 Standings Grandmaster Group B
Corus 2010 | Round 5 Standings Grandmaster Group C
Links
- Official website
- Games in PGN via TWIC: Group A | Group B | Group C
Founder and editor-in-chief of ChessVibes.com, Peter is responsible for most of the chess news and tournament reports. Often visiting top events, he also provides photos and videos for the site. He's a 1.e4 player himself, likes Thai food and the Stones.
Comments
unknown
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Giri instead of van Wely next year.
Who will stop Shirov? Maybe Short with Black?
buri
2 years 2 weeks ago
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What does Kramnik mean by his statement at the press conference?
Arne Moll
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Van Wely didn't play badly at all I thought. It was just that Shirov played even better!
VB
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Van Wely rules as usual at this top events!
Jo
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Standings table looks fascinating from a what-if perspective.
So I what-iffed and now my brains fried.
vosuram
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@buri: I think, Kramnik meant the following: all participants are equal, but me and Anand are the most equal :)
antichrist
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Might be a good idea for Shirov's opponents to stop playing with fire and have a cool, hard draw
Farshad
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Does Shirov takes risk in his next games against strong players ?
Sander
2 years 2 weeks ago
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I believe Nimzovich once said about Alekhine,after the latter crushing pretty much everyone at a supertournament; "He is treating us all like patzers!" This is something Loek van Wely could say about Shirov today! Amazing win that looks like coffeehousechess (not coffeeshop chess, which is far worse :) but is probably a lot deeper than most of us know.
buri
2 years 2 weeks ago
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GO SHIROV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D
GO GIRI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D
Webbimio
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Please, where did you find Kramnik's press conference?
Thomas
2 years 2 weeks ago
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This is Mig on Dailydirt about what Kramnik said:
"According to Kramnik, speaking to Macauley, he picked up a book on the Pirc on the way out of the hall the other day and decided to use it against Smeets. He jokingly started the interview by saying he knew Smeets would refute the Petroff, so he had to play something else. Hilarious. I'm digging this laid-back Parisian Kramnik. I hope the whole clip goes up at chessclub.com. "
Just some fooling around I would say (such a quote wouldn't be surprising at all from Aronian, but he doesn't play the Petroff and doesn't play Corus 2010). But in Peter Doggers' version, I was confused because first it seemed as if Smeets would refute the Pirc - maybe this was also buri's problem?
Mike
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Listen guys, Shirov is doing an excellent service to Chess. He is playing honestly and bravely according to his attacking style, I see him in a good mood with life. Karpov once said that if one fears to loose, one cannot play chess (about Fischer..). So, go ahead Shirov!! Transfer to your opponents the responsibility to refute your attacks! Maybe I'm wrong, but for your style, the best defense is the attack...If you loose the tournament due to some "risky" play, I personally think that you would even loose if played "safely"...Thank you very much for your spectacular and brave play...! This is all that Chess needs..! (I think everybody now is melting their minds and databases searching ways to stop Shirov!!)
Remco G
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@jan: He said, when asked whether he was trying to become the best Dutchman, "I have bigger problems in my life than Smeets and Tiviakov".
At first I also thought he meant he had some problems in his life, but in fact he means that he's concentrating on more important things (e.g., his own results, trying to win games, etc) and doesn't really see the point of comparing himself with Smeets and Tiviakov.
chess
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Go Carlsen\ Kasparov for win!
Carlsen should win more games, its boring to play draws.
Thomas
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Some days ago it was discussed why Shirov wasn't invited to Linares, maybe this quote from "Fire on the Board II" provides some context, though it goes back to 1998 (but the book was finalized in February 2005):
"During the Polanica Zdroj tournament in August I received a phone call from [Linares organizer] Luis Rentero, and he horrified me with the news that my match against Kasparov in Seville was cancelled and nothing similar was being offered in its place. When I told him that it was his obligation, in that case, to pay me two hundred thousand dollars cancellation fee according to the contract signed in March, his answer was that he would eat that contract and didn't want to compensate me anything. After that conversation that man stopped existing for me of course, but he regained his standing in the chess world surprisingly quickly, perhaps because human memory is very short nowadays."
While Shirov was invited to Linares a few times (2002, 2004, 2008 - BTW always finishing [shared] last), the tournament may (still) be not very high on his list ...
Sander
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@ Vosuram and Buri, I just think Kramnik was being very polite about the whole thing...I mean, Kramnik uses the Petroff against the very strongest players to make a draw, against Smeets, I bet he wants to win that! And when asked; '' Why didnt you use the Petroff against Smeets? hes just too much of a gentleman to say,:'' A draw isnt good enough against Smeets!'' so he makes up a little joke like that, everybody knows any solid opening (Petroff, Berlin Wall,Slav ....King's Indian :) cant be that easily refuted. But hey, I wasnt there maybe im wrong.
vosuram
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@buri: Kramnik as the winner of Tal Memorial, tournament of 2740+ average (Corus: ~2719) can think this way :)
Alisher
2 years 2 weeks ago
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I don't mean to diminish Shirov's achievement, but Shirov has been winning against the outsiders. Let's see how he does against the heavyweights. And another factor is these players are playing Ivanchuk before Shirov, perhaps they are tired after playing Chukky?
Jonas
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@Alisher
Not to be rude but why do you think only shirov is winning "against the outsiders" and those "heavyweights" are not winning against outsiders?
vosuram
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Tiviakov and Karjakin are all representing the former-USSR chess school (Kramnik and Shirov are "poles", Ivanchuk is the most balanced of them, speaking about the play style). This internal tournament isn't less interesting for me than the whole one...
VladimirOo
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Furthermore, having gained the full points so far, I wouldn't despise Shirov if he just draws against the "Big Men". After all, he may continue to play creatively but doesn't have to take too much risks anymore: Now he has the advantage, and it is to the others to prove they can win as much games as him. (After all, they all intend to win a tournament, not to beat everybody...)
Dmitrij K
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@Vosuram: "Kramnik and Shirov are “poles”, Ivanchuk is the most balanced of them, speaking about the play style" - Kramnik and Shirov are not Poles. Kramnik is Russian, Shirov is Latvian-born Russian.
John Marceaux
2 years 2 weeks ago
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So this GM SHIROV is on a roll..........How many games are left and who does
he play???
A 1.5 lead is a lot but 2 wins by the 2nd place guys can cut that lead easy and then the pressue is on as time runs out at Corus!!!!
I am enjoying the show and really like the coverage on the internet. I wish the main site would have more people and events covering the games. I think they could be like a newscable channel! Oh do they have a chess channel?!
Someone should start one..............
5, 5,5, 6 (2 draws by leader)
3.5, 4.5, 5.5 (2 wins by 2nd place player(s)
cak
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Are some of the moves wrong in Caruana-Dominguez? Isn't 54.g6+ Kh6 55. g7+ winning (too) easily?
cak
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Sorry, I didn't see the Qxf2 idea.
PP (NL)
2 years 2 weeks ago
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It was a nice round again. I was there, so that always makes it a bit more special. Commentary was really good by Jop Delemarre. Very instructive and clear.
I took my camera with me, and took some photos of the players. I tried to not make any noise, but it seems like everything you do sounds like a bag of potato-chips opening. I even got the attention of one of the arbiters because of the sound of the shutter.
But all in all, I think I have a very nice series. You can have a look here if you're interested: http://patrick.d70.nl/v/Patrick/sport/corus_2010/
Alisher
2 years 2 weeks ago
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@ Jonas
Did I say that "heavyweights" were not winning against the outsider? I don't think so.
AljechinsCat
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Besides the score Shirov was not too happy with his play, e.g. the overlooked defence -Bh7 in the game against Smeets. The crushing victory against Van Wely and his score should give him the possibility to face the giants from round 7 on with enough self esteem. Furthermore, the big guys will have to attack him due to his score, which is another advantage for him, So I think he really has excellent chances for the tournament win now.
jan van der marel
2 years 2 weeks ago
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There once was a time that i really enjoyed watching Loek van Wely's games. Whats wrong with him? I heard him say in an interview that its probably his last Corus Tournament and something like 'the other players dont have the problems that i have'? Anyone knows what this refers to? Or is it just a question of motivation?
DrDolittle
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Concerning van Wely - Shirov, Marin in his book gives 8...g5?! as dubious and claiming a better position for white after 9.d4!
Any comments to this?
Amos
2 years 2 weeks ago
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"Furthermore, the big guys will have to attack him due to his score, which is another advantage for him, So I think he really has excellent chances for the tournament win now."
This is like 3rd time during the tournament that I have to think for a second to understand a comment involving the word "So". :) This is getting confusing... lol
éric
2 years 2 weeks ago
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In the standings of Group A, Karjakin is stated as being Ukrainian. But in the interview he gave to Europe Echecs, being asked whether it's hard to get a new "chess citizenship", he answers that he was already a Russian citizen, lives in Moscow and does intend to play for Russia.
Is someone able to explain ? Thanks.
Martin
2 years 2 weeks ago
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Well Im not so sure about that. It seems he's not so motivated on chess anymore. He used to have some nice preparation but not really now, which makes him weaker then the others imo.
Also he mentioned he'd focus on other things, such as his gaol to compete in the IronMan thriathlon...
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