Live reporting: round 11
26 January 2007 2:51 PM | Last modified: 19:51
Last update: 19.06 CET
The oh so o exciting last phase of the Corus Chess Tournament has begun. Three rounds to go, and three great ones, wow. In group A the question is if Radjabov, after his good start, can also do a finishing sprint to make Topalov’s life a bit harder. Today Radja plays Kramnik, so maybe the world champion has to be the one to go for it. However, he needs to make up one and a half point, just like Anand (today with White against Shirov), Svidler (today with White against Topalov!) and Aronian (today with White against Karjakin).
First some footage. We’ll be back with game updates as soon as possible!
In group B the situation it is even more exciting. Bologan, Vachier-Lagrave en Eljanov are leading the group with 6,5 points. They are followed by two players with 6 points and three players with 5,5. Among them the Dutch players Daniël Stellwagen and Erwin l’Ami. There won’t be any final decision today, but at the top some players can make a great difference. As at this moment Vachier-Lagrave is playing against Eljanov, fellow leader Bologan, playing with White against Sargissian, can be the one who’s sitting pretty.
In group C Ian Nepomniachtchi is only one point ahead of Krasenkow. The latter plays with Black against Harmen Jonkman, while the leader seems to have an easier draw, playing with White against Swedish Brynell, also ranked number last.
Update 15.25 CET: Just like in round three against Karjakin, Topalov is playing the h5-variation of the English Attack-Najdorf. Svidler deviates with 12.Bd3 which is a theoretical novelty, but it’s probably still preparation for both after 12…b5 13.Bg5 Nb6 14.f4 Rb8 15.Rhe1 Nc4. Carlsen-Van Wely is a much more quiet Najdorf because of 7.Nf3. Aronian-Karjakin follow the very topical Catalan that was played this tournament in Ponomariov-Anand (1) en Kramnik-Anand (6), which was explained extensively by Kramnik on this site. Karjakin doesn’t believe in Anand’s 15…Rc8 and comes with 15…Bd6. Aronian does believe in the (indeed fancy) concept Qd1-f1. The world champion has another concept of his own on the board; 14.Bd3 is never played (14.Nde4 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 Bxf5 16.Bd3 is, e.g. Onischuk-Radjabov, Turin OL 2006). Anand succeeded in getting something against Shirov’s Petroff Defence; he’s won a pawn. How much it’s worth, remains to be seen. Navara has a small plus agains Motylev’s Slav.
Update 16.38 CET: Svidler has won a pawn but again, its value remains to be seen. Black has good compensation and seemed to have missed a great chance: 26…cxb3 27.axb3 (27.Nxb3 a5) Qa5 is almost winning, according to Rybka. While we write this, the program says 30…Bxc2+ now wins for Black. We have discovered a nice trick in Carlsen-Van Wely:
In this position the neat 23…Rxf2! was possible (24.Kxf2 Be3+ followed by Qf7) and after 24.Nxd4 Rf6 we prefer Black. In the game, 23…Qxc2 led to an equal position. Karjakin’s preparation turned out to be quite OK, but Aronian is still trying. In Kramnik-Radjabov, now drawn, 20…a6 is a move to be analysed afterwards. And honestly speaking, we don’t really understand 24.Nc7. Anand’s extra pawn wasn’t much, and his game against Shirov is already drawn. Navara seems to have blundered again with White, with his 17.Be3. Tiviakov-Ponomariov is also a draw already after Pono didn’t really test Tivi’s Accelerated Dragon.
Update 17.35 CET: as already mentioned in the comments, Topalov could have had excellent winning chances after either 31…Qb4 or 31…Qc5. The rook ending is better for White and now Topalov has to prove that he can be a tough defender in the ending as well. Loek van Wely will probably win his ending against Carlsen and Aronian is also winning now.
Meanwhile, forest went to the playing hall with the camera:
Update 19.06 CET: SVIDLER BEATS TOPALOV. We’re quite busy right here processing not one but two press conferences! First Aronian demonstrated his win against Karjakin, and at the end he thought Svidler had very good winning chances in the rook ending. Soon Svidler did win, after which he also explained his game of today. So not only Svidler but the chess fans too are lucky bastards today! As always, a.s.a.p. online.
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well, i am not sure…
Weet iemand of de “corus chess tune” een fragment is uit een lied oid? Zo ja welk nummer dan?
voor nog wat randnieuws over corus:[sorry tom, maar dit is toch een soort spam.]
Peter, je bedoelt neem ik aan: “Anand is er NIET in geslaagd iets te bereiken tegen het Russisch van Shirov”?
hi…what abt anad’s position….7.30pm ist
Anand-Shirov 1/2-1/2 Priceless
okay mij niet gelaten maar ik dacht dat wat interviews met spelers wel interessant zou kunnen zijn (heb trouwens niks ermee te maken)
According to Rybka Svidler has just made a blunder by playing 26.Rc7?
It is unclear why Kramnik gave back the pawn so easily, perhaps we here after the game why.
Motylev’s 17… Bxe4! is correct, easy to overlook!
And now Topalov misses 26… cxb3! which is a huge advantage for black (Rybka). Still, after 26… Qa5!? as played, black is better too.
Jeroen give some variations to cxb3 and q5 please
van wely worries me
Wie is mickey??? kan ie schaken???
Adoro el juego de topalov, el es el verdadero campeon mundial, que verguenza de kramnik, puras tablas??, topalov es el verdadero campeon mundial, Topalov is the true world champions!!
De corus chess tune is gecomponeerd door Mark Spierings
OK, here some lines from Svidler-Topalov:
26… cxb3! and now:
A) 27.axb3 Qa5 28.Rxc8+ Rxc8 29.Re2 Qc3 leading to the game.
B) 27.Nxb3 a5! 28.Kb2 a4 29.c4 Qe8 30.Re7 Qf8! (not an easy one!) 31.Kc3 axb3 32.axb3 Rb6! and black is winning.
In the game 26… Qa5?! was less strong, as after 27.Rxc8+ Rxc8 Svidler could have played 28.Qf4, preventing the line mentioned under A. Still, this looks excellent for black after 28.Qf4 c3 29.Re2 Qxd5.
Rooll
i agree 1000%
not only because of wjik but because of his outstanding performance in elista . he just blundered the games away for psychological reason i fear. Kramnik didnt win a single game but unfortunately topalov lost 2
thx jeroen
Oh no, Veselin has completely blown it!
Correct, 31…Qb4 and 31…Qc5 win according to Rybka and 33…Rc2+ was better as well. Now it’s a draw.
By the way let’s keep our respect for the players. It’s nice to have Rybka with us but it’s still great what these quys are doing there behind the board with such pressure.
Topalov’s 33… Rc5 looks like a mistake, wanting to deliver a mate that is not there. Maybe the rook ending is still very good for black, but gives 33… Rc2+ 34 Rxc2 Qxc2+ and the white d-pawn drops black not just a winning Q-ending?
I am not sure, white looks much better in this rook ending….
Nah the rook ending is nothing, 36 d6 Rc8 37 d7 Rd8 38 Rd6+ looks like an easy to hold, at least.
I was not referring to you, Jeroen, but adding to my previous comment
maybe refreshing before posting would be an idea…
36.b4! is much better, though. White has a strong d-pawn, a6 is weak…. No, it is going to be tough to draw for Topalov!
@ Peter
I have the greatest respect for the players! But chess is also emotions and when I saw Topalov missing these opportunities I felt bad for him :-).
I am a great fan of Topalov, as he plays for a win in any game. Regardless the colour and the opponent. When I go to Wijk aan Zee I always know that Topalov will not play a quick draw.
Indeed it is a pity that Topalov blew this excellent game against a top-level opponent
I agree. Winning this game would have given a 1.5 point margin going into the next game with Kramnik. I fear for Topalov’s life in the game va. Svidler, I hope he manages to draw it. It would be such a pity to lose the tournament this way…
BTW, Motylev is a draw, as is Van Wely. Werle-Bu also saw some exciting stuff. All in all we have a great round today!
I am afraid that Topalov’s main strength is not the endgame. He has played badly the rook endgame and things are now over. He is not invincible….
He missed quite goood chances and apparently simply variations to go for much better positions. A real fighter, indeed.
uff, no nerves left, help please- what is rybka saing- can this be saved :[[
What a wonderful performance from Carlsen today! Even though he “only” drew against his opponent, he demonstrated a beautiful understanding of the endgame.
Kramnik, Vladimir versus Topalov, Vaselin overall record 23-14 for Kramnik’s favor! He is always better than Topalov
I am from Bulgaria and I am one of the biggest fans of Veselin!!!In my opinion he is the best in the world because his playing style is dynamic,attacking and not boring!!!Despite hiss loss in the 11th round I think that he is still the favourite!!!I am looking forward to seeing Kramnik well-beaten by Veselin on Saturday!!!I also hope that there is gonna be a re-match for the World Title in Sofia!!!Kramnik-YOU CAN BE SURE THAT IN SOFIA YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO USE INTERNET IN THE TOILET!!! GOOD LUCK, VESKO!!!YOU ARE THE BEST!!!BULGARIA LOVES AND STANDS BEHIND YOU!!
THIS TIME TOILETS AND INTERNET CONNECTIONS WON’T HELP KRAMNIK!!!THIS THE TIME FOR VESELIN TO SHOW HIM AND ALL THE WORLD THAT HE IS THE REAL WORLD CHAMPION!!!A WIN AGAINST KRAMNIK WILL CLINCH THE VICTORY IN THE CORUS TOURNAMENT!!!VESKO WILL HAVE THE WHITE PIECES SO AS ALWAYS HE WILL BE LOOKING FOR A WIN!!!OUR COUNTRY IS WAITING FOR THE RE-MATCH FOR THE WORLD TITLE WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED TO START ON THE 3RD OF MARCH-THE NATIONAL HOLIDAY OF BULGARIA!!!
This should not the place for primitive national statements. Some countries are now in the EU but the behaviour of some of the inhabitants is like 100 years ago. Or 15 years ago in another part of South-East-Europe. We are chess-players of the 21.cent. so please stopp such strange posting. Thank you
Best wishes from Guangzhou
I am pretty sure Kramnik didn’t cheat during the rapid games…
I am pretty sure the match won’t take place (Danailov does need to buy a calendar)…
I am pretty sure Kramnik will play in Mexico, and lose the title. He will then challenge the winner and win the title back.
Learn from Radjabov’s challenge - it’s not gonna happen if the titleholder ever changes, and it’s too late for Kramnik to play! A match is useless without preperation, “We will be there in 48h” says it all - they’re not after putting up a great chess match but at getting the title. That disillusions any respect I could ever have for Danailov and Topalov off of the board.
Oh, btw. We need no soar losers, thank you very much!
Too bad Toppy lost. Noticed that the three Russians, Kramnik, Svidler, and Radjabov (Azeri - almost pure Russian), all drew each other and all are coasting or will coast with draws just before their games with Topalov?
Svidler drew Kramnik in rd 9, Radjabov in rd 10 and had a rest day yesterday.
Kramnik drew Svidler as above, drew Motylev in rd 10, and drew Radjabov today. He plays Topalov tomorrow.
Radjabov drew Carlsen in rd 9, drew Svidler in rd 10 as above, drew Kramnik today as above, and will probably draw Motylev tomorrow before playing Topalov in the last round.
Motylev is Russian.
It seems to me the Russians are resting up against Topalov. Is it Fischer in Curacao all over again?
@ Xmas,
That match challenge, money talks more than any calendar. If the 2 million is rock solid, you can be sure FIDE will bend over to make the match happen.
Well, all this draws did not help the alleged conspirators much in getting them any further up the tournament table. With a few more accurate moves in today’s game, Topalov would have had a 1½ point lead over the closest of his rivals!
So much for another conspiracy theory…
@ TrapArecev,
But Topalov lost (and Svidler won). Perhaps if Svidler didn’t have energy stored up after all those draws he might have not have energy to win today. And perhaps Topalov might be a little tired.
major german newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)
pre-published in its website this article: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt6m4/sport/weitere/artikel/618/99519/
its an article that will be in tomorrows print version about danailov caught doing weird gestures and getting the main referees attention
The comments of DD and TOPALOV FAN CLUB!!! are very unfortunate. They try to make this chess event a national war! This is chess. A game of intelligence, we don’t need such silly respectless attacks. If chess is a logic came here are the truths:
1-Kramnik never cheated, simply looking closer to games on the chessboard will be witness for that!
2-Kramnik is unified World Chess Champion
3-Kramnik beats topalov 23-13 in played games on the chessboard. But the official score is 23-14 think why this is “1″ addition?
4-As one friend above said danailovs statement (that they will be ready in 48 hours) is very funny! But may be some surprises will meet us. May be Kramnik will accept challenge and will win in sofia! And after this time topalov will be only a funny historical figure!
God knows the truths!
I WANT TO APOLOGISE TO EVERYBODY FOR MY WORDS AND FOR THE NATIONAL STATEMENTS!!!BELIEVE ME THAT THERE IS NO WAY KRAMNIK CAN WIN IN SOFIA!!!THIS IS PART 5 OF MISSION IMPOSSIBLE WITH TOM CRUISE!!!THE GAME BETWEEN TOPALOV AND KRAMNIK WILL BE DECISIVE SO DON’T MISS IT!!!I HOPE THE BEST PLAYER WIN!!!! SPECIAL WISHES FOT TMJ-you are right!!! i am sorry!!! I hope you will understand me!! ALL THE BEST!!!
sorry ,i meaned the Svidlers behavior at the pressconf, not some flattish statments in chat
Thank you, ChesVibes for these video sketches, and all the work done at the Corus 2007. It really enhanced my enjoyment of the event.