Live reporting: round 10
24 January 2007 14:18 PM | Last modified: 18:03
Last update: 17.49 CET
Time flies and the Corus Chess Tournament is already in round 10. Again we see the 6.Be3 Najdorf: Karjakin-Anand play their 23 moves of theory very quickly. 23…Qc6 is still known from Morozevich-Volokitin 2006 and Leko-Karjakin 2006 but the played move 23…Nb5 was only played in a game by two unknown players. Another exciting game is Shirov-Ponomariov. The variation is especially well-known for its drawing mechanism Qd3 Ra8 Qd2 Rb8 etc., but Shirov clearly gains nothing with a draw.
By the way, Mrs. Shirov has just arrived, and is now talking in the press room with Mrs. Anand about … well, about anything but chess. The game Radjabov-Svidler also looks sharp. GM Sipke Ernst predicts a win for Svidler, mainly because of White’s ugly structure of course. We shall see. Topalov has sac’ed an exchange again. The sacrifice was already known from two games, but Carlsen is thinking very hard now.
Update 15.29 CET: Two games have ended already in the A-group. Svidler wanted to show his position is a draw after all (he lost with it before), Kramnik apparently had enough respect voor Motylev, and Karjakin can resign any moment now against Anand. Bad preparation, according to the connaisseurs (see the reactions below). The game of Topalov is dividing the opinions. Some think he is completely winning, others think he will get long term problems with black’s a-pawn.
By the way, we have footage of the start of the round:
Update 16.40 CET: Anand has won anyway. ‘I showed the worst technique ever,’ he said after the game, and everyone understands why. Topalov also won and given a press conference. We hope to put it online soon! It was all home preparation, the mistake came at move 23, where Rc4? probably already loses. While David Navara is giving an interview for ICC about his game against Tiviakov, and Mrs. Shirov still has some hope of ‘two in a row’ for her husband, we are actually starting to become interested in Loek’s game. ‘Too difficult,’ says Sipke Ernst, who prefers Black.
Update 17.49 CET: Shirov eventually didn’t get more than a draw. He did have an extra pawn and besides the opposite coloured bishops also some rooks, but he couldn’t prevent those from being exchanged, after which a win was not possible anymore. For a while Loek seemed to be winning, after Aronian’s blunder, but as was already mentioned by Jeroen in the comments, his moves could probably have been more accurate and so the Armenian came out of it with just a scratch.
We return once more to the crazy game Karjakin-Anand. Their scoresheets don’t seem to visualize any stress… 
Click on the photo for a larger version.
I hope Topalov will win
Karjakin’s line with 15.Kb1 is too slow to make it difficult for black. IMO Anand’s 23… Nb5! will put it out of business. An alternative for 24.Bxb5 is:
24.Rd7 Na3+! 25.bxa3 bxa3+ 26.Nb3 Qb4! but that is easy for black. Perhaps 24.Rd5!? is an idea, but Anand has prepared that well, I guess.
A pity Karjakin didn’t go for the Shirov-Van Wely line, that is much more dangerous for black.
Karjakin is losing at very fast pace. Anand has even missed a forced mate with 45… Kg4! instead of 45… Ke4?!
According to Rybka Topalov is completely winning after 24.O-O. He always has Bd8! eating the black a-pawn as well.
What on earth is Anand doing? I have the idea he is enjoying his position instead of finishing white off as quickly as possible
Hi, http://www.coruschess.com/openlive.php is not working any more. Gives the “Applet andyhot.chess.pgnview.PgnView notinited” error. Can you fix it please?
There is no error
@ openlive
Please email webmaster [at] coruschess.com for those kind of things.
Shirov is winning?
Will we have some Anand video today? I would love to see some analysis or a press conference.
Thanks for a great site btw.
Sorry. It was a refresh/jammed mozilla firefox problem. Good games by the way.
Thanks.
Incredible, Aronian is blundering the game away! First he overlooked 31.Bc1! and 32… Ke6?? is even a blunder, where 32… Ke8 keeps chances to hold on.
BTW, analysis has shown that Karjakin could have drawn his game as follows: 24.Rd7! Na3+! 25.bxa3 bxa3+ 26.Nb3 Qb4! 27.Ne4! Qxc4 28.Rxe7 axb3 29.axb3 Qd4 30.c3 Qd3+ 31.Ka2 Qe2+ 32.Kxa3 Ra8+ 33.Kb4 Rb8+ with a repetition.
Woops, Loek uncorked the lemon 38.Rh5?? and now it is a draw again….
Hehe!!!!!!!
Jeroen… Piket?
Interesting observation: Anand’s new move 23… Nb5 has been played before, by computers. The whole line is in my new Rybka book, including the best defence 24.Rd7! leading to a draw.
So no, it is not Jeroen Piket, but Jeroen Noomen. Bookauthor for Rybka, the strongest chess engine
I think Radja has the chance to hold Topalov.
If he can take any advantage with white against
Toppy.If Topalov draws against Kramnik and
Radja wins his game Then it will be very INTERESTING.
To Be Continued..
Bye All….
TOPALOV IS REAL CHAMPION!!!KRAMNIK IS A WC-CHAMPION. HE CAN’T PLAY WITHOUT THE TOALET!
It seems Topalov is wonderful in tournaments because he wins many games. Kramnik is better in match because he doesn’t often lose. Is the World Championship Mexico match a tournament with mini-matches, or is it a straight tournament? It’d be a shame for him to lose the title in a normal tournament.
RADJABOV WILL WIN!!! He’s very sexy ! I love HIM! SEXY CHESS WITH SEXY RADJABOV! RADJABOV’s SEXY SIMBOL IN CHESS!