ChessVault

Topalov and Anand are now one point ahead of Gelfand and Adams. Topalov counter-attacks Karjakin and wins. Anand’s novelty exchange sacrifice is enough to gain the point against van Wely. Gelfand snare’s Sokolov. Adams overpowers Kamsky.

Anand – van Wely

Anand sacrifices an exchange out of the opening of a Sicilian Sveshnikov, and exchanges queens. This gives him an advanced passed pawn. The middlegame shows that van Wely’s rooks are constricted by the passed pawn, and soon he has to give back the exchange. Anand gets his remaining rook on the seventh rank which secures him the point.

Aronian – Tiviakov

Tiviakov gets a solid position and equality out of a Queen’s Indian. In a balanced game Aronian is content to swap down into an equally balanced endgame. Drawn.

Gelfand – Sokolov

Sokolov manages to equalise on the Black side of a Semi-Slav. Gelfand’s manoeuvring allows the Black queen to become active, but there’s a trap. Sokolov’s knight is stranded in no mans land, and is compelled to sacrifice itself rather than retreat into an ambush. Gelfand’s thrusts against the Black kind force a resignation.

Ivanchuk – Mamedyarov

Ivanchuk wins a pawn in a manoeuvre in a Ruy Lopez Steinitz, but Black gets a bit of activity in compensation. Black uses the activity to launch a kingside attack, and forces a repetition of position.

Kamsky – Adams

Adams overpowers Kamsky in the Queen’s Indian and gets an advantage early on. He builds on this advantage and turns it into a passed d-pawn, which advances causing confusion on Kamsky’s position. Kamsky unleashes a pawn storm aimed at Black’s king, but it doesn’t save him

Karjakin – Topalov

Karjakin emerges from a Sveshnikov Sicilian with a tiny advantage. He barricades Black’s central pawns which allows him to centralise his pieces and start creating threats against the Black king. He sacrifices a pawn, but Topalov turns the tables on the kingside which forces Karjakin to dispose of another pawn. In the ensuing complications Topalov wins the White queen for a rook and bishop, whilst retaining his kingside pressure. His queen and pawns prove too strong for Karjakin’s rooks.

Leko – Bacrot

Leko emerges from a Petroff with a slight advantage, but his lack-lustre play sees Bacrot equalise, exchanging into a balanced rook and pawn ending. Draw.

Related Resources

• CorusChess: PM visits, Anand and Topalov increase lead

Anand rejoins Topalov in the lead, Karjakin still half a point behind. Anand outplays Bacrot in an ending, pressuring Bacrot into a blunder. Aronian is too much for Mamedyarov to handle.

Bacrot – Anand

Bacrot handles Anand’s direct approach of the Queens Indian well, and emerges from the opening with a definite advantage. He bails out of a tacit draw by repetition, and continues building on his advantage. Anand’s piece play in the endgame is breathtaking, and soon he has the advantage. Bacrot cracks under the pressure and blunders, losing a piece.

Adams – Leko

Adams adopts the c3 Sicilian as White, Leko equalises comfortably. Leko finds the strong move …Qc4 which convinces Adams into a repetition of position. Short draw.

Mamedyarov – Aronian

Aronian emerges from a Queen’s Indian with hanging pawns, and wastes no time in using them to constrict White’s piece activity. His strongly centralised knights give him a definite edge. White is compelled to part with an exchange to remove one of the knights, leaving Black with a strong advantage. Aronian dominates the position with his two rooks, and enters a much better endgame which he converts.

Sokolov – Kamsky

An exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit Slav sees a balanced position. Kamsky has White’s queenside activity well under control. A short draw.

Tiviakov – Karjakin

Another c3 Sicilian. Tiviakov boldly sacrifices a pawn to destroy Black’s centre, and gets a strong edge in the middle game targeting the multitude of weak Black pawns. Karjakin reduces his disadvantage with some good queenside activity. Tiviakov drifts a little. Game agreed a draw shortly thereafter.

Topalov – Gelfand

Topalov wheels out his unusual Petroff Defence variation and again, as against Bacrot, gets nothing from the opening. The game quickly moves to a balanced ending, but Topalov engineers some play to keep it interesting. Gelfand is up to the task, and meets Topalov head-on. Draw after a repetition of position.

van Wely – Ivanchuk

From a classical Nimzo-Indian Ivanchuk quickly offers an exchange of queens, and accepts a weakened kingside pawn structure. His middle game plan involving strongpointing the c4 square works out fairly well, and that gains him a small advantage. He turns that into a win of a pawn, which he quickly gives back to enter a very promising rook and pawn endgame. van Wely defends doggedly and actively. He sacrifices a pawn and forces Ivanchuk to conceed a draw by repetition of position.

Related Resources

• CorusChess: Musical chairs at the top
• TWIC: Corus Wijk aan Zee 2006, Round 8
• ChessBase: Corus R8: Anand catches Topalov

Topalov is in the lead, with Anand and Karjakin half a point behind. Karjakin wins a smooth game against Mamedyarov. Kamsky succumbs to the Spanish torture, allowing Leko a pleasant sacrifice. Topalov wins after Sokolov’s attack fails to pay dividends. Aronian blunders horribly which van Wely converts to win after a long and ardous endgame.

Leko – Kamsky

In a classical Chigorin Ruy Lopez, Leko manages to contain Black’s counterplay down the queenside. He starts building up pressure on the kingside, and manages to get a knight right into the heart of the Black position. Kamsky finds his queenside pieces completely cut off from the kingside. Leko continues to press against the king and crowns the pressure with a clever sacrifice which decisively ends the contest.

Karjakin – Mamedyarov

Karjakin gets and edge out of a Steinitz Ruy Lopez, and translates that into a better minor piece endgame, Karjakin steadily nurses his advantage by regrouping his knight to a strong square. Black has no defence to losing his a-pawn. Mamedyarov resigns.

Topalov – Sokolov

Topalov gets a definite edge on the White side of an Archangel Ruy Lopez, but Sokolov infuses the position with a piece sacrifice which gives him a strong centre. He invests another piece to initiate a whirlwind attack against the White king, but Topalov holds steady and calmly. Black’s attack erodes and he has nothing for the sacrificed material.

Aronian – van Wely

Aronian emerges from a Semi-Slav middlegame with a definite advantage, but he overestimates the strength of Black’s passed d-pawn and blunders horribly. Van Wely plays a pleasant queen sacrifice which forces the queening of the pawn. In the resulting position Black has two minor pieces and queen against a rook and queen. Van Wely nurses his advantage in the face of stubborn pressure from Aronian through a long endgame. Van Wely finally manages to advance his queenside pawn chain and find a safe haven for his king in the centre of the board. An awesome performance by van Wely.

Anand – Adams

Anand’s d4 break in the anti-Marshall Ruy Lopez gives Black a threatening queenside pawn-structure. This gives Black an advantage. Adams seizes the moment to mobilise the queenside pawns. A draw agreed a few moves later with Adams retaining his advantage.

Gelfand – Tiviakov

Tiviakov emerges from a Queen’s Indian with a solid position. He temporarily sacrifices a pawn for better play, and wins it back moves later. Gelfand opts for a repetition of position.

Ivanchuk – Bacrot

In a Semi-Slav Queen’s Gambit, Ivanchuk’s lively piece play with his knights on the queenside is inventive. He sacrifices a pawn to gain tempo for his knights and soon emerges with a slender advantage. After the queens are exchanged, Ivanchuk’s rooks and bishops dominate the position. He wins his pawn back but his advantage diminishes. Equality reach, the game is agreed drawn.

Related Resources

• CorusChess: The champ’s in the lead
• ChessBase: Corus R7: Topalov takes the lead
• TWIC: Corus, Wijk Aan Zee 2006: Round 7

Risky Anand stumbles and is beaten by Kamsky. Ivanchuk declines a draw, errs and loses to Adams. Anand and Topalov lead with 4 out of 6, followed by Gelfand, Karjakin, Ivanchuk and Adams all half a point behind.

Kamsky – Anand

Kamsky plays an aggressive variation of the Queens Gambit Accepted, and emerges with a slender edge. Anand plays the risky queenside castling, and hitting out with …f5. Anand goes a little astray, helping White open the f-file, and Kamsky finds some strong move to take back the advantage, leading into a strong position where Black’s e6-pawn is the main target. Kamsky’s central pawns push forward to victory.

Adams – Ivanchuk

Adams gets a definite advantage out of a Sicilian Scheveningen playing a delayed Keres Attack. The Black king finds itself trapped in the centre. White’s play on both wings gives Black many problems to solve. White eventually penetrates along the f-file with his rook – lodged at f6. Black struggles to generate counterplay on the queenside with his rook, but ends up opening up lines through the queenside for the White queen. Assisted by White’s queenside pawns, the White queen infiltrates into the queenside, and the combination of material loss and White promoting a passed pawn is enough for Ivanchuk to resign.

Bacrot – Aronian

A Queen’s Gambit Ragozin system is a prelude to a mass exchange of pieces into a sterile endgame. Draw agreed.

Mamedyarov – Gelfand

Mamedyarov gets a little ambitious out of a Queen’s Indian, and finds himself a pawn down, but has compensation in his better developed pieces. He faces no problem getting it back. A tactical middle ends with Mamedyarov giving up a pawn to deliver a perpetual check.

Sokolov – Leko

Leko has no problems equalising on the black side of a Queen’s Indian. A repetition of position ends the game.

Tiviakov – Topalov

Tiviakov’s c3 Sicilian ends up transposing into an Advance French like trench warfare. Topalov expands on both sides of the board with aggressive pawn storms. Topalov sacrifices a pawn for more active pieces, but Tiviakov neutralises the queenside pawn storm and the major pieces get exchanged off. The minor piece and pawns endgame ends in a draw when Topalov runs out of pawns to play with.

van Wely – Karjakin

Karjakin equalises in an actively played Queen’s Indian. His initiative continues for most of the middle game. Van Wely’s position remains solid. As the pieces get exchanged van Wely gains more and more control. He enters the minor piece and pawns endgame with an extra pawn, but Karjakin is stubborn in defence. After a long endgame and on the brink of all the pawns disappearing, a ceasefire is declared.

Related Resources

• CorusChess: Kamsky Awakens
• TWIC: Corus, Wijk aan Zee 2006. Round 6

Anand takes the sole lead thanks to a drifting Leko. Karjakin surprises with a knight sacrifice to win against Bacrot. Topalov fights back to an advantage but errs into a drawn position. Ivanchuk’s pressure slowly eats away at Kamsky’s position.

Anand – Leko

Leko gets equality out of the Sicilian Najdorf. After an exchange of most of the minor pieces Anand has a tiny advantage. Black starts to drift, regrouping with his queen on the kingside. Anand plays 28. Ne1 and Black finds himself with too many pawn weaknesses to defend. Leko sacrifices a pawn and tries to defend actively, but Anand is in full control with a strongly centralised queen right in the heart of the Black position. This results in White gaining a powerful passed d-pawn. The combination of a strong passed pawn and a mating attack on the Black king forces Leko to resign.

Karjakin – Bacrot

Bacrot gets the slight edge on the Black side of a Zaitsev Closed Ruy Lopez. Bacrot blunders with 26… Bg6 and is forced to part with his queen for a rook, leaving White firmly in control of the position. Karjakin converts that into a win.

Topalov – Mamedyarov

Mamedyarov surprises Topalov with a confident start in a Ruy Lopez that gains a rapid equality. Topalov sacrifices the exchange to deny Black the initiative and gain some play down the d-file. After active play Topalov has an advantage, and more than enough compensation for the exchange. After the first time control Topalov miscues, and offers a draw.

Ivanchuk – Kamsky

Kamsky adopts the Sicilian Kan again, and Ivanchuk plays the Maroczy bind. Black gets equality by the thematic …b5 break. The flurry of exchanges that follow leave White with the better hold of the centre. White’s pressure nets him a pawn. Further pressure allows him to enter a winning bishop versus knight pawn ending.

Gelfand – van Wely

Main-line exchange Grunfeld, and Gelfand sacrifices his a2-pawn for a lead in development. His rapid development forces Black to ditch the exchange, which results in an equal position. A draw agreed a few moves later.

Aronian – Adams

A quiet Nimzo-Indian leads to a balances position. White grinds away and nets himself a pawn, but has to give it up to remain active. After an exchange into a queen and pawns ending finds Black with an initiative thanks to his outside passed pawn. But White has enough play to force a perpetual.

Tiviakov – Sokolov

Tiviakov gets a tiny edge out of a Ruy Lopez, but Black’s active play brings the position to equality. Tiviakov sacrifices a piece to set up a flurry of exchanges that leave the position level. Draw agreed a few moves later.

Related Resources

• CorusChess: Lots of action
• TWIC: Corus, Wijk Aan Zee, Round 5
• ChessBase: Corus R5: Anand defeats Leko, take sole lead
• ChessNinja: Corus 2006 r5