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Chess Niggemann

Corus Round 5: Jan Can!
16.01.2004 – Things quieted down on the scoreboard but not on the chess board. Marathon games of 80, 101, and 182 moves gave endgame fans more than their money's worth in round five. The only wins in the A group were by Akopian and Dutch legend Jan Timman, who got his first WAZ win in two years. The leading pack of five remained unchanged. Report, photos, and analysis here.

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Corus Wijk aan Zee 2004 – Round 5

66th Wijk aan Zee Tournament – Jan. 10-25 Category 19 (avg. Elo 2702)

80 moves later a draw between the world's #4 and #3 players.

The results column looked calm today but results can be misleading. Svidler-Anand went 80 moves and Leko-Adams a cool 101 before the points were split. Those games combined didn't match what was going on over in the B group, where American teen star Hikaru Nakamura cast chivalry to the wind and played 182 (!) moves against Zhu Chen, 100 of which were dead drawn.

Much like the last great hope of American chess, Gata Kamsky, Nakamura always plays on to the bitter end, something that can occasionally gain points, almost never loses points, but doesn't win popularity contests with other players. I say, tough. Apart from the occasional half-point gained and the amount you learn, having a reputation as a Sitzfleischmeister can create psychological pressure on your opponents. (And it doesn't hurt for tournament organizers to know that you always give 100%.)

The standings at the top of in the A group were unchanged. The two decisive games shuffled the middle of the deck a bit and tightened the field again to a remarkable single point after five rounds. This was due to draws at the top and the fine win by Jan Timman over 2003 Dortmund winner Viktor Bologan of Moldova. The other win was notched by Vladimir "Wild Man" Akopian over Ivan Sokolov. The Armenian #1 has participated in one third of the decisive games so far.

Svidler kept Anand's sacrificed pawn into a queen endgame with little hope for conversion. Leko and Adams preferred a rook ending. We're all too tired of looking at the Kramnik-Svidler endgame from yesterday to look at these too deeply, I'm afraid! There is never a final word in chess, but the latest on that one is that it was indeed a draw, and not nearly as complicated a draw as we thought.

The latest word, if not the last, is quite convincing. Here is the final position Svidler resigned. But if Black just ignores the a5-pawn, keeps his bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal forever and shuttles his king back and forth between c7 and d6 to shield off the white king when necessary, White can't make any progress.

Kramnik can't complain about a lack of luck after that one. You don't get many free half-points from 2700+ players not named Ivanchuk. Today Kramnik calmly fought off Shirov's initiative to reach one of the day's two short draws.

The other was Topalov's opening surprise against van Wely. The Bulgarian accepted a miserable pawn structure in exchange for development and equalized easily.

Today was all about Jan Timman getting up off of the canvas to score his first Wijk aan Zee win in years. How good do the Dutch feel about this? Put it this way, and not to be morbid, but when Timman's time on this Earth comes to an end Wijk aan Zee will be named the Timman Memorial faster than you can say "a glass of red, please."

Timman repulsed Bologan's hasty attack, nabbed a pawn, and outplayed his opponent in a bishop endgame. Even better, it's a ready-made endgame for his New In Chess column! After Friday's rest day the veteran will have the white pieces against Svidler.

Mig Greengard

Standings after round five

All the games in PGN (no notes) GM group A • GM group B • GM group C