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Corus Round 11: Read all about it! Anand wins, Leko gives chase
23.01.2004 – We should thank Peter Leko for at least making it look close. Unstoppable Vishy Anand beat Jan Timman to move to +5. Leko defeated Zhang to stay a full point back. Sokolov seems intent on taking his turn as "Dutch player to finish last in WaZ," a role played by Timman or van Wely for the past four years. Soko lost to Bareev and now faces Kramnik and Anand! Report with photos and analysis here now.

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Corus Wijk aan Zee 2004 – Round 11

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

Round 11 (Friday, January 23, 2004) Bologan, Viktor ½-½ Adams, Michael Svidler, Peter ½-½ Van Wely, Loek Shirov, Alexei ½-½ Akopian, Vladimir Zhang Zhong 0-1 Leko, Peter Bareev, Evgeny 1-0 Sokolov, Ivan Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Topalov, Veselin Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 Timman, Jan Annotated game replay/download

Leko 2.0 is giving chase.

When Kasparov played in Wijk aan Zee from 1999-2001 his prodigious pace forced the other contenders to push hard to have any chance of keeping up with him. Even though Anand never quite managed to catch him, he put up fantastic scores in second place several times. Without Kasparov around to play rabbit, top scores have been down. This year, however, Anand is showing more killer instinct in the home stretch and has already surpassed his winning +4 score of last year.

This one was over before Jan's coffee could get cold.

Anand achieved this by crushing Timman today to move to +5. The Dutch veteran looked uncharacteristically befuddled in a Sicilian and was blown off the board without a hint of a counterattack. Peter Leko bared a few teeth himself and took out Zhang with black in convincing fashion. That allowed him to stay in the same solar system as the Indian star, but without much hope of entering a closer orbit.

The other win was tallied by Evgeny Bareev, who added to Ivan Sokolov's woes. The witty final move of the game is worth a look. As for Sokolov, a Dutch player has finished in last place in Wijk aan Zee every year since 1997, when Igor Glek took the honor. Since then we've seen van der Sterren, Reindermann, and four years of Timman and van Wely taking turns. There are two Dutch candidates in contention this time around. Maybe the organizers could make an offer to Zhang to help out the home side. The Chinese plays van Wely in the last round, so that could add a minor sub-plot.

Kramnik prepares for 23 moves and a draw.

Kramnik got nowhere against Topalov's Najdorf but the other draws are well worth a look. The first (!) Sveshnikov of the event was played by van Wely against Svidler. For the past two years this line of the Sicilian has been all the rage. (I credit Peter Leko and his success in Dortmund 2002 for this. At least that was the first big revival at the top level.) It looked like van Wely had some chances at the end but Svidler held the endgame.

Adams hung a piece in a difficult position against Bologan, who was looking for his third consecutive win. Adams found a plan of attack in the Moldovan's time trouble and soon it was White who had to force a repetition draw. Shirov won a pawn against Akopian but couldn't convert it into a win in the endgame.

Mig Greengard

Standings after round eleven

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