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Corus Round 12: Tough day for top seeds
24.01.2004 – No need to peek into Anand's ear to look for gears and wires, he's human. He suffered his first loss of the event, to Topalov. Leko drew and Adams won, so they are both a half-point behind Anand. Sokolov beat Kramnik. Anand has white in the final round; his pursuers have black. (Bareev (right) actually drew, but we liked the picture!) Full report and analysis

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Corus Wijk aan Zee 2004 – Round 12

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

It was the day of the upset in Wijk aan Zee. The world's #2, 3, and 4 players all lost! Ivan Sokolov picked up his first win of the event by beating none other than Vladimir Kramnik in very fine fashion. Back in 1999 the Bosnian-Dutchman beat Garry Kasparov in Wijk, halting the 13th world champion's seven-game win streak.This win wasn't so dramatic since Kramnik had already lost twice. Now he's dropped to an even score.

Kramnik had coffee, Sokolov opened up a can of whupass.

Next to fall was Peter Svidler, who was convincingly wiped out by Bologan, who has scored 3.5/4 to move to a plus score. Finally Vishy Anand's first loss was inflicted by Veselin Topalov in excellent style. This was Anand's first loss in Wijk aan Zee since Judit Polgar beat him in the first round in 1998!! That's 76 Wijk supertournament games without a loss.

Unlucky number 77 is underway.

Adams ground down a fading Timman to move back into a tie for second with Leko, who drew with Bareev. They are both now just a half-poing behind Anand. The pairings for the final round make that half point look more like three-quarters. Anand has white against Sokolov while Leko and Adams have black against Kramnik and Svidler, respectively. Both of these duets have produced many sensational games in the past, but the final round is, sadly, rarely a major battleground these days. Of course we'd love to be wrong!

Standings after round twelve

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