Wijk R3: Radjabov and Ponomariov win 15.01.2007– Another generally exciting day which produced two wins, one for Radjabov with the black pieces against Shirov, one a 30-move demolition of Magnus Carlsen by Ruslan Ponomariov. In the most exciting game, Sergey Karjakin had Veselin Topalov on the ropes, but the latter pulled off a miracle save. Full report with photos and videos.
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Round 3 Summary
By Steve Giddens
Players in the Amateur Open waiting for the games to begin
Sergey Tiviakov vs Vladimir Kramnik: ½-½
The first game to finish. Both players followed a long theoretical line of the
Petroff/Russian Defence, leading to heavy simplification, and a double rook
ending in which White’s extra pawn was purely symbolic. The speed of play
suggested that both players’ preparation extended right down to the ending.
Vishy Anand before the start of the game (behind him David Navara)
Viswanathan Anand vs Levon Aronian: ½-½ Anand produced what looked like an important novelty against the Marshall,
19 Qg2. Despite Aronian’s imaginative response (23…Bb1) White looked
to be better, but after Anand’s 26 Qe1 (26 Kg2 was Yasser Seirawan’s
more natural suggestion), Black equalised with the aid of some tactics: if 30
Rb1 Re8!, whilst in the game, 30…Bxg3! led to a perpetual. Nigel Short
suggested that White could perhaps claim a small edge after 31 Qd2 Qxd2 32 Bxd2
Bd6! 33 a4 b4, but it is very little, and Vishy clearly did not think it worth
trying.
Former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariev vs Magnus Carlsen: 1-0 A disaster for Carlsen, who was possibly still haunted by yesterday’s
loss to Navara. His early play was a little artificial, and once he allowed
11 Bb5! (10…Nbd7? should be replaced by 10…Be7 and 11…0-0),
followed by 14 Na4! he was already lost. He gave Q for R+B, but his remaining
queenside pieces were so awful that he had no chance to hold.
Loek van Wely vs Alexander Motylev: ½-½
An English, Reversed Dragon. Motylev’s rather aggressive plan of 9…f5
and 10…Bf6 was well met by 11 e4!, and White soon had a nice advantage
– two bishops, split Black queenside pawns, big white square weaknesses.
Rather than patiently improve the position, eg with Yasser’s 23 h4, keeping
the d-pawn blockaded and improving the kingside, van Wely forced matters, but
after eschewing the natural 25 f4 Bg7 26 Bxg7+ Kxg7 27 Re6, which appears very
strong, he lost control of the tactics in time-trouble. Motylev managed to liquidate
down to a R+ opposite B ending, with all pawns on one side, and once he was
allowed to take on f2 (44 f4 looks like the last chance for White) a draw resulted.
David Navara, super-strong GM from the Czech Republic
David Navara vs Peter Svidler: ½-½ The same anti-Grunfeld line seen yesterday in Kramnik-Shirov, but Svidler
played much more energetically. His h6-g5-f5-f4 plan undermined White’s
key d4-pawn, and although his own king was exposed, Black’s activity always
ensured that White would have no time to attack it. Rather surprisingly, Svidler
offered a draw in a position where he looked to have a clear initiative.
Alexei Shirov vs Teimour Radjabov: 0-1 Probably the most exciting game of the day. Shirov tried to improve
on the Rd1 game van Wely-Radjabov with 17 Kg2, but obtained no more than reasonable
compensation for his pawn. After the tempo loss 25 Qa5 and 26 Qd5, Black broke
open the kingside and forced a winning ending in a flurry of tactics up to the
first time-control:
Preparing to do battle against the young Ukrainian GM: Veselin
Topalov
Sergey Kariakin vs Veselin Topalov: ½-½ A Najdorf English Attack. Topalov’s 14…Rc8 was a novelty,
diverging from 14…Nb6, played in a number of previous games, including
Naer-Kariakin (!) 2003. Following 16…Qb7, White seized control of the
light squares with 17 Na5 and 18 f5, and soon stood very well. The h4-pawn dropped
off and Black appeared busted, but desperately resourceful defence by Topalov
(notably 41…Bd2!) kept him on the board. Kariakin missed winning chances
with the equally spectacular 42.Qh5 (and again on the next move), and once he
allowed the queens off (45.Kb2 is the last winning chance), Black was able to
hold the rook ending.
Key game, in which Karjakin was crushing Topalov, who found a way to draw
In Group B Jan Smeets and Bu Xiangzhi are on a rampage, each scoring 2.5/3,
Smeets with a 2900+ performance so far. In Group C it is Nepomnaichtchi, Bosboom
and Negi who are raking in the points, with 2.5/3 each (13-year-old Parimarjan
Negi is playing at a 2715 level so far).
Top Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi
Watch out for this boy: Parimarjan Negi
Behind this group with 2.0/3 we find 12-year-old Hou Yifan, who won her second
game with black and, in spite of the loss yesterday, has so far been performing
at a 2673 level.
Did we say Parimarjan? Watch out for Hou Yifan!
Group B
Group C
Round 3 - Mon. Jan. 15th
V. Georgiev - D. Jakovenko
0-1
F. Nijboer - T. Kosintseva
1-0
G. Sargissian - P. Eljanov
1-0
B. Xiangzhi - M. Vachier-Lagrav
1-0
S. Atalik - J. Smeets
0-1
J. Werle - E. L’Ami
1-0
V. Bologan - D. Stellwagen
½-½
Round 3 - Mon. Jan. 15th
P. Negi - T. Willemze
1-0
N. Kosintseva - S. Brynell
1-0
M. Krasenkow - W. Spoelman
1-0
J. van der Wiel - H. Yifan
0-1
E. Berg - I. Nepomniachtchi
½-½
M. Bosboom - Z. Peng
1-0
H. Jonkman - E. van Haastert
0-1
Yesterday all six games of Group B were drawn, today there were five decided
encounters and just one draw. In Group C the same statistics for today. Overall
the least number of draws is, expectedly, in the C Group (only 29%) and the
highest in the A Group 57%
Group A
Group B
Group C
White wins
24%
24%
38%
Draws
57%
52%
29%
Black wins
19%
24%
33%
Live audio commentary by Yasser Seirawan
For
those of you who were not able to catch it live on the server, you can listen
to Yasser's broadcasts at any time on a pay-per-view basis (two ducats or about
30 cents per session).
The files are to be found on the Playchess server in the room Chess Media
System – Events and Reports. If you do not have them already you
can purchase ducats
here. They can be used to follow GM Seirawan's live broadcasts
and cost ten ducats (= €1 or $1.30) per round – a very reasonable
rate for hours of excitement and pleasure.
Videos
More video clips from the very active Chessvibes
chess blog.
For
those of you who were not able to catch it live on the server, you can listen
to Yasser's broadcasts at any time on a pay-per-view basis (two ducats or about
30 cents per session). 
