Report of round 13 - CCT 2005

Leko Unshared First In GM A, Karjakin in GM B, Georgiev on top in GM C

Leko quickly drew with Polgar to guarantee a well deserved victory in the 67th edition of Corus. Peter was extremely well prepared, very motivated and extremely focused, and was the only undefeated player in the event. (see diagram 1) After his victory, the winner said he felt good from the very start, when his pushing with Black against Sokolov signaled the shape of things to come. He added that the fact he was to have seven games with Black meant he would have to be twice as focused to succeed. Finally he said that to win Corus, the only 'Grand Slam' he has yet to win till now (He won Dortmund 2002 and Linares 2003), one must maximize his chances with the White pieces and one must win against Vishy in order to stop him! Otherwise Anand would win his share of games and would be hard or impossible to catch.

When asked about his games in the event, Peter mentioned his third round win over Svidler - where he possibly refuted over-the-board a topical line in the Najdorf - as his best game, but was pleased overall with his level of showing. He felt he was a bit worse only in 2 games, against Grischuk and Morozevich, but even then it was only a slight plus for White, and no real danger. To another inquiry, about his place in the chess world, Peter candidly replied that he felt he was no worse than Anand, Kasparov or Kramnik in classical chess, and that his win here came as no surprise to him, even if it came at the heels of his tough match with Kramnik, a match he felt was also a fine result for him.

The defending champion Anand, did all he could to try and win against Sokolov - an effort that included a win of a pawn (see diagram 2)- but as the Indian GM said after the game, his passive Bb7 was no match to White's powerful Bishop and he was never winning. Ivan defended well, and when the opportunity came tactically regained the pawn, simplifying into a drawn Rook and Pawn ending.

The local fans were treated to a nice parting gift, when their local hero Van Wely beat Short in a fine positional style. The opening was a repeat of the 'from opening to endgame' line in the Queen's Gambit Exchange we also saw in the Grischuk - Bruzon game from round 4. Loeky deviated early, and when Short carelessly played (see diagram 3) 18...Rfe8? he was in real trouble, as now after 19.g4 White had a deadly grip over the position and an awesome outpost for his N on f5. Black should have opted for 18..Bxd3 19.Rxd3 f5! where while he is still worse, he avoids the stranglehold.

Ponomariov against Bruzon lasted a long time as the two tried to maximize a Queen and Knight endgame, eventually smoking the peace pipe with the last pawn about to be exchanged. (see diagram 4)

Not surprisingly, Kramnik - Morozevich ended in a very speedy draw as both players were off form, and for Morozevich the end could not come too soon.

Svidler - Topalov was a theoretical affair in the Russian, one that ended peacefully, before anything original had started.

One more game that 'died at a young age' was Adams - Grischuk that had a life span of 23 moves - most of which were known theory.

Ukrainian prodigy Sergey Karjakin scored another smashing win to win the GM B event and qualified for the A group in 2006.

Vladimir Georgiev of Bulgaria swept the GM C group with 10.5/13, and will play in GM B next year.