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Home » Chess News » Events » 72nd Corus Wijk aan Zee 2010 » Carlsen wins the Corus Chess Tournament Alone

Magnus Carlsen took a half point lead into the final round of the 2010 Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Like Carlsen his closest rivals had the white pieces.

Magnus Carlsen's quiet approach to the Ruy Lopez just got him into trouble against Fabiano Caruana. His 17.Qf3 was an error which left him defending a very tricky endgame. In the end Caruana missed a good chance and had to accept the draw. This gave Carlsen clear first place.

Carlsen,Magnus - Caruana,Fabiano [C77]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 g6 7.Nbd2 Bg7 8.Nf1 0-0 9.Bg5 d5 10.Qe2

[10.exd5 Qxd5 11.Ne3 Qe6 12.0-0 b5 13.Bb3 Qd7 14.Re1 Bb7 15.h3 Rae8 16.a4 Kh8 17.axb5 axb5 18.Bh4 Nh5 19.Bc2 f5 20.Nd2 Nd8 21.f3 Ne6 22.Ra7 Ba8 23.Nb3 Nhf4 24.Kh2 Qd6 25.Kh1 Bh6 26.Bf2 Rd8 27.d4 Bg7 28.dxe5 Qxe5 29.Qb1 Qf6 30.Rg1 Nxh3 31.gxh3 Bxf3+ 32.Ng2 Nf4 33.Kh2 Ne2 34.Nd4 Qe5+ 35.Kh1 Rxd4 36.Qe1 Rdd8 37.Bh4 g5 38.Qf2 gxh4 39.Re1 Qg3 40.Rxe2 Bxe2 41.Qxe2 Rfe8 42.Qf1 Rd2 0-1 Gvetadze,S (2411)-Shen Yang (2440)/Ekaterinburg RUS 2007/The Week in Chess 655]

10...Qd6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Ne3 Ne7 13.Bb3 c6 14.h4 Be6 15.Ng5 Bd7 16.Rd1 Rad8 17.Qf3?

White has been ambitious but this is too much and gets white into terrible trouble.

17...h6 18.Nc4 dxc4 19.dxc4 Nd5! 20.Nh3 h5

The following sequence seems the best for black.

21.Qg3 Bg4 22.Rd2 Bxh4 23.Qxh4 Qf6 24.Qxf6 Nxf6 25.Ng5 c5!

Sealing in the bishop.

26.f3 Bc8 27.Ba4 Kg7 28.Rxd8 Rxd8 29.b4 Rd3 30.bxc5 Rxc3?

[30...Nd7 31.c6 Nc5 32.cxb7 Bxb7 33.Bb3 is miserable for white.]

31.Kd2 Rxc4 32.Bb3 Rxc5 33.Nxf7 a5 34.Rc1 Rxc1 35.Kxc1 a4 36.Bc4 b5 37.Nd6 bxc4 38.Nxc8 h4 39.Nb6 Nh5 40.Nxc4 Kf6 41.Kd2 Nf4

It seems that white has just enough time to hold this position.

42.Ke3 Nxg2+ 43.Kf2 Nf4 44.Nb2 a3 45.Nc4 Nd3+ 46.Kg2 Kg5 47.Nxa3 Kf4 48.Nc2 Nb2 49.Nb4 h3+ 50.Kxh3 Kxf3 51.Kh4 Kf4 52.Nd5+ Kxe4 53.Ne7 Kf3 54.Nxg6 e4 55.Ne5+ Kf4 56.Ng4 Na4 1/2-1/2

There was a final press conference with the winners of the A-Group and B-Group, Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. Jeroen van den Berg announce the results of the Grand Slam meeting and the dates of events. He first said that he was pleased how this year's Corus tournament had gone with the A-Group being exciting to the very end.

He also made announcements of the dates of the Grand Slam events of which the Corus tournament is a part.

Linares 12-25 Februarny 2010

MTel Masters 25th May - June 5th 2010

Basna 10th-22th June 2010 (to be confirmed in two weeks)

The Grand Slam finals will be in two parts:

Shanghai 3rd-12th September 2010 and 6th-14th October 2010 in Bilbao.

Nanjing 17th-29th October 2010.

Wijk aan Zee 14th-30th January 2011

Although it was not mentioned today it Anand was asked about what difference it might make to publicity for the event if the the Corus Chess Tournament becomes the Tata Chess tournament, the indian company that bought Corus in 2007, so this could be the last one under the current name.

Magnus Carlsen talked about his game today and his win as a whole. He said that with Kramnik and Shirov having white in the final round meant that he thought he might need to win. "I was following the other boards but of course I was most concerned with my own." That Kramnik made an early draw was a relief to him but "I couldn't figure out what was going on in the Shirov game."

Carlsen said that he had his own problems to take care of anyway after miscalculating his position went from promising to "quite bad". After that Caruana had a clear positional advantage. Carlsen said that "I tried to give up a pawn for some activity. This knight endgame we both thought black had excellent winning chances but it seems to be a draw."

Carlsen stressed that his most important priority is to continue to improve his own play. To that end he said that "It [his play] was up and down. I thought I played some good games and good parts of games but also some lousy chess as well." His Best win was against Karjakin and was a very important in the context of the event.

He restated that "My main goal was to play good chess. I felt that I did that in some games. But there are also things I am not satisfied with. I only won the tournament with some luck. I am of course very happy to win. "

Nigel Short and Jan Smeets played an ultra-sharp variation of the Petroff Defence. 7...Kg6 surprised Short but in turn his 8.Bg5 led to a long think for Smeets. Short had all the work to do to justify the sacrifice. Short was dreaming of the brilliancy prize and his first win but it seems that with accurate play black can win. As it was both players used most of their time on these few moves and accepted a draw by repetition after just 14 moves.

Short,Nigel - Smeets,Jan [C43]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 Bc5 5.Bc4 Nxf2 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qd5+ Kg6

Short didn't expect this move.

8.Bg5

A new move but probably not objectively very good.

[8.Rf1 d6 9.Rxf2 Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 h6 11.Qe4+ Kf7 12.Nc3 Nc6 13.Bf4 dxe5 14.Bxe5 Re8 15.Qf4+ Kg8 16.Bxc7 Qd7 17.Rd1 Qf5 18.Nd5 Be6 19.Qxf5 Bxf5 20.Ne3 Be4 21.Rd7 Rac8 22.Bg3 Re7 23.Rxe7 Nxe7 24.Nd4 Rf8+ 25.Kg1 Rd8 26.c3 Nc6 27.Nxc6 Bxc6 28.Be1 b5 29.Kf2 Bd5 30.a3 Bb3 31.Ke2 Bc4+ 32.Kf3 Bb3 33.Ke2 Kf7 34.Bh4 g5 35.Bf2 Ke6 36.h4 a5 37.hxg5 hxg5 38.Bg3 Bc4+ 39.Nxc4 bxc4 40.Bc7 Rd5 41.a4 Kd7 42.Bb6 Kc6 43.Bd4 g4 44.Kf2 Rd8 45.Kg3 Rb8 46.Kxg4 Rxb2 47.Kf3 Ra2 48.g4 Rxa4 49.g5 Ra1 50.g6 Rb1 51.g7 Rb8 52.Bf6 a4 53.Be7 Rg8 54.Bf8 Rxg7 0-1 Stankovic,M (2379)-Hovhannisyan,R (2487)/Antalya TUR 2009/The Week in Chess 785]

8...Qe8

9.Nh4+ Kxg5 10.Nd2 Kh6 11.Nf5+

Both players were now short of time. They decide to repeat the position.

11...Kg6 12.Nh4+ Kh6 13.Nf5+ Kg6 14.Nh4+ 1/2-1/2

Vassily Ivanchuk and Peter Leko reached a totally drawn Rook and Pawn ending after just 27 moves of a Semi-Slav.

Ivanchuk,Vassily - Leko,Peter [D45]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 a6 10.Rd1 b5 11.Bf1 Qc7 12.e4 e5 13.g3

[13.Ne2 Re8 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.g3 Bb7 17.Bg2 Rac8 18.a4 c5 19.axb5 axb5 20.f4 Bd6 21.Ra7 c4 22.Rxb7 Bc5+ 23.Kf1 Qxb7 24.e5 Qa6 25.exf6 Ba7 26.Bd5 Rcd8 27.Nc3 b4 28.Ne4 gxf6 29.Kg2 f5 30.Ng5 Kg7 31.Nxf7 c3 32.Qxf5 Re2+ 33.Kh3 c2 34.Nxd8 cxd1Q 35.Qf7+ Kh6 36.Qf8+ 1-0 Akopian,V (2678)-Harikrishna,P (2672)/Bursa TUR 2010/The Week in Chess 792]

13...c5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.Bg5 Bg4 17.Be2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Bxe2 19.Qxe2 Qe5 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.Qe3 Qe6 22.Qxc5 Qxe4 23.a4 Rac8 24.Qd5 Qxd5 25.Rxd5 Rxc3 26.axb5 axb5 27.Rxb5 1/2-1/2

Kramnik,Vladimir - Karjakin,Sergey [E15]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qa4 Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 7.dxc5 bxc5 8.0-0 Be7 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Bf4 Rd8 12.Rd2 d6 13.Rad1 Ne8 14.g4 Nc6

[14...Nd7 15.g5 Nf8 16.h4 Bc6 17.Qc2 Qb7 18.Bg3 g6 19.Ne1 Rd7 20.Bxc6 Qxc6 21.Qe4 Rc8 22.Qxc6 Rxc6 23.Nf3 Rb7 24.Ne4 Rbb6 25.Kg2 Nd7 26.e3 f5 27.gxf6 Ndxf6 28.Nfg5 d5 29.cxd5 exd5 30.Nxf6+ Nxf6 31.Be5 Rb4 32.Nf3 Rg4+ 33.Kf1 Re4 34.Rc2 Re6 35.Bf4 Ra6 36.b3 Rb4 37.Be5 Re4 38.Bf4 Kg7 39.Ng5 Rb4 40.Be5 h6 41.Rxd5 Rxh4 42.Rd7 hxg5 43.Rxe7+ Kh6 44.Bxf6 Rxf6 45.Rxa7 Rf5 46.Rc7 Rh1+ 47.Kg2 Ra1 48.a4 Rb1 49.Rb7 g4 50.Rb5 Re5 51.Rbxc5 Rxc5 52.Rxc5 Rxb3 53.Rc4 Kh5 54.Kg3 Rb1 55.a5 Ra1 56.Rc5+ g5 57.e4 Ra3+ 58.Kg2 Ra4 59.e5 Kg6 60.e6 Kf6 61.Kg3 Kxe6 62.Rxg5 Kf6 63.Rb5 Kg6 64.Kg2 Ra1 65.Kg3 Ra4 66.Rb6+ Kf5 67.a6 Ra3+ 68.Kg2 Ra1 69.Rc6 Ke5 1/2-1/2 Fressinet,L (2664)-Sargissian,G (2660)/Paris FRA 2009/The Week in Chess 764]

15.Bg3 Rab8 16.b3 Nb4 17.h3 h6 18.Qa3 Nf6 19.Ne1 Bxg2 20.Nxg2 Rb7 21.Qa4 1/2-1/2

Viswanathan Anand drew his final game against Loek van Wely. He had certainly equalised but the rook and two pawns vs knight and bishop ending was really drawish.

Van Wely,Loek - Anand,Viswanathan [D45]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0-0 8.Be2 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Bb2 Qe7 11.Rad1 Rfe8 12.Rfe1 Rad8 13.Bf1 e5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nd4 dxc4

[15...g6 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.f3 Rc8 18.Rc1 Bb8 19.Qd2 a6 20.Nce2 Qd6 21.g3 h5 22.Nf4 Qe7 23.Bg2 Bd6 24.Nd3 Ned7 25.Rxc8 Rxc8 26.Ne2 Ne5 27.Nxe5 Bxe5 28.Bxe5 Qxe5 29.Rc1 Rc5 30.b4 Rxc1+ 31.Qxc1 Kg7 32.Nd4 Ne8 33.Bf1 Qe7 34.Qc3 Kg8 35.Kf2 Qc7 36.Qa3 Qc8 37.b5 axb5 38.Qe7 Bc6 39.a3 Qd7 40.Qe5 Nc7 41.Bd3 Ne8 42.h3 Nd6 43.Qf6 Bb7 44.g4 hxg4 45.hxg4 Nc8 46.Bxg6 fxg6 47.Ne6 Qe7 48.Qxg6+ Kh8 49.Qh6+ Kg8 50.Qg6+ Kh8 51.Ng5 Nd6 52.Qxd6 Qxg5 53.Qb8+ Kh7 54.Qxb7+ Kh8 55.Qxb6 Qh4+ 56.Kg2 Qe1 57.Qd4+ Kh7 58.Qxd5 1-0 Neverov,V (2561)-Delabaca,R (2212)/Paleohora GRE 2009/The Week in Chess 768]

16.Nf5 Qe6 17.Nxd6 Rxd6 18.bxc4 Rxd1 19.Nxd1 c5 20.e4 Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Nxe4 22.Qxe4 Nxc4 23.Qc2 Nxb2 24.Qxb2 g6 25.Ne3 Qe5 26.Qa3 Re7 27.g3 Kg7 28.h4 h5 29.Bc4 Rd7 30.Qc1 Rd4 31.a4 Qd6 32.Qa1 Kg8 33.a5

It's pretty clear this is going to be a draw.

33...Qf6 34.Qa2 Kg7 35.axb6 axb6 36.Kg2 Rd7 37.Bb5 Rd8 38.Bc4 Rd7 39.Bb5 Rd8 1/2-1/2

Alexei Shirov managed to find terrific attacking ideas against Leinier Dominguez Perez. The game was on a knife edge as Shirov entered time trouble and Dominguez' Bg7 is objectively an error. He also however offered a draw, Shirov thought most of his remaining minute before accepting the draw with only two seconds remaining on his clock.

Shirov,Alexei - Dominguez Perez,Leinier [B94]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Bc4 Qb6 8.Bb3 e6 9.Qd2

[9.0-0 Be7 10.Be3 Nc5 11.f4 Qc7 12.Qf3 0-0 13.f5 b5 14.e5 dxe5 15.fxe6 exd4 16.exf7+ Kh8 17.Nd5 Qb7 18.Bh6 Nxb3 19.Bxg7+ Kxg7 20.Qg3+ Ng4 21.Nxe7 Qxe7 22.Rae1 Qc5 23.cxb3 d3+ 24.Kh1 d2 25.Rd1 Qe3 26.Qh4 Ra7 27.Rf3 Raxf7 0-1 Kuklin,A (2270)-Rodriguez Lopez,R (2410)/Budapest HUN 1996]

9...Be7 10.0-0-0 Nc5 11.f3 Qc7 12.Kb1 0-0 13.g4 b5 14.a3 Rb8 15.h4 Bd7 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.g5 Bd8 18.h5 a5 19.g6 Nxb3 20.Nxb3 fxg6 21.hxg6 h6 22.Nxa5 Rxf3 23.e5 Be8 24.exd6 Qxa5 25.Rxh6

Incredibly aggressive play by Shirov.

25...gxh6 26.Qxh6 Bf6 27.d7 Bxc3 28.dxe8Q+ Rxe8 29.Qh1

[29.Rd7 Rf1+ 30.Ka2 Ra1+ 31.Kxa1 Qxa3+ 32.Kb1 Qxb2#]

29...Re7 30.Qxf3 Bg7

Accompanied with a draw offer. Shirov had a minute left, but had to accept when this ran down to just two seconds.

[30...Bg7 31.b4 Qc7 32.Qa8+ Bf8 33.Rf1 wins but Shirov didn't have the time to play this.]

1/2-1/2

Hikaru Nakamura played an unusual line against Sergei Tiviakov's Scandinavian Defence. His two bishops gave him something to play with but for a long time it looked like Tiviakov was the one with the advantage. A miscalculation changed all that and this became the final game to finish and the only decisive game of the day.

Nakamura,Hikaru - Tiviakov,Sergei [B01]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13), 31.01.2010

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.h3 Bxf3 6.Bxf3 Qe6+ 7.Qe2 Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Nd4 9.Bd1

9...e5 10.0-0 0-0-0 11.d3

[11.Re1 f6 12.d3 Ne7 13.Nd2 Nec6 14.Nb3 Nf5 15.f4 h5 16.fxe5 Nxe5 17.Bf4 Bd6 18.Rf1 Ne7 19.Be2 Nd5 20.Bd2 Ng6 21.Bf3 Nb4 22.a3 Na6 23.d4 c6 24.Be4 Ne7 25.Bd3 Nc7 26.Rae1 Rde8 27.Nc5 Ned5 28.Ne4 Bf8 29.Ng3 Rxe1 30.Rxe1 h4 31.Nf5 g6 32.c4 gxf5 33.cxd5 Nxd5 34.Re8+ Kd7 35.Ra8 f4 36.Rxa7 Kc7 37.Ra8 f5 38.Bxf5 Bg7 39.Rxh8 Bxd4+ 40.Kf1 Bxh8 41.Be4 Bxb2 42.Bxd5 cxd5 43.Bxf4+ Kc6 44.Bg5 Bxa3 45.Ke2 Kd6 46.Bxh4 Ke5 47.Kd3 Bc5 48.Bg5 b5 49.g4 b4 50.h4 b3 51.h5 b2 52.Kc2 Bd4 53.Be7 Kf4 54.g5 Kf5 55.g6 Bg7 56.Ba3 Kg5 57.Bxb2 Kxh5 1/2-1/2 Zakharov,A (2138)-Hauchard,A (2518)/Linares ESP 2000]

11...g6 12.Re1 Bg7 13.Nd2 Ne7 14.c3 Ne6 15.Nf3 Nc6 16.Bc2 Rd6 17.Ng5 Ncd8 18.Nf3 Nc6 19.Nd2 Rd7 20.Ne4 f5 21.Ng5 Nc5 22.Rd1 h6 23.Be3 hxg5 24.Bxc5 b6 25.Be3 Bf6 26.a4 Kb7 27.Kf1 Re8 28.Re1 Red8 29.b4 a5 30.bxa5 Nxa5 31.Rab1 Ka6 32.Red1 Rd6 33.Ke2 Rc6 34.Bd2 Ka7 35.g4 Nb7 36.Bb3 Rcd6 37.Bf7 Be7 38.Bc1 Nc5 39.Bc4 Nb7 40.Ba3 c5 41.Kf1 Na5 42.Bb5 Bf6 43.Kg2 Kb7 44.Re1 Kc7 45.Rbd1 e4 46.d4 Rd5 47.Rb1 cxd4 48.cxd4 Rxd4

Black had the better of it up to here but things start to go down hill quite rapidly now.

[48...Kb7]

49.Ba6 Rb8 50.Rec1+ Kd7 51.Bc5 Rd5 52.Bxb6 Nc6 53.Bc4 Rd2 54.Rd1 Bc3 55.Be3 Rxb1 56.Rxb1 Rc2 57.Bb3 Re2 58.Kf1 Rb2 59.Rxb2 Bxb2 60.gxf5 gxf5 61.Bxg5 Nd4 62.Bd1 Bc3 63.h4 Ke6 64.h5 Kf7 65.Be3 Nc6 66.Bb3+ Kf6 67.Bd5 Ne5 68.Bb6 Kg5 69.a5 Nd7 70.Bc7 Nc5 71.Bf7 Na6 72.Bd8+ Kh6 73.Bg6 Nc5 74.Bb6 Bb4 75.Bxf5 Kxh5 76.Bxe4 Nxe4 77.a6 Nd2+ 78.Kg2 Nc4 79.Bd4 1-0

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