Round 1 Corus 2009

Round 1

The sensation results of the first round of the 2009 Corus Group A is the lost of the first seeded - GM Vassily Ivanchuk ( 2779) photo left as white ! against the last seed GM Jan Smeets (2601). Jan Smeets photo right is a 24 years old Dutch GM. Actually Ivanchuk lost on time with one move to play till the first time control in a drawn but difficult ending.

As i mentioned before, i will root for Wesley So and Nigel Short for this year Corus 2009 tournament. Below are their games. I will try to follow their live game and update about their development in this tournament.

Group C

In the first round, Wesley play black against experienced Dutch GM - Friso Nijboer. Nijboer 44, has participated in six chess olympiad for Holland. Wesley who dominated the early phase of the game won the game not with ease especially when white had the initiative around move 23 t0 34. However a few inaccuries by Nijboer gave backthe initiative to his young opponent and he never look back after that.

Analysed by Hairulov and Fritz 11

GM Friso Nijboer - GM Wesley So
Round 1, 17.1.2009, Corus 2009 ( Group C)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Qc7

The Sicilian Kan Variation. This is the most complicated chess variation ever ( for me) because it can transpose to many other variations such as the Scheveningen, Paulsen, Taimanov etc... Thanks god i'm not playing chess seriously anymore ! 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0–0–0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Nb3 b5 11.Qd4 Nc6 12.Qb6 Qe5 13.Bd2 Rb8 14.Qf2 0–0 15.f4 Qc7 16.Bd3 d6 17.Qh4 I try playing 17.g4!? against Fritz 11. The idea is to sacrifice the pawn for attack and if black take it with 17...Nxg4 then continuing the attack with 18.Qh4 which force black to play 18...f5 19.exf5 exf5 19.Rhg1 white seems to have a nice attacking position for the pawn. 17...Bxc3 18.Bxc3 e5 19.Rhf1 b4 20.Bd2 a5 21.Kb1 a4 22.Nc1

It seems that black attack is quicker then white. Normally white will advance his g and h pawn to tear black kingside but in this case, both pawn is still in it's initial square g2 and h2 whereas black queenside pawns are already on a4 and b4 !
22... Bg4 23.Rde1 Rfc8 ?! This look like to slow. 23...a3 straight away is probaly better 24.Rf2? white should try to trap black g4 bishop with 24.f5!? and also the move open the c1-h6 diaganol for white bishop on d2. 24...Bd7 25.f5 Nd4 26.Bh6!? an interesting idea which followed by a sacrifiece attack after 26...Ne8 27.Bxg7!? Nxg7 28.f6

Suddenly after about six move, white attack is looking faster then black 28...b3 The calm 28...Nge6 look risky especially after white dangerous attack starting with 29.Re3 Kh8 30.Rh3 Nf8 31.Qh6 Nde6 32.Rf5! threatening 33.Rhf5 followed by matting attack 34.Qxh7+ Kxh7 35. Rxh7+! 29.axb3 axb3 29...Nge6 keeping a piece up is quite dangerous after white 30.Re3 !
30.Qg3 Nde6 31.cxb3 Qa5 32.Rc2 Rxc2 33.Kxc2 Rc8+ 34.Kb1 Bb5 35.Rd1 ?

This could be the desicive mistake by Nijboer. He should have exchange the bishop at once with 35...Bxb5. After 35.Rd1? Wesley can play the strong 35...Qc7 and after 36.Ne2 ( not 36.Bxb5 because he will lost material after 36...Qxc2+ )36...Bxd3+ 37.Qxd3 Ne8 he is a piece up 35...Bxd3 ? Wesley miss the strong 35...Qc7! as mentioned in my previous comment.
36.Rxd3 Qb4 37.fxg7 Qxe4 38.Qe3 Qg6 39.Qg3 Qe4 40.Qf3 Qg6 41.Qg3 Qf5 42.Qh3
Qxh3 43.Rxh3 Nd4 44.b4 Rb8 45.Nb3 Ne6 46.Na5 Rxb4 47.Nc6

47...Rb6 47...Rg4 48.Ne7+ Kxg7 49.Nf5+ Kg6 50.Nxd6 Rxg2 as suggested by Fritz is probably stronger. 48.Ne7+Kxg7 49.Nf5+ Kg6 50.Ne7+ Kg7 51.Nf5+ Kf6 52.g4 e4 53.Rxh7 Nc5 54.Kc2 Na4 55.b4 Rxb4 56.Nxd6 Ke5 57.Nxf7+ Kd4 58.g5 Rb2+ 59.Kc1 Rg2 60.Rh8 Nc5 61.Rd8+ Kc3 62.Kd1 Nd3 63.Rc8+ Kd4 64.Nd6 Rg1+ 65.Kc2 Rc1+ 66.Kb3 Rxc8 67.Nxc8 e3 0–1

Group B

Nigel Short play white against young Dutch GM - Jan Werle 25.

Analysed by Hairulov and Fritz 11

GM Nigel Short - GM Jan Werle
Round 1, 17.1.2009, Corus 2009 (Group B)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.a4

Short avoid the Marshall Gambit. This is quiet interesting because he himself was not "permitted" to play the Marshal Gambit in his 1993 World Champinship Match against Gary Kasparov ! The Marshal could have arise after 8.c3 d5 8...b4 9.d4 d6 10.c3 Rb8 11.h3 bxc3 12.bxc3 Be6 a tricky move. At first black look like to lost a piece after 13.d5 but after 13...Na5 he gained a tempo by first attacking white bishop 14.Ba2 Bd7 and now he threaten to win the a4 pawn after 15...Qe8 15.Ba3 Qe8 16.Qd3 Bxa4 17.Bb4 Nb7 18.Qxa6 White gain the pawn back 18...Bb5 19.Qa7 c5 20.dxc6 Bxc6 21.Nbd2 Qd8 22.Qe3 Qc7 23.Bb3 Ra8
24.Ra7 Rxa7 25.Qxa7 Rc8 26.Nc4 Bd8 27.Nfd2 h6 28.Qa3 Ne8 29.Qa2 Bg5 30.Nf3 Bf6 31.Qc2 Be7 32.Nh2 Nf6 33.Ng4 Nxg4 34.hxg4 Nc5 35.Bxc5 dxc5 36.Ne3 Bg5 37.Nd5 Qa7 38.Bc4 Bd7 39.f3 Rb8 40.Rb1 Rxb1+ 41.Qxb1 Be6 42.Kh2 Bxd5 43.exd5 Be7 44.g3 1/2-1/2 draw


Photo from the official site