Report of round 13 - CCT 2004

GM-A: Anand - GM-B: Bruzon - GM-C: Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand (see picture 1), the leader in Grandmaster Group A, didn't take any unnecessary risks in the last round of the Corus Chess Tournament. With White against Ivan Sokolov, he drew after 14 moves, thereby securing first place with a score of 8,5 out of 13. This gave Michael Adams and Peter Leko a chance to join Anand in first place, but their mission was all but easy. They had to play Black against the number three and number one seed, Peter Svidler and Vladimir Kramnik respectively. Adams was the first to acknowledge he would not succeed and drew after 26 moves (see picture 2). Leko's job was even less desirable. Kramnik is using the Corus Chess Tournament to get back into playing mode which led to some unfortunate opening experiments. Not so today, as he got a very pleasant plus out of the opening. Eager to win his last-round game, Kramnik pushed Leko far back (see picture 3). The Hungarian struggled, but as it seemed to no avail. Then at the moment when it seemed that knockout was about to be delivered, Kramnik made a mistake and let his opponent off the hook with a draw.

After 1989, 1998 and 2002 it was Vishy Anand's (see picture 4) 4th tournament victory in Wijk aan Zee. Only three other players have achieved the same result in the past: former World Chess Champion Max Euwe won in 1940, 1942, 1952 and 1958, Lajos Portisch won in 1965, 1972, 1975 and 1978 and Viktor Kortchnoi won in 1968, 1971, 1984 and 1987. With his result, Anand (see picture 5)will pass Vladimir Kramnik on the rating list and will become the 2nd highest rated chess player in the world, behind Garry Kasparov.

The remaining games were also long and tough battles. Only one of them ended in a draw: neither Zhang Zhong nor Loek van Wely could break the balance in a middle game with opposite colored bishops. The fight for 4th place ended in a tie, as Veselin Topalov and Viorel Bologan both beat their opponents, Jan Timman and Alexey Shirov respectively. Once Topalov got control over the position, Timman's demise seemed unavoidable and so it was. Bologan on the other hand appeared to be in some trouble after of the opening, but when Shirov got into timetrouble, the tables were turned within a couple of moves. With a couple of accurate moves Shirov was knocked off his feet. The last to win was Evgeny Bareev. He kept the initiative throughout his game against Vladimir Akopian which finally paid off after 55 moves. (see picture 6)

Tension in Grandmaster Group B had been building during the last rounds and culminated in a thunderous last round. Four players were still in the running for first place and automatic qualification for next year's GM-A. Winning his last four games, the 2000 World Junior Champion Lazaro Bautista Bruzon (see picture 7)from Cuba took clear first place. Out of his last three games, co-leader Laurent Fressinet only managed to score half a point, losing to both 16-year-olds Daniel Stellwagen and Hikaru Nakamura (see picture 8). Nakamura moved up to 4th place overall and was awarded by the audience with today's spectators' prize. Fressinet was also overtaken by the other Cuban grandmaster, Lenier Dominguez. The latter outcalculated Friso Nijboer in a sharp position that was initially better for Nijboer. Before Bruzon's result came in, Julio Granda Zuniga pushed the limit in his game against Zhu Chen in an attempt to move into first place. As Bruzon won, Granda Zuniga lost thus ending a remarkable tournament for the grandmaster from Peru (see picture 9).

After winning a crucial game in the previous round, Magnus Carlsen had one last hurdle to take in the final round (see picture 10). Drawing against Jan Smeets is not the easiest task, but with a Sicilian Dragon Carlsen did just that without too much effort (see picture 11), thereby securing clear first place and qualification for Grandmaster Group B in next year's tournament. The qualification spot for the best Dutchman was convincingly taken by Sipke Ernst. He won his last round game against Zhaoqin Peng and improved his score to an impressive 10 out of 13, half a point behind Carlsen. With four norms GM-C became a big hit: 13-year-old Magnus Carlsen from Norway made a 13-round GM-norm with 1,5 overscore, 24-year-old Sipke Ernst scored a 13-round GM-norm with a one-point overscore, 18-year-old Jan Smeets got his final GM-norm and can now apply for the GM-title and 29-year-old Tea Lanchava made her first IM-norm with an overscore of one point after 13 rounds.