Carlsen won five games, lost one and drew the rest for an 8.5 score. Kramnik, the only player to beat Magnus, finished half-a-point behind, together with Shirov, who agreed to a draw in his last game against Dominguez, failing to see the winning line that could have given him solo first prize. World champ Anand was content with fourth place — two wins (vs. Kramnik and Shirov) and 11 draws. He ended in a tie with America’s Nakamura, who won four and lost two games.
For the Corus B event, the very young Nepali-Russian GM Giri, who now lives in the Netherlands, won first prize. The Philippines’ Wesley So could have finished higher than fourth-fifth places, but he blundered in a winning game against Giri, whose only loss was dealt by Slovenia’s women’s champ, Anna Muzychuk.
Game of the week. According to our annotator, IM Malcolm Pein, Vladimir Kramnik “played what he described as feeling like ‘his greatest ever game’ to defeat Magnus Carlsen in the ninth round of the Corus tournament. The former world champion…avenged his defeat at Carlsen’s hands at last December’s London Chess Classic.” Carlsen, incidentally, is training with Kramnik’s old nemesis, the legendary Kasparov.
White: M. Carlsen (2810)
Black: V. Kramnik (2788)
Catalan Opening
Wijk aan Zee 2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ (5…c6 6.Ne5 Bb4+ and Black won brilliantly in Topalov-Kramnik Champions Rapid 2009) 6.Bd2 a5 7.Nc3 0-0 8.a3 Be7 9.Qa4 (White regains the pawn this way. 9.Ne5 Qxd4 illustrates why Black plays Bb4+ to force Bc1-d2, the queen on d1 cannot protect d4) 9…c6 10.Qxc4 b5 11.Qb3 Ba6 (Dynamic play preventing castling because of b4 and Bxe2) 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Bxf6 gxf6! (White may get an edge after 13…Nxf6 14.Ne5 and 13…Bxf6 14.Ne4 Be7 15.Rc1) 14.Qc2 b4 15.Na4 Rc8 16.0-0 c5 17.d5 (Risky but the only way to play for the advantage — Kramnik) 17…exd5 18.Bh3 Bb5 19.axb4 axb4 20.Rfd1 (White has problems with his knight throughout if 20.Qf5 Ra8 21.b3 Ne5!) 20…d4 21.Bf5 Ne5!! 22.Bxh7+ [22.Bxc8 d3] 22…Kg7 23.Nxe5?! (Criticized by Kramnik who proposed 23.Be4) 23…fxe5 24.Bf5 Rc6 25.Qe4 Rh8!! 26.Qxe5+ Bf6 27.Qe4 Re8 28.Qg4+ Kf8 29.Be4 (Kramnik is intent on pushing his pawns and activating his bishops if 29.Bd7 c4) 29…c4! (Carlsen now used his remaining time on the clock but could not solve his problems. Despite appearances White’s king is more vulnerable) 30.Bxc6 Bxc6 31.Qh5 Re5 32.Qh6+ Ke7! 33.e4 (33.Re1 Qd5 or Qa5) 33…d3! 34.Qe3 (Carlsen was very short of time 34.Re1 Qd4 35.Qd2) 34…Bxe4 35.Nb6? (35.Re1 and if 35…d2 36.Red1) 35…Bb7 36.Qf4 Qxb6 37.Qxc4 Re2 38.Rf1 and 0-1.
Puzzler.
White — Ka4, Ba6, Nb8, Nc6, Qc1, pawns on e3 and h4
Black — Kd5, Nd6, Rf7, Bh7, Rh3, pawns on b3, c4, c7, d4, e6 and f3
White to play and mate in four.
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