2001, Wijk aan Zee

The Strongest Tournament
Ever?

(by Jeff Sonas)

The fourteen participants from the Corus
2001 tournament will include the top nine
players in the world, as well as five other
top grandmasters. This tournament will
undoubtedly prove to be a historic one,
because a serious argument can be made
that it is the strongest supertournament of
all time.
There have only been eleven tournaments
in chess history with an average Elo
rating greater than 2700, and every player
who has ever won or shared first place in
such a tournament will be playing at
Corus 2001. In fact, among all events
with more than ten participants, Corus
2001 will be the highest-rated tournament
ever, with an average Elo rating of 2710.
#1. Las Palmas 1996, Category 21
(Average rating 2756, won by Kasparov)
#2. Linares 2000, Category 21 (Average
rating 2752, won by Kasparov &
Kramnik)
#3. Linares 1998, Category 21 (Average
rating 2752, won by Anand)
#4. Linares 1999, Category 20 (Average
rating 2735, won by Kasparov)
#5. Novgorod 1997, Category 19
(Average rating 2719, won by Kasparov)
#6. Dos Hermanas 1996, Category 19
(Average rating 2714, won by Kramnik
& Topalov)
#7. Novgorod 1996, Category 19
(Average rating 2711, won by Topalov)
#8. Corus 2001, Category 19 (Average
rating 2710, won by ???)
#9. Dortmund 1999, Category 19
(Average rating 2705, won by Leko)
#10. Bosna 1999, Category 19 (Average
rating 2704, won by Kasparov)
#11. Bosna 2000, Category 19 (Average
rating 2702, won by Kasparov)
#12. Dos Hermanas 1997, Category 19
(Average rating 2701, won by Anand &
Kramnik)
Of course, all eleven of those Category
19+ tournaments have been held in the
past five years, and the well-known

inflation of FIDE ratings makes it
difficult to use ratings for comparing
modern tournaments with historical ones.
In an attempt to avoid this problem, I
devised a system several months ago that
evaluates the "strength" of historical
tournaments by analyzing how many of
the top-ten contemporary players
participated in them. My article "Garry
Kasparov 1999-2000: Assault on Chess
History", which was published on this
website several months ago (see right
panel), identified Linares 1993 and
Linares 1994 as the two strongest
supertournaments of all time. There has
never been a tournament which included
all of the top ten players in the world, but
those two tournaments came the closest.
Although they rank 30th and 23rd,
respectively, on the above list (based on
average Elo rating), both of those Linares
tournaments included the top nine players
in the world, and so they are both
classified as Super-21 tournaments by my
system. The current Corus 2001
tournament, which also includes the top
nine players in the world, thus becomes
the third Super-21 tournament ever. In
case you haven’t read my article yet,
there were four tournaments classified as
Super-20: Vienna 1882 (nine of the top
ten players in the world, missing only #6
Isidor Gunsberg) and the three
tournaments that included the top eight
players in the world: Nuremberg 1896,
AVRO 1938, and Linares 1992.
So, with so many top players, this is a
clear candidate for the strongest
supertournament of all time. When you
add in the political intrigue of seeing the
first regulation-chess appearance by
Vladimir Kramnik as BGN World
Champion, the first appearance of
Viswanathan Anand as FIDE World
Champion, and the first appearance of
Garry Kasparov as ex-World Champion,
this promises to be an extremely
entertaining event.

Players

(by Sergei Shipov)

Christmas holidays have barely finished,
but it’s time to get down to work again!
The world’s best chess players are
participating in the Dutch traditional
supertournament in order to demonstrate
the top-class chess of the XXI century.
And as usual, we, biased and partial in
our comments, will cover the event.
The lineup is simply outstanding, and the
tournament has a lot of surprises in store.
The alignment of forces at this chess
Olympus is still obscure. Three
superplayers – Kramnik, Anand and
Kasparov – are obviously stronger than
the rest of the participants, but the
hierarchy among the top three is a big
question. So much the more interesting
their performance in the Wijk aan Zee
tournament will be!

Vladimir Kramnik (RUS; FIDE –
2772, Prof – 2792)

Recent performances: won the World
Title match against Kasparov (8.5:6.5)
and a rapid match against Leko (7:5)
Result at Corus 2000: 2-4 (8/13)
Vladimir Kramnik has beaten Kasparov
in a match, outplaying Leko in rapid
chess. It stands to reason that Kramnik is
in good form now. The only thing that
can interfere with him is a huge load of
responsibility: He is a champion now.

Viswanathan Anand (IND; FIDE –
2790, Prof – 2754)

Recent performances: won the FIDE
KO in New Delhi and a rapid event in
Bastia (France)
Result at Corus 2000: 2-4 (8/13)
Viswanathan Anand’s play was brilliant
in the second half of last year; he won the
World Cup and FIDE World
Championship. He skilfully makes short
work of his lower-class opponents, so he
is sure to score a lot of points in Wijk aan
Zee. Just like Kramnik, he will have
difficulty psychologically, because he is
also a champion.

Garry Kasparov (RUS; FIDE – 2849,
Prof – 2792)

Recent performances: lost the World
Title match against Kramnik (6.5:8.5)
Result at Corus 2000: 1 (9.5/13)
Garry Kasparov is full of new ideas
which he failed to put into practice in the
London match. To add to this, he has a
considerable incentive, that is, his desire
to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the
world of chess. No doubt he is going to
play his best, and he will go out of his
way to win the tournament.
This time I won’t tell fortunes by coffee
ground and make any predictions. The
three favorites’ chances for first place are
roughly even. I am pretty sure that two of
them will be brought together in a fight
for leadership, and the performance of a
third one will be slightly worse. But God
knows who this third one will be.
As far as the second group of participants
is concerned, there are six experienced
and strong chess players in it. If the
situation is favorable and lucky, any of
these players may take part in the debate
of the top three. But sure enough these

six participants are weaker than the
favorites. Now let me get the facts
straight.

Alexei Shirov (ESP; FIDE – 2718, Prof
– 2676)

Recent performances: finalist of the
FIDE KO in New Delhi
He has merited chess fans’ love thanks to
his, so to speak, wild style. He must be
tired now: Last year was full of
competitions. However Alexei is still
young and ambitious, so we can
legitimately expect him to spring some
surprises.

Peter Leko (HUN; FIDE – 2745, Prof –
2716)

Recent performances: lost to Khalifman
in the third round of the FIDE KO, lost
the rapid match against Kramnik (5:7)
Result at Corus 2000: 2-4 (8/13)
He has just lost a rapid chess match to
Kramnik, but his play was quite decent.
He managed to destroy the “Berlin wall”
once, something which even Kasparov
had failed to do. Peter is ever making
progress, step by step coming closer to
the top three. Now he is no longer the
young pupil with a dry style of playing
who always tends to draw games. Today
Peter is a versatile player. To add to this,

he is younger than his opponents. So he
is dangerous, quite dangerous.

Michael Adams (ENG; FIDE – 2746,
Prof – 2659)

Recent performances: lost to Anand in
the semifinal of the FIDE KO
Result at Corus 2000: 6 (7/13)
A spider man. His performance at the
Delhi championship and in Sarajevo was
excellent, though he was a failure at last
year’s other tournaments. I may be
mistaken, but Michael seems to have
already reached his highest point. He will
have difficulty in struggling for the
leading position. He can remain one of
the best players for a long time, though.
He is sure to have a positive score at the
competition, but I don’t believe in his
having a real success.

Alexander Morozevich (RUS; FIDE –
2745, Prof – 2709)

Recent performances: lost to Tkachiev
in the fourth round of the FIDE KO
Result at Corus 2000: 5 (7.5/13)
One of the world’s most talented young
chess players has slightly slowed down
his development. I expected him to start
outplaying “the giants” last year, but he
hasn’t lived up to my expectations so far.
Alexander’s play at the Olympiad was

superb. He had a good start at the Delhi
championship as well, but then he didn’t
make use of the favorable situation. I
hope all of this was the beginning of
Morozevich’s new progress. His chances
in Wijk aan Zee are rather good.

Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR; FIDE – 2717,
Prof – 2675). The chess Achilles, his
Achilles’ heel is the unstable nervous
system. This was clearly seen at the Las
Vegas and Delhi knockout tournaments.
But such a nervous strain is not to be
found in round robin events, which
means that it is the player’s chess
strength that comes to the fore. And
Vassily has plenty of opportunity to be a
success. He is capable of fighting for first
prize at the forthcoming competition.
And he will have his way, provided that
he is tranquil and self-confident.
And last but not least, Veselin Topalov
(BUL; FIDE – 2718, Prof – 2675). Last
year, due to a series of tournaments, the
world of chess recognized the
supergrandmaster we used to know
before. In the mid-1990s he successfully
competed with the top three. He must
have had his second wind. I am not sure
he will manage to emerge the champion,
but he is quite capable of outplaying his
colleagues from the second group of
participants.
I would mention Holland’s strongest four
players and Byelorussia’s leader among
the third group. Jeroen Piket (NED;
FIDE – 2632, Prof – 2598), Loek Van
Wely (NED; FIDE – 2700, Prof –
2672), Jan Timman (NED; FIDE –
2629, Prof – 2552), Sergei Tiviakov
(NED; FIDE - 2597, Prof – 2569) and
Alexei Fedorov (BLR; FIDE - 2575,
Prof - 2498) are capable of achieving
good results, but their play is not too
stable. I suppose only one of them will
have a positive score at the competition,
but I cannot predict who. Recently the
Dutch chess player Timman played well
in Tallinn; Van Wely continues
developing, and Tiviakov has a
wonderful chance to strengthen his
position. Piket is traditionally dangerous,

when it comes to playing in his
motherland. And Fedorov is sure to
overcome his prolonged crisis.

In general, there is no doubt that the
tournament will have many decisive
games, especially those between the
leaders and outsiders. I wonder if
Kramnik, Anand and Kasparov can do us
a favor: It would be great if they really
played each other! Last year they failed
to do this. At present the political
situation is such that the games played by
the leaders are of utmost importance. We
would appreciate witnessing a real
struggle at the tournament!

Round 1: The 21

st

Century

Open Its Scorebook

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 13, 2001
Leko,P - Fedorov,A 1/2
Shirov,A - Topalov,V 1:0
Piket,J - Morozevich,A 0:1
Timman,J - Kramnik,V 1/2
Van Wely,L - Ivanchuk,V 1/2
Adams,M - Anand,V 1/2
Tiviakov,S - Kasparov,G 0:1

Today in Wijk aan Zee we all witnessed
the first round of the first super-
tournament in the new century! However,
the very first day has brought quite a lot
of impressions. There were three
victories and only one quick draw in
seven games. If that will be happening in
the rest of the event, the tournament
might well turn out to be the most bloody
in the last few years... 2000’s losers
Kasparov and Shirov have taken a quick
lead, while Kramnik and Anand have
started the event with half-points.
The most vivid – and the key – game of
the round happened between the semi-
finalists of the recent FIDE World
Championship. Adams, who was
prostrated in New Delhi, craved Anand’s
champion blood! And his success was as
close as never before: Vishy made a

mistake and faced the necessity to defend
a difficult, nearly hopeless ending.
However, the composure of the Indian
chess player has stood him in a good
stead – not without his rival’s help,
Anand escaped in a mysterious way. On
move 48 the opponents signed a peace
deal "in view of the complete exhaustion
of resources": the number of white pawns
was too small. A miraculous salvation in
the first round, providing Adams is one
of Vishy’s most dangerous rivals, is a
very good sign for Anand. If he defeats
Tiviakov tomorrow, the Indian player
might become unstoppable...
It was with the greatest impatience that
we all waited for the first game of the
new World Champion – Kramnik.
However, the name of his opponent
inspired certain fear. Timman has long-
standing fame of one of the most cunning
chess players in the world. It would
suffice to remember a story that
happened in Wijk aan Zee two years ago,
when Kasparov smashed his every
opponent to pieces. The Dutch chess
player was to play against him with white
pieces and opted for one of the most
acute lines of the Sicilian only to... force
a draw by repetition of moves in the
opening! And today, again, Timman did
not diverge from his original recipe of
treating “the Royal family” – playing
Kramnik he did not wriggle in the least
and happily agreed to draw the game on
move 15.
I find it difficult to name another event of
similar importance to Garry Kasparov.
After he lost the title to Kramnik, the
Dutch tournament became a matter of life
and death to him. He can only restore his
reputation as the world’s strongest player
by an unconditional victory in Wijk aan
Zee! And today he has made a first step
on the way – Tiviakov was mercilessly
destroyed by black pieces. However,
Tiviakov showed neither a thirst for fight,
nor any skills, just an inexplicable fear of
the horrible ex-champion. He even
played for a while without a queen before
he was reconciled with his lot. I wonder
what Fedorov will demonstrate

tomorrow?
Along with Kasparov, there is one more
“deeply offended” chess player – Shirov.
He is eager to get payback for the
humiliating 0.5:3.5 that he scored in his
Tehran match with Anand. At the very
start he crushed Topalov. He needed but
24 moves to hear Topalov begging for
mercy. This battle occurred in the
sharpest line of the Sicilian Defense
where White is ready to sacrifice a few
light pieces for the attack. Before it was
Van Wely who played this line versus
Shirov with black pieces, and neither of
his attempts was a success. Now he has
passed on the baton to Topalov. Who’s
next?
One more rating favorite of the event,
Alexander Morozevich, has made a good
start at the competition. The gray-haired
Chigorin Defense was no better off than
before, but he did not give in and
continued to fight until Piket’s nerves
could bear it no longer. Hardly had he
managed to make his sole tiny mistake
close to the time-trouble, that Black has
immediately captured the initiative! The
position was still unclear, but Piket had
already lost the track...
A violent battle Leko - Fedorov looked
like a bright spot on the background of
unhurried classical duels. Before the start
of the event nobody had even dreamed
that Fedorov, who had been a failure at
all of his recent competitions, would put
up a serious resistance to a haunters of
super-tournaments. However, he was
very close to the victory and pleased the
audience with a rich uncompromised
battle.
The game Van Wely - Ivanchuk was just
as thrilling. For a long time it was hard to
figure out which of the opponents played
for a win. The Dutch player seized the
initiative in the opening, but then
Ivanchuk got the upper hand. However,
his advantage was insufficient for a
victory. Nevertheless, judging by
Ivanchuk’s mood, his first victory in
Wijk-aan-Zee is not far off.

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Unexpected prize

Tiviakov,S - Kasparov,G [B23]
Corus Wijk aan Zee (1), 13.01.2001

The first game was relatively easy for
me, and my main concern is slow
thinking. I spent too much time
calculating long variations. Ok, let’s
consider it was a kind of training...
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7
5.Bc4 Nc6 6.0-0 e6 7.d3 Nge7 8.Qe1 0-0
9.Bb3
Too passive. Theory recommends 9.f5
with sharp play. After 9.Bb3, Black has
time to exchange this bishop and to get
good chances.
9...Na5 10.Be3 b6 11.Bf2 Bb7 12.Bh4
Nxb3 13.axb3 Qd7 14.Qg3 f5
Black grabs the initiative according to a
standard pattern. The order of moves
doesn’t matter much; possible was also
14...Nc6 15.Rae1 f5 (Good for Black is
15.f5 exf5 16.exf5 Qxf5 17.Qxd6 Nd4)
15.Rae1
White could simplify the position by
means of 15.e5 Bxf3 16.Bxe7 Qxe7
17.Rxf3 (Not 17.exd6 Bd4+ 18.Kh1
Bxg2+ and Black is up a pawn) 17...dxe5
18.fxe5 Qd7 Black is better. The f-pawn
has been advanced successfully and the
e4-square is under control. In the long
term, White will have problems with the
e5-pawn.
15...Nc6 16.exf5 gxf5
Both 16...Rxf5 and 16...exf5 were also
possible, but when you have a bishop on
b7, how can you resist the temptation to
open the g-file? It’s only natural.
17.Re2 Rae8 18.Rfe1 Kh8 19.Qh3 Nd4
20.Nxd4 Bxd4+
After some hesitation I rejected 20...cxd4,
though I had liked it before. After 21.Nd1
e5 22.Nf2 Qc6 23.Bg5 with a further
Nh1-g3, White has some counterplay.
21.Kh1 Rg8 22.Nd1 Rg6 23.c3 Bg7
24.Ne3 Rf8 25.Bg5 h6 26.Bh4 b5!
It’s important to get more space for the
g7-bishop.
27.Nf1 b4 28.cxb4 cxb4 29.Ne3 Rg8
30.Bg3 Bd4 31.Nc4 R8g7 32.Qh5 Kh7

33.Ne3 Qb5
I had some crazy idea of 33...Qf7 34.Nc4
Rxg3!? 35.Qxf7 Bxg2+ (35...Rxg2??
36.Qxb7) 36.Rxg2 Rxg2 37.Qxg7+ Rxg7
38.Nxd6 and Black has a better endgame,
but it was hard to calculate everything
and there was no need to do that.
33...Qb5 is a logical continuation: step by
step I was improving the position,
creating more and more difficulties for
White. Meanwhile Tiviakov was getting
into bad time trouble.
34.Rd2 a6 35.Qh3 h5!?

The most precise was probably 35...Bxe3
36.Rxe3 Bd5 and taking on b3, but I
wanted more tension in the time trouble.
36.Ree2 h4 37.Be1
Of course, White can’t take the h-pawn:
37.Qxh4+? Rh6; still bad is 37.Nc4 Qd5
and White’s collapse on g2 is just a
question of time.
37...Bxe3 38.Qxe3
An interesting trap was 38.Rxe3!? To
take on g2 was quite risky, as White
surprisingly got perpetual check in most
of the lines. After the game I found a
winning variation using the computer
(see below) but during the game I’d
prefer a simple 38...Qc6 with a clear
advantage.
1) 38...Bxg2+ 39.Rxg2 Rxg2 40.Qxh4+
=;
2) 38...Rxg2 39.Qxh4+ Kg8 40.Qd8+ Kf7
41.Rxg2 Bxg2+ 42.Kg1 Bb7+ 43.Bg3
Qc6 44.Kf2 Rg8 45.Qh4 Qg2+ 46.Ke1
Bf3 – +)
38...Qc6 39.Qh3 Qc1!
Here I finally managed to calculate all the
lines to the end.

40.Qxh4+
More stubborn is 40.Re3 Rg4
40...Rh6 41.Rc2 Qd1
Avoiding the last trap: Black can’t play
41...Rxg2 42.Rxg2 Bxg2+ 43.Kg1 Qxc2
44.Qe7+ with a perpetual.
The rest is not interesting:
42.Rcd2 Qb1 43.Qf2 Rxg2 44.Qxg2
Bxg2+ 45.Kxg2 Qa2 46.Bg3 Qxb3
47.Rc2 Rg6 48.Red2 a5 49.Kf2 a4
50.Rc6 a3 51.bxa3 bxa3 52.Ke2 e5
53.fxe5 f4 0-1
Unexpectedly the game won the beauty
contest; personally I liked Shirov-
Topalov more...

Round 1: Kasparov takes the
lead!

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 14, 2001
Fedorov,A - Kasparov,G 0:1
Anand,V - Tiviakov,S 1:0
Ivanchuk,V - Adams,M 1/2
Kramnik,V - Van Wely,L 1:0
Morozevich,A - Timman,J 1/2
Topalov,V - Piket,J 1:0
Leko,P - Shirov,A 1/2


Kasparov continues his advance! Luckily,
he obtained the two weakest (at least, by
their rating) opponents in the start.
Surprisingly, neither Tiviakov nor
Fedorov could bring themselves to play
the big Sicilian against Garry, having
chosen the closed set-up. Sergei vanished
calmly, but Alexei rushed against the
black king headlong. Desperately he
sacrificed a pawn, then the exchange –
only to find out that he had not a single
chance for attack. Meanwhile, the white
king became exposed… Black didn’t
even have to invent anything – he
destroyed the sole defender of the white
king and delivered checkmate! And they
say that Kasparov’s unique aura vanished
when he lost the chess crown!
Meanwhile, Garry keeps on winning

games, having not yet been seated at the
board. For Tiviakov, as well as for
Fedorov, this happened for the first time
in their lives. None of the participants has
to “open” Kasparov.
Well, meeting Kasparov at the
chessboard is not unfamiliar for the
majority of the participants. But what
would you say about the Kasparov-
Anand tandem? Or, even, such “chatter
bumps”, as Kasparov-Anand-Ivanchuk-
Kramnik-Morozevich? Tiviakov was first
to undergone such “laundry”. You
already know about his loss to Kasparov
– today Anand made his contribution.
Vishi beat Sergei in such a way, as if he
was doing this unwillingly… He traded
of all the minor pieces, then created the
most severe attack out of nothing! When
watching the ending of this game, none
can avoid the analogy to the decisive
game from the Grischuk – Tkachev
match in the recent FIDE World
championship, where the white king
watched the destruction of his black
counterpart out of some “bunker”…
The world champion, Vladimir Kramnik,
has obtained his first victory! Probably,
he was stunned by Black’s move 3: Van
Wely decided to play the Grunfeld
Defense against him! The very opening
which was discarded even by Kasparov
himself, who, in this way, recognized the
strength of Kramnik’s analytic team.
However, Loek is known for his
unbelievable opening curiosity. One
would say, that he gets eccentric
sometimes, trying to test every
condemned variation. I need only remind
you his losses to Kasparov and Shirov in
the Sicilian Defense… And now it’s a
new turn! Nevertheless, Loek is quite a
good player, who managed to stand
against Kramnik for 33 moves. The latter
has to drive his “analytic curtain” up for a
little bit and we saw something, that we
had not seen yet in London match. I think
that Kasparov would appreciate the other
participants to display such curiosity!
Yesterday Leko experienced a real shock
when playing against Fedorov, and
instead of exerting methodical pressure

on Black’s position, he became a target
for horrible attack. Most likely, today
Peter did not mind to expend the white
game in order to calm himself down.
Shirov, to the contrary, played for
complications, but was quite cautious in
doing so. It all resulted in a draw – Peter
used the first suitable opportunity to start
move repetition… There also was no real
struggle in the game Ivanchuk – Adams –
both opponents were too wary. White
retained a slight advantage in the
endgame, but it was not sufficient for a
win.
The games of the host players were the
longest ones in this round. One should
note that in addition to the main
tournament in Wijk aan Zee, they always
hold another one – a kind of
championship for the Dutch chess
players. Last year Timman and Piket
scored equal numbers of points: Timman
– thanks to his good play at the finish and
Piket – thanks to his bad play at the
finish. This year it is just the opposite:
Timman rushes ahead, having scored two
draws (against Kramnik and
Morozevich), while Piket still has no
points (he lost to Morozevich and
Topalov).
A few words about the Topalov – Piket
game: Jeroen did his best, but Veselin
was much more concentrated, well, he
was just better! The game Morozevich –
Timman needs a special remark. Except
Kasparov, Timman is the most difficult
opponent for Sasha. Like the Russian,
Timman also plays creative chess and he
is always ready to step away from the
theoretical template in his very first
moves. Moreover, as our expert Shipov
says, Timman also plays good. This time,
though he played with the black pieces,
Timman also managed to outplay
Morozevich. After the startling
middlegame, when the white king
literally walked on rope, a rook endgame
arose which was seemingly hopeless for
the Morozevich. But, as it is well known,
the rook endings do not win, – this one
also was drawn, to much disappointment
of the local chess amateurs.

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Another fond memory

Like Tiviakov, Fedorov avoided the main
Sicilian lines. However, he was really
aggressive - but his optimism was
probably too facile. I remember that I
won a similar game using my opponent’s
strategy against Psakhis in 1990 - it was
an exciting game! [See link on right.]

(2) Fedorov,A (2575) - Kasparov,G
(2849) [B20]
Corus Wijk aan Zee (2), 13.01.2001
[Garry Kasparov]

1.e4 c5 2.d3 Nc6 3.g3 g6
Fedorov plays this line quite often. In
case of 3...d5 4.Nd2 he transposes into
the King’s Indian with an extra tempo; he
has good statistics in this line.
4.Bg2 Bg7 5.f4 d6 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.0-0 0-0
8.h3 b5
I think Black is O.K. after this move.
9.g4
Black can afford an exchange sac after
9.e5 dxe5 (9...Nd5 is also possible)
10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.fxe5 (or 11.Bxa8 Bxh3
12.Bg2 Nc6) 11...Nd5 12.c4 Nc7 13.Bxa8
Nxa8, in both cases with very good
compensation.
9...a5 10.f5

It was time to think about 10.a4 b4
(10...bxa4!?) 11.Nbd2 Ba6 12.Rb1 with a
further b2-b3 and Nd2-c4, blocking the
Q-side.
10...b4
Now White’s knight got stuck on b1.
11.Qe1
Too optimistic. White intends to win with
a direct attack, but this is not that easy...

11...Ba6
Another good continuation is 11...Nd7
12.Qh4 Nde5
12.Qh4?
The strongest is 12.Nbd2 Nd7 13.Qh4 e6
14.g5 Re8 15.f6 Bf8, with a complicated
Scheveningen-like position. I like it for
Black: the general plan is a5-a4, d6-d5,
Nd7-e5 etc
12...c4 13.Bh6
No better is 13.Rd1 cxd3 14.cxd3 Qb6+
15.Kh1 Ne5 16.Nxe5 dxe5 17.Qg3 Rfd8
18.Be3 Qc6 and Black has a big
advantage.
13...cxd3 14.cxd3
In many lines Nf3-g5 is easily parried
with Nc6-e5. In case of 14.fxg6 fxg6
15.Ng5 sufficient is 15...Bxh6 16.Qxh6
Qd7
14...Bxd3 15.Re1 Bxh6
I spent some time calculating lines like
15...Nxe4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Rxe4 Bxe4
18.Ng5 Qb6+ 19.Kh2 Bxg2 20.Qxh7+
Kf6 21.Kxg2 (After 21.Nxf7 Rxf7
22.Qxg6+ Ke5 23.Qe6+ Kf4 Black King
escapes) 21...Kxg5 (21...Qe3 22.Nxf7)
22.Nd2 and who knows... Finally I

decided to play in a more secure manner,
trading the bishops.
16.Qxh6 Qb6+ 17.Kh1 Ne5 18.Nbd2
More stubborn is 18.Nxe5 dxe5 19.Qe3
Qxe3 20.Rxe3 Rfd8, but Black is still
much better.
18...Rac8 19.Ng5 Rc2 20.Rf1 Bxf1
21.Rxf1 Rfc8 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.Nb3
Another try is 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.g5 Qe3
25.Qh7+ Ke6 26.gxf6 exf6 27.Qg7 Qg5
28.h4 Qxh4+ 29.Kg1
A) good is 29...Rxd2 30.Bh3+ (30.Rxf6+
Qxf6 31.Bh3+ Ng4 32.Bxg4+ Ke5)
30...Ng4;
B) but more precise is 29...Ng4 30.Nf3
Rxg2+ 31.Kxg2 Rc2+
23...Rxg2 24.Kxg2 Rc2+ 25.Kg3 Qe3+
0-1

[The final position is a mate in five!
26.Kh4 Rg2!, and Qg3# can only be
delayed by giving up all the white pieces.
26.Rf3 loses quicker, 26...Qe1+ 27.Kf4
Nd3+! 28.Rxd3 e5+ 29.Kf3 Qf2# -ed]

Round 3: “Much Ado About
Nothing”

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 16, 2001
Shirov,A - Fedorov,A 1/2
Piket,J - Leko,P 1/2
Timman,J - Topalov,V 1:0
Van Wely,L - Morozevich,A 0:1

Adams,M - Kramnik,V 1/2
Tiviakov,S - Ivanchuk,V 1/2
Kasparov,G - Anand,V 1/2

January 15 was the first day off in Wijk
aan Zee. One would think that the GMs
had rested well and were ready to start
their fight anew, but... While watching
the key game of the third round,
Kasparov-Anand, it seemed that both
opponents were dead tired, at their last
gasp. It was not a game of chess, it was a
cascade of comic mistakes! Or, probably,
tragic? However, time is needed to sort it
all out.
Anand, who had Black, was the first one
to surprise the audience. Instead of his
traditional Petrov’s Defense, he opted for
the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition.
However, Garry has had no success in the
Ruy Lopez lately. This proved to be true
by move 18, when the Indian chess
player received a marvelous opportunity
to make White switch to the defense, but
he missed it. Garry felt he was riding
high once again, but a few moves later he
made another mistake. This time Vishy
grabbed his chance. He stabbed the
center, and the d-pawn, which was
humble and weak just a few moves
previously, immediately transformed into
Black’s main pride – a passed c-pawn!
The end, isn’t it? No, the opponents
decided to amuse the audience a bit
longer. Unruffled FIDE Champion Vishy
Anand, being only one step away from
victory, decided it was his turn to make
mistakes and let Garry perform a shrewd
queen sacrifice and thus secure his
position. The final position is very
eloquent indeed: black queen and rook
threaten with an inevitable mate and the
uncoordinated white pieces save their
monarch by means of a perpetual check.
So Kasparov lost his first half point, but
his main rival in this event – Vladimir
Kramnik – also drew his game. The
Champion was to face quite an
unpleasant psychological ordeal. His
opponent today, Adams, is highly
uncomfortable for him. In July Adams
beat Kramnik, ending his 18-month series

of games without a loss. To Vladimir’s
honor, I have to admit that he went for
“big chess”! This was another game in
which the opponents played the
Sveshnikov Variation. Despite his ruined
queenside, Black advanced, and
gradually approached the white king. At a
certain moment it even seemed that the
black bishops would blow apart his
fragile residence, but... Kramnik did not
notice the winning continuation and very
soon the opponents agreed to draw the
game. However, it seems to me that this
game should scare all the participants of
the Wijk-aan-Zee event more than
yesterday’s defeat of Van Wely’s
position, as the latter obviously followed
Kramnik’s home analysis. By all means,
the Champion is in very good form and is
eager to prove to the chess world that he
is capable of more than scoring a modest
“+3” in super-tournaments.
Morozevich has had a purely Dutch start
at this event (Piket-Timman-Van Wely),
and this start is more than impressive: 2.5
out of 3. So, Alexander, accompanied by
Kasparov, is in the lead! Morozevich’s
“home laboratory” brought him another
point in the third round. It’s been several
years already since this lab started to
present different chess pearls to the world
with enviable regularity. Today, for
instance, Alexander’s fifth move hit Van
Wely like lightning! It was not so much
the move but the entire flow of the game.
How professionally staged! The Dutch
chess player found himself at a loss in
next to no time and no longer saw a
guiding line in the position. Loek tried to
follow some general rules; Morozevich,
in contrast, hit him with exact
calculations! In all this fuss Van Wely
even forgot to castle and very soon the
black pieces got hold of his centralized
king...
The other victor of this round is Timman.
He outwitted Veselin Topalov in puzzling
complications. Veselin still cannot find
himself at Wijk aan Zee: his games are
rich with profound ideas and
inexhaustible optimism but he obviously
lacks energy to win in such style. I am

talking of the energy that helped this
Bulgarian chess player win one
tournament after another some five years
ago. And today, being just one step away
from victory, Topalov was not able to
make this step when he faced one of
Timman’s favorite traps. Definitely, Jan
knows what he’s doing, 2 out of 3!
Two more festive draws happened in the
games Shirov-Fedorov and Piket-Leko.
In the first game Shirov refuted
Fedorov’s traditional Dragon. However,
when it seemed that mate was inevitable,
Black produced a bright tactical splash,
and Shirov’s king did not manage to
escape the perpetual. The second game
was a typical tempest in a teacup.
Jeroen’s central pawn was the epicenter
of passions, and as soon as it happily left
the stage the Dutch chess player could
not but agree to Peter’s draw offer. This
game brought him his first half-point at
the event!
Ivanchuk has continued his drawing
session. Still “warm” Tiviakov came to
him right after the welcoming hugs of
Anand and Kasparov. Nevertheless,
Ivanchuk did not manage to gain
anything with the black pieces. Besides, a
classical Ruy Lopez is very unlike the
Sicilian jungles: the risk of losing is not
so high here, but neither is the risk of
winning. Quod erat demonstrandum...


Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Spanish swing. Missed wins
for both sides

Kasparov,G (2849) - Anand,V (2790)
[C78]
Corus Wijk aan Zee (3), 16.01.2001

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6
5.0-0 Bc5 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bg4
9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 0-0 11.a5
This is quite a risky move. White
impedes Nc6-a5 and b5-b4 (employed
successfully by Black in this position
after 11.d3). The plan is to play d2-d3, to
retreat the bishop from b3 with idea b2-
b4 etc. If I had time to do that, I would

have a definitely better position.
However, Anand found very precise
counterplay.
11...Rb8!
Now Black can play Nf6-d7: Bb3-d5 is
not dangerous anymore. Now Anand is
preparing f7-f5.
12.d3 Nd7 13.Be3 Kh8 14.Nd2 Ne7
15.Bc2
I didn’t like the position after 15.d4 exd4
16.cxd4 Bb4 17.Bc2 c5 18.dxc5 dxc5
19.Nb3 Nc6 the a5-pawn is weak,
bishops can’t get enough space...
Probably, the entire plan with a4-a5 is
somewhat dubious.
15...Bxe3
I was considering only 15...f5 16.d4 f4
17.dxc5 fxe3 18.Qxe3 Nxc5 19.b4 Ne6
20.g3 with an unclear position. Maybe,
White can hope to have some edge in the
future (Bc2-d1-g4, h3-h4 etc)
16.fxe3
Too optimistic. More secure is 16.Qxe3
c5 with an equal position.
16...c5
Now White can’t play 17.b4 Qc7 and
Black invades along the c-file.
17.Bb3 c4?!
A dubious attempt to grab initiative. The
more solid 17...Nf6 gave Black slightly
better chances. The a5-pawn is weak and
the f-file is effectively blocked. After
17...c4?! White regains some
counterchances.
18.dxc4 Nc5
Good for White is 18...b4 19.c5! Nxc5
20.Bxf7 - the pin along the f-file is not
dangerous, and the White bishop is going
to be very strong. Important is 18...bxc4
19.Ba2! - White will capture on c4 with
the knight going for d6-pawn. Anand
decided to sac a pawn (18...Nc5) and this
was a good idea but still the position
became quite playable for me.
19.cxb5 Nxb3 20.Nxb3 Rxb5 21.Qd1
Qc7
Not 21...Qb8 22.Nd2 Rxb2 23.Nc4 and
White will capture the d6-pawn. In
general, the plan Nb3-d2-c4 is very
dangerous for Black and my next move is
a part of it (I had to get control of c4-
square).

22.Ra4! Nc6
Looks nice but maybe this is a losing
move. It was time to think about 22...f6,
liberating the f8-rook. After 22...Nc6
White can finally pass his knight to c4. I
knew that 23.Nd2 was the best move but
I wasted ten minutes calculating lines and
then I suffered heavily from the lack of
time.
23.Nd2 Nxa5
Bad is 23...Rxa5 24.Nc4 Rxa4 25.Qxa4
a5 26.Rd1±
24.b4 Nb7

The crucial position.
25.Qc2
25.Qc2 is good enough, white keeps
some advantage. But, alas, I missed a
winning line: 25.Rxa6 Qxc3 26.Rxf7 Rg8
here we both stopped calculations but...
27.Qf1! Nd8 (27...Rxb4 28.Ra8!+-)
28.Rxg7!! Kxg7 29.Rxd6 (threatening
Qf1-f6 mate!) 29...Qxe3+ 30.Kh1 Qf4
31.Qxb5 Nf7 32.Rd3 Rc8 33.Nb3+- An
unbelievable line that I found only after
the game!
25...h6
Black gets a bad endgame after 25...Rc8
26.Qd3! Qxc3 27.Qxc3 Rxc3 28.Rxa6 h6
29.Rxf7 and Ra6-a7, White should win
here.
26.Qd3 Rb6 27.Rfa1 Rc6 28.R1a3?!
Wasting time. I had to play 28.Rxa6
Rxc3 29.Qd5±
28...a5 29.Kh2?
A blunder. Correct is 29.Kh1 Kh7 and
though it’s not easy to develop the

initiative, White has an edge. (worse for
Black is 29...Rc8 30.Qd5±)
29...d5 30.Qb5?
The second blunder in a row! The only
way to escape was 30.Qxd5 Rd8 31.Qa2
Rxc3 32.Rxc3 Qxc3 33.Nf3 Qxe3! (after
33...axb4 34.Qxf7 Black has to find
34...Qxe3 35.Qxb7 Qf4+ 36.Kh1 Rd1+
37.Ng1 Rxg1+ 38.Kxg1 Qc1+ 39.Kh2
Qf4+ with perpetual check) 34.Qxf7
Qxe4 35.Ra1 Qd5 36.Qe7 axb4 37.Ra7
Rd7 38.Qe8+ Kh7 39.Ng5+ with
perpetual check
30...d4 31.bxa5
Black captures the Queen after 31.c4 Rb6
32.Qd5 Rd8-+ 31...dxc3 32.Nb3 Nc5?
Anand misses a win: after 32...c2 33.Nc1
it would be incredibly difficult for me to
escape: the c2-pawn is very dangerous.
33.Rc4 Rb8 34.Qxc6 Qxc6 35.Nxc5
Qb5 36.Rcxc3 Qe2 37.Nd7 Rb2

and White forces a draw with perpetual
check (Rc3-c8 and Nd7-f8).
A very adventurous game!
1/2-1/2

Round 4: Romantic play in
Wijk aan Zee

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 17, 2001
Fedorov,A - Anand,V 1/2
Ivanchuk,V - Kasparov,G 1/2
Kramnik,V - Tiviakov,S 1:0
Morozevich,A - Adams,M 0:1
Topalov,V - Van Wely,L 1/2
Leko,P - Timman,J 1/2
Shirov,A - Piket,J 1:0

Chess musketeers rule the fight! We saw
two romantic openings today: the Evans
Gambit and the King’s Gambit. What a
supertournament, what excessive caution
by the elite… In general, this round
turned out to be very live: it produced
three decisive games at once! Kramnik
and Shirov won with White and joined
Kasparov, while yesterday’s leader
Morozevich joined the "working masses".
In Wijk aan Zee, Fedorov has already
heard plenty of critical discussion about
the unreliability of his opening book, but
we are very grateful to him for his choice
of today. Playing against the FIDE world
champion, he chose the most romantic
chess opening - the King’s Gambit!
However, in response to 1.e4 e5 he could
do nothing except 2.f4. Anand already
met this crafty opening before - in 1996
he was torn to pieces by Morozevich in
the Kremlin Cup. So, Vishy was very
cautious: in spite of the fact that the
restless white king sauntered along the
chessboard, White possessed the
initiative. However, nobody could see a
way to develop this initiative further -
draw… As our expert Sergei Shipov said,
the main result of the Fedorov - Anand
game is that the "King’s Gambit is alive!"

The Ivanchuk - Kasparov duel was the
next game, which ended in a draw. In the
early 1990s Ivanchuk together with
Karpov was the champion’s main rival.
Much has changed since that time - Garry
has lost his title, Vassily has fallen back
into the shadow, but nevertheless, the
Ukrainian Grandmaster considered his
duel with Kasparov to be the main event
of the tournament. This time Ivanchuk
surprised Kasparov with a rare variation
of the Sicilian Defense - it seemed that

White had nothing, but if Vassily had
played against a "simpler" opponent, he
would have be able to make miracles and
finally win. As for Kasparov, he
confidently neutralized all of the
opponent’s threats and ended the game in
a draw.
Morozevich could have taken advantage
of Kasparov’s slowdown - getting his
second draw in a row after two victories -
- but… perhaps Michael Adams was
offended that Alexander decided to finish
him with his "national British weapon" -
the Evans Gambit! Strange as it may
seem, such an expert in gambit play as
Morozevich got bogged down in the
conglomeration of his own pieces in the
very opening. White seemed to sacrifice
his pawn for the attack, and Black
captured this pawn, hoping to defend his
position and counterattack. In reality,
everything turned out to the contrary:
White’s bishops were stuck behind their
own pawn barricades, while Black’s brisk
pieces were getting closer to the
opponent’s king… I don’t know what
happened to Morozevich this evening,
but Adams played with him like a cat
with a mouse and finally ate him. The
next rounds will show the strength of the
Muscovite’s will.
Kramnik also had a very important
meeting today. Perhaps some people
don’t know Tiviakov. However, young
Volodya perfected his chess skills
competing with Sergei. At that time
everybody considered Tiviakov to be a
genius and the future world champion,
while Kramnik’s name was unknown.
The chess world has changed since that
time, but the Wijk aan Zee tournament
gave Tiviakov a chance to show that he
was not born yesterday! Sergei did his
best to use this chance and only in the
end of the game did the champion
outplay him after a very hard struggle.
This game of two former compatriots
captured spectators’ attention for a long
time.
Piket continued his way down: the result
of 0.5 points out of a possible 4 was a
real nightmare for Jeroen. After

yesterday’s mistake in his game with
Fedorov, Alexei Shirov was very
accurate and inexorable. "Shirov" plus
"white piece" equals… Right - the
"attack"! In the Russian Defense White
quickly stole up on the opponent’s king:
the queen together with the knight almost
created a mating threat. Thus Black had
to pay off with his pawns… Finally,
Shirov’s brave knight died, the queens
were exchanged, the attack was repulsed,
but the endgame turned out to be even
worse than the middlegame for Piket.
Another two draws (Leko - Timman and
Topalov - Van Wely) were just a
supplement to the bright plot of the fourth
round. Jan Timman confidently played in
a slightly worse endgame against Leko -
draw! As for Topalov, he hungered for
battle again and again he missed his
triumph! The fans of the Bulgarian
Grandmaster can be happy that he didn’t
lose today. Still, Van Wely is a more
convenient opponent than Timman.


Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: “Not just a draw” The quiet
before tommorow`s strom with
Kramnik!

Frankly, tomorrow’s game against
Kramnik is much more important for me
and maybe unconsciously I tried to save
some energy today... but it was not "just a
draw." Vassily Ivanchuk is a dangerous
rival and, by the way, he was the first one
in this tournament to play the main line
of the Sicilian with me. I had to
neutralize his pressure. It was an
interesting game and I’m content that it
was clear of inaccuracies and blunders.
Garry, what do you think about
Kramnik’s games in Wijk aan Zee so far?
Today he played a very good game, and it
looks like he is in good shape.
What is going to be on the stage
tomorrow?
Just a game of chess!

Ivanchuk,V (2717) - Kasparov,G
(2849) [B85]

Corus Wijk aan Zee (4), 15.01.2001

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.f4 0-0
9.Qe1
Vassily employed a rare old move, in the
60s it was in fashion to sacrifice the b2-
pawn: 9...Qc7 10.Qg3 Qb6 11.Be3 Qxb2
12.Bf2 with compensation. On the other
hand, after 9...Nc6 White probably has to
return to the main line after 10.Be3.
However, I didn’t mind go down an
offbeat track, so I played
9...b5 10.Bf3 b4

I think this move is a novelty - at least, I
haven’t seen it before. [10...b4 11.e5 was
played in the game Gazik - Stohl,
Czechoslovakia 1987 -ed.]
11.Nd1
In post mortem analysis we both agreed
that Black has a good compensation in
the line 11.e5 dxe5 12.Bxa8 exd4
11...e5
An exchange sac is still possible: 11...a5
12.e5 dxe5 - but it is riskier due to
13.Nxe6!?
12.Nf5 Nc6
I also considered 12...Bxf5 13.exf5 Nc6
14.Bxc6 Qb6+ 15.Ne3 Qxc6 16.Qxb4
Rfe8 17.Qc4 and Black has some
counterplay for the sacrificed pawn but
probably it is not sufficient for equality.
13.Nde3 exf4 14.Nxe7+
An important line is 14.e5 dxe5! 15.Bxc6
Rb8 and unexpectedly Black regains
material, winning a pawn; Black also has

sufficient counterplay after 14.Nd5 Bxf5
15.exf5 Nxd5 16.Bxd5 Bf6
14...Qxe7 15.Nd5
15.Nf5 would be parried with 15...Qe5
protecting the f4-pawn.
15...Nxd5 16.exd5 Qxe1 17.Rxe1 Nd4
18.Bxf4

After long calculations Ivanchuk rejected
18.Bd1 g5 (18...Bf5 19.Bxf4 Nxc2
20.Bxc2 Bxc2 21.Bxd6 Rfd8 with a
simple draw) 19.Re4 Nf5 20.Rxb4 Re8
21.Bd2 Ne3 with unclear complications -
I consider that White would have a small
edge here.
Dubious is 18.Be4?! Bg4 (18...g5 19.Bd2
a5 20.c3) 19.Kf2 (19.Bxf4 Ne2+ 20.Rxe2
Bxe2 21.Bxd6 Rfe8) 19...Rfc8 and Black
captures c2-pawn
18...Nxc2 19.Bxd6 Nxa1 20.Rxa1 Bd7=
White has a symbolic advantage that
required an easy minimum of accuracy
from me.
21.Bxf8 Kxf8 22.a3 bxa3 More precise
than 22...Rb8 23.axb4 Rxb4 24.Rxa6
Rxb2 25.Ra7 Be8 26.Ra8 Rd2 - this
should be a draw but White still has some
pressure.
23.Rxa3 Bb5 24.Rc3 (24.Kf2 Rc8
25.Rc3 Rxc3 26.bxc3 a5 27.Ke3 a4
28.Bd1 Bc4 29.Bxa4 Bxd5 30.g3 Ke7
31.Kd4 Kd6=)
24...Rd8 25.Kf2 Ke7 26.Rc7+ Rd7
27.Rc8 Rd8 28.Rc7+ 1/2-1/2

Round 5: The Berlin wall is
shaking but not falling!

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 18, 2001
Piket,J - Fedorov,A 1:0
Timman,J - Shirov,A 0:1
Van Wely,L - Leko,P 1:0
Adams,M - Topalov,V 1/2
Tiviakov,S - Morozevich,A 0:1
Kasparov,G - Kramnik,V 1/2
Anand,V - Ivanchuk,V 1/2

Thousands of chess fans have been
looking forward to this day. In Wijk aan
Zee, Round 5, Kramnik and Kasparov,
champion and ex-champion, played again
after their London match. Kasparov
played with White, which means that the
notorious Berlin wall was bound to rise
again. Kramnik lived up to the chess
community’s expectations – within a
minute “the necessary position” was set
up on the chessboard…
Kramnik rapidly made the next 14
moves, avoiding the line which had been
extremely common in the match. Black
obtained an invulnerable position in
exchange for White’s absolute initiative,
something which the candidate had
longed to achieve in London. But such a
predetermination was not to the
champion’s taste in Wijk aan Zee, and on
the 20th move the first black piece
crossed the chessboard’s threshold –
Nd4! Our commission of experts, headed
by Shipov, reacted in the following way:
“Kramnik is playing with fire!” The
position became intricate in a jiffy,
Kasparov’s eyes brightened, and he
started preparing his battue… One
brilliant move followed another, but
every time Black managed to escape and
refute White’s plans. Yet it seemed that
even Kramnik’s steadfast resistance
couldn’t help him save the position, or
rather, the ruins of a position. But after
the time trouble rush it turned out that the
opponents could well sign a peace deal.
Nearly right after the handshake, many
thought that Kasparov had lost his victory

due to the last move in time trouble. It
was Kasparov’s real tragedy, because
victory had left him empty-handed.
Kramnik risked right to the edge of the
abyss during half the game, but he again
stood his ground. Besides his half a point,
he gained a solid psychological
advantage over his main opponent and
rival in the tournament! Now that their
duel is over, “the two K’s” race is the
most interesting sight of the Dutch
supertournament. Whom would you bet
on, gentlemen?
The Timman – Shirov game was the most
prolonged in the fifth round. I have a
feeling that Alexei, who shared the lead
with “the two K’s” after the four rounds,
deliberately prolonged his game with Jan
Timman in order to obtain the absolute
lead! It seems to me that the Spaniard had
not the slightest doubt that he would
outplay the Dutch veteran: As a pupil of
the Botvinnik – Kasparov school he had
learned his style perfectly. Timman
defended his best, but the difference in
the motivation of these two chess players
was too big: Timman’s usual appeasing
measures failed against the violent
Shirov. The white pieces were
disgracefully positioned along the last
two ranks, but it was only in the late
ending that Black celebrated his victory.
This was Alexei’s third win in the
tournament, which means that a sole
leader has appeared again!
After his fiasco of yesterday in the game
with Adams, Morozevich played
Tiviakov. “The new Dutchman” always
lacks something in order to unleash a real
fight in this tournament: He scored his
only half a point in Wijk aan Zee, having
deprived the position of life in the early
opening. He tried to play to the full in the
fifth round, and this brought about his
sufferings. The uncoordinated
performance of the major pieces in the
Sicilian Defense resulted in a hopeless
ending for White. Next round
Morozevich is playing Kasparov, and
then we will see whether Tiviakov’s
“sacrifice” was for nothing.
Anand drew his game again. Now it is

only the fifth round, but Vishi is
seemingly exhausted already. A peace
deal was signed on the 19th move. It may
seem strange, but I think that if the Indian
Grandmaster had played with Black, his
chances for victory would have been
better. Adams, tired after the New Delhi
tournament, is not eager to play either.
Playing Topalov, Michael easily proved
that Black had problems. But his
ambitious plans were exhausted towards
the 23rd move, and a draw ensued.
The Dutch players Piket and Van Wely
won their first victories today! The
former left no chances for Fedorov,
proving that the King’s Indian Defense is
not to be played in supertournaments.
The latter completed Leko’s “swan
song”. The Hungarian chess player is in
bad form at this tournament: He is
absolutely passive. But let’s not keep on
at Peter: The young chess player has just
got married, and he is just enjoying
himself. Loek Van Wely could happily
send his kisses to Arshak Petrosian’s
pretty daughter! [Leko’s wife, who may
need to tell her husband to come back
with his shield or on it! -ed.]

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov:
Again the Berlin, again close, again a
draw

As expected, we played the Berlin
Defense. It was successfully employed
(four times!) by Kramnik during the
World Championship match in London.
To find a way to win here is a question of
principle now.
As expected, we arrived soon to a typical
"Berlin" position without Queens. There
were some inaccuracies from both sides
and it’s a pity that I missed a win one
step away from it!
Kasparov,G (2849) -
Kramnik,V (2792)
Corus Wijk aan Zee (5), 19.01.2001

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4
5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5
8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 Be7

After the game Kramnik said that he had
prepared this line for the 15th game of
the match...
11.Bg5 Bxg5 12.Nxg5 h6 13.Nge4 b6
14.Rfd1!
[An important nuance! 14.Rad1 Ba6
15.Rfe1 Ke7! would give a comfortable
position to Black, for instanse 16.g4 Nh4
As Kramnik admitted, he had arrived at
the idea of 14.Rfd1 just a few hours
before the game and it had been an
unpleasant surprise for him.]
14...Ne7 [Now 14...Ba6 15.a4 is good for
White: his a1-rook is just ready for
action.]
15.f4 Ng6 16.Rf1 h5 17.Rae1 Bf5
18.Ng3 Ne7
[Black could try to take the offered pawn:
18...Bxc2 19.f5 Nf8 20.Rf2 Bd3 21.Rd2
Ba6 22.f6 (22.Nge4 Rd8 23.Nf6+ Ke7
and Black is going to puzzle it out)
22...g6 23.Nge4 with idea Ne4-g5. The
plan is to block the black rook in the
corner: I think that White has at least
good compensation here.]
19.Nxf5 Nxf5 20.Kf2 Nd4

21.Rc1
[Probably more promising is 21.Rd1!?
Nxc2 (Kramnik said he was considering
21...Rd8 22.Rd2 Ke7 - ok, this leads to
the game line improved for White (the
rook is already on d2)) 22.Rd2 Nb4
23.Rfd1 Nd5!? (23...Rc8 24.Rd7
threatening e5-e6) 24.Nxd5 cxd5
25.Rxd5 Rh6 26.Rd7 Rc6 and definitely
White has some edge.]
21...Rd8 22.Rfd1 Ke7 23.Ne4
[23.g2-g3 was very attractive but I didn’t

like the possible counteractivity of the
black king: 23.g3 Ke6!? 24.Ne4 Kf5
25.Ng5 Ne6! 26.Nxf7 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 Rf8
28.Rd7 h4!]
23...h4 24.b4
Otherwise Black will play c6-c5 killing
even the ghost of White’s advantage.
24...Rh5?
[24...Nf5 was secure enough. Now White
gains time.]
25.Ng5 Rhh8
[Kramnik underestimated 25...f6 26.c3!
fxg5 27.cxd4 gxf4 28.Rxc6 Rxe5
29.Rxc7+ Ke6 30.Rxg7 - that is why he
played 24...Rh5]
26.Rd3 Ne6 27.Nxe6 Kxe6 28.Rcd1
Rd5 29.c4 Rxd3 30.Rxd3 a5 [Not better
is 30...Ra8 31.Kf3 a5 32.b5!?]
31.bxa5 Ra8 32.Ra3 Kf5 33.Kf3 Ra6
[The pawn endgame must be won for
White. There are quite a few long
interesting lines, for instance: 33...Rxa5
34.Rxa5 bxa5 35.c5 a4 36.a3 g6 37.g3
hxg3 38.Kxg3 g5 (38...Ke4 39.h4 Kd5
40.Kf3 Kxc5 41.f5 Kd5 42.e6+-) 39.fxg5
Kxg5 40.e6! fxe6 41.Kf3! Kh4 42.Ke4
Kxh3 43.Ke5 Kg4 44.Kxe6 Kf4 45.Kd7
Ke5 46.Kxc7 Kd5 47.Kb6 Kc4 48.Kxc6
Kb3 49.Kb5 Kxa3 50.c6 Kb3 51.c7 a3
52.c8Q a2 53.Qh8+-]
34.c5 f6?
[This move could have lost the game.
Objectively, the only chance was
34...bxc5
A) After the game GM Yuri Dokhoian
[Garry’s second. Photo below. -ed.] was
analyzing this endgame deeply.
According to him, the strongest is 35.Ra4
c4 36.Ke3 c5 37.Kd2 Kxf4 38.Kc3 Kxe5
39.Kxc4 Kd6 40.Kb5 Ra8 41.a6 Rb8+
42.Ka5 (42.Kc4 Kc6=) but Black escapes
after 42...Kc6 43.a7 Rb5+ (43...Ra8
44.Ka6) 44.Ka6 Rb6+ 45.Ka5 Rb5+=;
B) 35.Ke3 35...c4 36.Kd4 Kxf4 37.Rf3+
Kg5 38.Rxf7 Rxa5 39.Rxg7+ Kf5
40.Rf7+ Ke6 41.Rf6+ Ke7 42.Rf2 Rd5+
43.Kxc4 Rxe5 must be drawn]
35.Re3! [Now White’s chances become
very good. Drawish was 35.exf6 gxf6=]
35...Rxa5 36.e6 Ra8 37.e7 Re8 38.a4
Kg6 [38...g5 39.Re4] 39.Re6 Kf7

40.Rxc6
[I undervalued the best move: 40.f5!
A) 40...Rxe7 41.Rxc6
A1) 41...bxc5 42.a5 Re5 (42...Ke8
43.Re6) 43.Rxc7+ +-;
A2) 41...Kg8 42.cxb6 cxb6 43.Rxb6 Ra7
44.Rb4 Ra5 45.Kg4 Rd5 46.Rb2 Rd4+
47.Kh5 Rxa4 (47...Kh7 48.Ra2) 48.Kg6
Ra8 49.Rb7;
A3) 41...g6 42.cxb6 cxb6 43.Rxb6 gxf5
44.Rb4+-;
B) 40...g6 41.Kg4 (41.Rxc6!?) 41...Rxe7
42.Rxe7+ Kxe7 43.fxg6 Kf8 44.Kxh4
Kg7 45.Kg3 b5 46.a5 b4 47.a6 b3 48.a7
b2 49.a8Q b1Q 50.Qe8! Kh6 - you still
need some good technique to win this but
nothing more...;
C) 40...Ra8 41.e8Q+ Rxe8 42.Rxc6;
D) 40...g5 41.Rxc6 Rxe7 42.cxb6 cxb6
43.Rxb6 Ra7 44.Rb4 Ra5 45.Kg4 In all
these lines White has very good chances
to win.]
40...Ra8
The move is more or less evident. I
underestimated it. Much worse is
40...bxc5 41.Rxc5 (Not 41.Rxc7 Ra8) ]
41.cxb6 cxb6 42.Rxb6 Rxa4 43.Re6
Ke8 44.Re4 Ra3+ 45.Re3 Rxe3+
46.Kxe3 f5
1/2-1/2

Round 6: The 21

st

Century

Open Its Scorebook

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 20, 2001
Fedorov,A - Ivanchuk,V 0:1
Kramnik,V - Anand,V 1/2

Morozevich,A - Kasparov,G 1/2
Topalov,V - Tiviakov,S 1/2
Leko,P - Adams,M 1/2
Shirov,A - Van Wely,L 1:0
Piket,J - Timman,J 1/2

It seems that only yesterday was the
second day off in Wijk aan Zee.
Meanwhile, a lot of players did not even
think about the struggle today! It was
somehow boring, together with the
emptiness of the KasparovChess Moscow
office – well, it was Saturday. As usual,
there were the same people, who added
some life in this sleepy kingdom... Van
Wely demonstrated miracles of courage
to Shirov, Kramnik displayed to Anand
his stubbornness in achieving the aim and
Morozevich recognized his infinite
cunningness in his game with Kasparov.
The micro-game Morozevich – Kasparov
is similar to the Timman’s old jokes.
Sasha played as White against the ex-
champion for the first time in his life – he
played all three previous games against
Kasparov with the black pieces and
managed to score only a half point.
Taking into account the Muscovite GM’s
principled attitude, his ambitions, and
also one extra day for preparation, one
should expect a great battle. But “the
battle” lasted only 14 moves, then a
deadly-drawn position arose. It may
appear that Garry Kasparov just failed to
notice White’s trick just in time, and the
mountain gave birth to the mouse!
One could have become indignant about
this, if… If Morozevich did not fight for
the victory in Wijk aan Zee tournament
as energetically as Kasparov did!
Alexander would not have made such a
rapid draw with Kasparov if it all were
not the part of his tournament strategy.
However, many of us shall treat such a
decision as the result of trivial fear of
Kasparov. But, Morozevich deserves
only our approval, even if he planned this
draw, because a draw against Kasparov is
always an excellent result!
The most important and exciting
encounter was Kramnik – Anand. It was
the first game between the new World

Champion and the FIDE World
Champion! This game became a template
for the future rivalry, aimed perhaps at
the unifying the chess world (if it would
ever happen!). So far, Vladimir had won
all his white games in this tournament
and Vishy should expect some analytical
surprise from the Russian. It did not take
much waiting. The Indian displayed a
certain courage, by having selected a
variation of the Nimzowich Defense,
which nearly became fatal for Kasparov
in London. In that game, Kramnik
sacrificed a pawn and started a horrible
attack against the black king, but spoiled
it all with an annoying mistake. This
time, Anand should not expect mercy
from the world champion and White
obtained his “legitimate” stable
advantage. Black could not make a single
inaccurate move for quite a long time.
It was all according Kramnik’s scenario
until move 26. But then, when the white
pieces occupied ideal positions, while the
black ones roamed around perplexedly,
Vladimir failed to find the exact way to
develop his initiative. He won a pawn
instead, but all the harmony he had
created with such effort was ruined. It
was rather Anand then, who obtained the
positional advantage. The game
proceeded to quite an unexpected finish,
when, suddenly, the result appeared at the
official site: draw. We could not believe
our eyes! But the more we looked at the
position, the more we made sure that the
wise FIDE world champion had acted in
the best possible way! He would
definitely have fought for win if he had
more energy.
I do not know what the romantic Van
Wely thought about at the moment when
he rushed into adventure against Shirov.
Loek obtained everything possible that
evening: a reliable position after the
opening, prospects of attack against his
opponent’s king and safety for his own
one. But the Dutch champion cannot just
sit and wait, he wants to achieve
everything through his own efforts. Well,
it was just a wrong choice on his part –
Shirov gladly accepted the complications.

When the black knight captured the white
d4-pawn, the game was really over.
Shirov admitted only one slight mistake
in the struggle that followed: he did not
choose the fastest way of destroying his
opponent. What happened to Van Wely?
He either blundered Shirov’s 18th move,
or just recollected his last place in Wijk
aan Zee last year.
Shirov obtained his next victory and
magnified his lead. Now, he is ahead of
Kasparov, Kramnik and Morozevich by a
1 point! He faces a difficult finish, but
nevertheless, his chances are excellent.
His everlasting desire to beat everyone is
worth admiration and his troubles of last
year are over. Anyway, I do not think he
is going to repeat Saraevo 2000, when he
lost in the penultimate round.
It is enough to say about the other games,
that they took place. Everyone else,
except Fedorov and Ivanchuk, easily
shared the point. And the brave
Belorusian really signed his death
sentence with his second move. It was a
King’s Gambit again, as you might guess.
Well, nobody calls him “your majesty”
nowadays, it is a rather sick old gambit –
you remember, that the romantic
Spielmann spent too much time near his
bed… It does not need mentioning that
Ivanchuk won – for the first time in this
tournament!

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: “The choice of a new
generation” Morozevich grabs a 15-
move draw with white

There isn’t much to comment today. My
opponent avoided battle and I don’t think
that this way of playing chess can fit in
with really big ambitions. Let’s see how
it went...

Morozevich,A (2745) -
Kasparov,G (2849) [B52]

Corus 2001, Round 6 (Jan 20)

1.e4 c5?!
Well, now I see in this game this was a
mistake! After 1...e5 White has fewer

opportunities to simplify the position.
2.Nf3 d6?! For the same reason better are
2...e6 or 2...Nc6.
3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0-0 Nc6
6.d3 e6 7.b3 Be7 8.Bb2 Nf6 9.c4 0-0
10.Nc3 d5

11.exd5
The choice of the Pepsi generation...
When I played 10...d5 I had to be aware
of 11. e5!? Now 11...Ne8 looks gloomy -
I was considering 11...Ng4 with
complications. My optimistic version of
them can be viewed in the following
crazy line:
11.e5 Ng4 12.Re1 d4 13.Nb1 f6 14.exf6
gxf6 15.Nxd4 Nxf2 16.Kxf2 Nxd4
17.Qg4+ Kh8 18.Bxd4 Rg8 19.Qe4 cxd4
20.Qxe6 Qc7 21.Qxe7 Qf4+ 22.Kg1
Rxg2+ 23.Kxg2 Rg8+ 24.Kh1 Qf3#
mate!
Okay, that line can and should be
contested by the White side... but
apparently Morozevich prefered to
prolong the holidays: the game line leads
to inevitable exchanges and hopeless
equality.
11...exd5 12.d4 cxd4 13.Nxd5 Nxd5
14.cxd5 Qxd5
1/2-1/2

Round 7: A Miracle for
Champions and Ex-
Champions

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 21, 2001
Timman,J - Fedorov,A 0:1
Van Wely,L - Piket,J 1:0

Adams,M - Shirov,A 1/2
Tiviakov,S - Leko,P 1/2
Kasparov,G - Topalov,V 1:0
Anand,V - Morozevich,A 1/2
Ivanchuk,V - Kramnik,V 0:1

It is the very height of the tournament,
and this was one of the brightest days of
the competition. All the participants
fought today, and the results of the duels
have been simultaneously predictable and
unexpected! Today’s round sets one
thinking on the role of a miracle in the
success of the champions and ex-
champions. In this respect, if it hadn’t
been through the mercy of the supreme
power, Kasparov wouldn’t have beaten
Topalov, Kramnik wouldn’t have
outplayed Ivanchuk, and Anand wouldn’t
have come through the battle with
Morozevich. Whatever you may say, God
helps the strongest. The leader of the
tournament, Shirov, tried to beat Adams
today. But he has failed to do so, and now
there is again a gap of only half a point
between him and the “two K’s”. And
Morozevich is one point behind!
Kasparov needed victory badly. After his
victories in the initial stage of the
competition, Garry had a long series of
draws, which went absolutely against the
planned plot of the “rematch after the
London event”. In fact the ex-champion
was this time to demonstrate the level of
his play in Wijk aan Zee 1999, when he
won seven victories in a row, thus
showing the gap between “the King” and
the others. But in this tournament
Kasparov failed to outplay Anand, then
he defended patiently in his duel with
Ivanchuk, failed to transform his winning
position to victory when playing
Kramnik, and at last he was quite
discouraged by Morozevich’s drawish
tactics. And now he faced Topalov… At
the beginning of this game my memory
kept taking me back to the Wijk aan Zee
1999 tournament, when Garry won his
immortal victory over Veselin Topalov.
In that game Garry sacrificed two rooks
and forced a very beautiful ending.
Topalov’s most distinctive feature, which

makes him different from the other chess
players of the elite, is his constant bent
for aesthetics. And, in creating his chess
masterpieces, the Bulgarian does not care
one dime’s worth if he himself will
eventually become the victim.
The very opening of the Kasparov –
Topalov game was full of intrigue. Garry
employed the variation which he himself
had earlier refuted dozens of times with
his own novelties. Kasparov had extra
material and the prospects of
strengthening his position, but he made
up his mind to attack. It goes to show that
he really wanted to win! But this also
goes to show that moderation is the best
friend in such a situation. Garry made a
slip, and Black could have captured the
initiative. To say the least, Veselin could
have drawn the game at once. Instead of
this, he made a terrible blunder, and the
white pieces revived their harmony in a
jiffy, and a move later they forced the
black king to resign…
Nearly the same tragedy took place in the
Ivanchuk – Kramnik game. In the course
of the game it seemed that Black could
not be saved, unless there was a miracle,
but in the final position the chessboard
abounded in black pieces. Klara
Kasparova, watching the game together
with us, remarked very emotionally:
“Ivanchuk plays good chess until he
imagines that he is a genius!” That’s the
way the whole thing turned out. But let
me go back to the beginning of the game.
After the London match, Kramnik keeps
demonstrating that he is a loyal fan of the
Ruy Lopez as played with Black. He
always chooses this opening against those
who prefer to play the Ruy Lopez with
White. Ivanchuk, unlike Kasparov,
decided not to try to destroy the “Berlin
Wall”, but he employed a variation where
White was a pawn up at the initial stage,
and where the white pieces gained
control over the center. After that the
black king’s residence was severely
attacked. And Black’s only compensation
was the passed pawn on e3, which was a
real nuisance for the white king.

And at that moment, when it was
necessary to act, Vassily began to think
hard. He had only a minute left, when he
commenced his prolonged variation. If he
had had more time, he wouldn’t have had
any difficulty in gaining the upper hand:
Our experts state that he had an
opportunity of coming out on top. But
Vassily was panic-stricken. Caught in the
zietnot, both opponents made terrible
blunders, but Ivanchuk was the last to
blunder. Well, the stronger one is always
lucky. The world champion’s common
sense brought him a point and retained
the status quo in the race with Kasparov!
The Anand – Morozevich duel can well
be called a game of expectations that did
not come true. It was not the first time
that the Indian Grandmaster had to play
with White against the Russian chess
player, but again Vishi’s classical
opening technique proved useless, when
confronted by Alexander’s home
preparation. White properly developed
and castled, whereas Black plotted
something at the flanks… But a couple of
moves later it was obvious that
Morozevich was attacking, with Anand
defending. However, Morozevich had
only 7 minutes left, whereas his opponent
had 40 minutes in store. Had Alexander
had more time, he would have… But, as
matters stood then, Morozevich could do
nothing but hold out a hand to Anand in
order to sign a peace deal.
The Adams – Shirov game did not last
long. Michael’s form is not the best in
this competition. He wins his victories,
only if these victories literally suggest
themselves (just the way it happened two
rounds ago, when he played
Morozevich). Otherwise he draws the
games. The tournament’s leader was wise
enough not to play rook endings with the
Englishman. So Shirov had to put up with
a draw.
Fedorov has won his first victory in a
supertournament! In Polanica Zdroj
Alexei only managed to draw two games,
and in this tournament he has already
scored 2.5 points. Now he has beaten
Timman, who made a slip in the opening.

In a well-known position it was enough
for Black to make one precise move in
order to tip the scale in his favor.

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Finally a real Sicilian
battle!

It is risky to play the English attack with
White, but after yesterday’s game I
needed to light some fire on the board. If
I’m not allowed to play this topical
variation as Black, I’d at least like to do
to it as White...
I’m content with today’s game: besides
the result, it was quite exciting and, in
particular, both sides chose strong
(probably, the best) moves – the first
mistake cost Topalov a full point.

Kasparov,G (2849) - Topalov,V (2718)
[B80]
Corus 2001, Round 7 (Jan 21)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.g4 h6 9.Qd2
Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Bb7 11.h4 b4 12.Na4
Qa5 13.b3 Nc5 14.a3 Nxa4 15.axb4 Qc7
16.bxa4 d5 17.e5 Nd7 18.f4 Nb6 19.Rh3
This is a rare move played in several
games only. The main line is 19.f5
19...Nc4 20.Qc3 Rc8 21.Bd2 Be7 22.Be1
Rb8 23.f5 Bc8 24.Bxc4 dxc4 25.Qf3
Bd7 26.fxe6
In case of 26.c3 (suggested by Topalov)
26...Bxa4 27.fxe6 0-0! White’s position
looks dubious.
26...fxe6 27.g5 hxg5 After 27...h5 28.c3
White has a big advantage.
28.hxg5 Rxh3 29.Qxh3 Qxe5!
Otherwise it becomes hard for Black:
29...Bxg5+? 30.Kb1 Bh6 (30...Ke7
31.Qh7; 30...Qxe5 31.Nf3) 31.Nxe6 Qxe5
32.Nxg7+ Qxg7 33.Qh5+
A) 33...Kf8 34.Rxd7 Qxd7 35.Qxh6+
Kf7 (35...Kg8 36.Bc3 Re8 37.Qxa6+ -)
36.Qh7+ Ke6 37.Qh3+ Ke7 38.Bh4+ Ke8
39.Qe3+ Kf7 40.Qf4+ winning the rook;
B) 33...Kd8 34.Bh4+ Kc8 35.Qc5+ Kb7
36.Rd6+ -
30.Qh5+ Kf8 31.Nf3
I was considering 31.Bd2 but 31...Kg8!

parries all the threats. (Nor did I like
31...Qxd4 32.Rf1+ Bf6 33.c3 Qd3 34.Rf3
Qd5)
31...Qe3+
Black loses after 31...Qa1+ 32.Kd2 Qb2
(32...Rd8 33.Ke3! Qxd1 34.Qh8+ Kf7
35.Ne5#) 33.Ke3! Be8 34.Qh8+ Kf7
35.c3
32.Kb2! Providing the c3-square for the
bishop. Topalov was taken aback by this
move and in time trouble didn’t find the
only real reply.

32...Be8?
It was necessary to play 32...Bxa4 33.Bc3
(33.Qh8+ Kf7 34.Qxb8 Qxf3 35.Rd4
Bxg5=)
A) Bad is 33...Bxb4 34.Qh8+ Ke7
35.Qxg7+ Ke8 36.Qg6+ Ke7 (36...Kf8
37.Rd8+ Rxd8 38.Bxb4+) 37.Qh7+ Ke8
38.Qh5+ Ke7 39.Bf6+ Kf8 40.Qh8+ Kf7
41.g6+ Kxg6 42.Qg7+ Kf5 43.Nh4+ Ke4
44.Qg4+ Qf4 45.Qxe6+ Qe5+ 46.Qxe5#;
B) 33...Rxb4+! 34.Bxb4 Bxb4 35.Qh8+
Kf7 36.g6+ Kf6 37.Qh4+ Kxg6 38.Rg1+
Kf7 39.Qxc4
This was a final point in my calculations
before 32.Kb2. I concluded that at least
the position is not lost for me and
probably it was possible to look for a win
here. After the game I checked the line on
the computer and the analysis didn’t
change my evaluation: 39...Qa3+ 40.Kb1
Bc3 41.Ng5+ Ke8 42.Qxe6+ Kd8
43.Qg8+ Kd7 44.Rd1+ Kc6 45.Qd5+
Kb6 46.Qd6+ Qxd6 47.Rxd6+ Bc6
48.Rg6±
33.Qh8+ Kf7 34.Bc3 1-0

Round 8: Shirov flees from
his pursues…

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 22, 2001
Fedorov,A - Kramnik,V 1/2
Morozevich,A - Ivanchuk,V 0:1
Topalov,V - Anand,V 1/2
Leko,P - Kasparov,G 1/2
Shirov,A - Tiviakov,S 1:0
Piket,J - Adams,M 1/2
Timman,J - Van Wely,L 1/2

All rounds are not alike in Wijk aan Zee.
After yesterdays’ carnage, a dead calm
arrived, with only two decisive games. It
is not hard to guess that these encounters
featured Shirov and Morozevich – the
two most relentless fighters in the
tournament. The first one won and
solidified his lead, whereas the second
one unfortunately lost and slid down into
+1 territory again. Kramnik and
Kasparov are hardly happy with their
results in Round 8. Both played with
Black; both failed to win despite all their
efforts. When the number of rounds till
the finish starts to dwindle, every point is
worth its weight in gold. The greats have
to do something in order to catch up to
Shirov. I hope we will see this
“something” within the next few days!

The first sensation has come about today.
The outsider Fedorov wrested a half point
from Kramnik! I would even say that the
world champion scored a half point,
rather than lost it. Surprisingly enough,
Alexei Fedorov relinquished his wild
opening systems and opted for slow
maneuvering play. One has to be very
self-confident to play such chess with
Kramnik. Alexei managed to do it!
Kramnik interpreted the position in a
classical fashion; he arranged his pieces
very well and opened the center, but…it
was not enough to shatter White’s
fortifications. Black emerged with two
strong bishops in the endgame, but White
had an extra pawn and the strong desire
to draw the game! Kramnik’s efforts to

complicate the position were fruitless.
The world champion lost a very
important half point. The only
consolation for Vladimir is that Shirov
stumbled over Fedorov at the start of the
tournament as well.
There was no luck for Kasparov today.
Leko, who is having a hard time in Wijk
aan Zee, opted for a natural strategy of
“drying up” the position from the very
beginning. Morozevich used the same
approach a few rounds earlier to draw
easily. From the very first moves the
Hungarian player saw to defense. The
choice of the Reti Opening speaks for
itself! Garry was hunting for any
opportunity to lure the opponent out of
his shelter, but in vain… With the
adroitness of a juggler, Leko removed
one piece after another from the board
and depleted the forces of both parties.
Neither the exchange of the central
pawns nor Black’s provocation on the
kingside changed much. After a few
precise moves by White, the draw
became obvious. The finish of the
tournament (and first of all the game with
Shirov!) will be critical for Garry
Kimovich.
The encounter Kasparov – Shirov might
determine the winner of the tournament.
Bear in mind that after today’s success
Shirov is a whole point ahead of Kramnik
and Kasparov. He was ruthless with
outsiders and reached an impressive score
+5. Tiviakov played with Alexei
brilliantly. He sacrificed a piece and
brought all his forces into attack, but…
Sergei is much better at positional
maneuvering and defense. The situation
that arose on the board is right in
Shirov’s element. Alexei proved it one
more time! His king-hero broke loose
from the ring of blockade, and White
preserved his extra piece. Taking into
consideration Shirov’s endgame skill,
Tiviakov was doomed; his extra pawns
were worthless.
Shirov has given his opponents no
quarter in Corus 2001, whereas Anand’s
story is clear. He is exhausted after his
fall exploits, but could not break the

signed contract. Now he is just carrying
out his commitments. Vishy keeps
fighting, but has no desire to do so. The
great form of Shengyang and New Dehli
evaporated, but the top level of his play
maintains him on the surface. It looks
like Vishy did not feel upset at having
missed a win against Kasparov and good
chances in the game with Kramnik. He
scored his only victory vs. Tiviakov, who
lost the encounter with the FIDE World
Champion before the game. Topalov was
in a “slightly” different mood today.
After a vexing defeat from Kasparov,
Veselin was going to fire from all
cannons on Black’s position. However,
Anand astonished the Bulgarian GM with
a home-cooked exchange sacrifice and
stirred the game toward calm play.
White’s extra exchange was not
noticeable, whereas the weakness of his
pawns was very troublesome. Under
different conditions Vishy would torture
Veselin till the end, but the FIDE World
Champion’s peaceful mood takes its toll
again. He overlooked a sacrifice. Soon
afterward, both opponents realized the
senselessness of further fight.
By drawing his game with Kasparov in
14 moves a few days ago, Morozevich
kicked up the dust of controversy. Many
accused the Russian of cowardice, but I
saw Alexander’s logic: he has no luck
with White at this tournament. He
miraculously drew the game with
Timman in the fourth round and
ingloriously lost to Adams. This time
Ivanchuk downed Morozevich. The
Russian GM has collected all his points
with the black pieces. It is time for
Morozevich to pin a badge “Black is
OK!” and join the “black-pieces-players”
movement headed by Adorjan. However,
Alexander’s position seemed OK even on
the white side today. The players were
playing around, waiting for the
opponent’s mistake. Closer to the
endgame Alexander burst out. All of a
sudden he started spraying his pawns,
hoping to confuse his opponent. Ivanchuk
had no desire to get confused. He
garnered the crop and then confidently

made all the moves up to the time
control. It was an annoying defeat for
Morozevich. His good tournament
standing is vanishing in the haze…
However… he is playing with black
tomorrow. We will see!

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Looking for
complications…

Leko P. (2745) - Kasparov G. (2849)
[A12]
Corus Wijk aan Zee (8), 22.01.2001

1.c4
Another search for a draw. Why not 1.e4?
I spent a lot of time trying to find a
“complicating” opening line.
1…Nf6 2.g3 c6 3.b3 d5 4.Bb2 Bg4
5.Bg2 e6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0-0 Bd6 8.d3 0-0
9.Nbd2 a5 10.a3 Bh5 11.Qc2
More precise is 11.h3! e5 12.cxd5 cxd5
13.g4 Bg6 14.Nh4 with some advantage.
11...e5 12.e4 dxe4 13.dxe4 Re8 14.Nh4
Bc5?!
Better is 14...Nc5 15.b4 axb4 16.axb4
Rxa1 17.Rxa1 Na6 18.b5 (Not 18.c5
Nxb4 19.Qc4 Bxc5 20.Qxc5 Qxd2 21.Bc3
Nd3) 18...Nc5 19.bxc6 (19.Bf3 Bxf3
20.Ndxf3 Bc7 with invasion via d3-
square.) 19...bxc6 20.Nb3 unclear.
Another good continuation is 14...Qb6
15.Rab1 (15.Ndf3 Nc5; 15.Bc3 Bc5)
15...Nc5 16.b4 axb4 17.axb4 Na6 18.c5
Nxb4
15.Ndf3!
Now Black has to look for equality. In
contrast, after 15.Bf3 Bg6 16.Nxg6 hxg6
Black has an excellent position.
15...Qb6 16.Rad1
Stronger is 16.h3± and it is not easy to
find a useful move.
16...Bf8
Black restuctured his forces just in time
and White has to lose time.
17.Rb1 Nc5 18.Bxe5 Ncxe4 19.Bd4
Bad is 19.Rfe1 Rxe5 20.Nxe5 Nxf2;
After 19.Rbe1 Nc5 20.Bxf6 gxf6 Black
has better chances: he’d put his h5-bishop
on g6 to secure the king, while White’s
Q-side is full of weaknesses.

19...Bc5 20.Bxc5 Qxc5 21.b4 axb4
22.axb4 Qf8
Not 22...Qa7 - in this position the queen
is more effective on the K-side.
23.Rfe1
Maybe it seems strange, but this move is
probably the best one. For instance, in
case of 23.h3 g5 24.Nf5 Bg6 25.N3d4
Rad8 26.g4 h5 Black develops pressure.
23...Rad8
23...Ra3 24.Rb3=

24.h3!
Otherwise 24...g5 25.Nf5 Bg6 is too
dangerous for White.
24...g5 25.g4 gxh4 26.gxh5 Qg7
In case of 26...Qh6 27.Qc1! Qxh5 28.Qf4
White grabs the initiative.
27.Rbd1
Worse is 27.Re3 Kh8 28.Rbe1 Rg8
29.Nxh4 Rd2
27...Ng5
27...Rxd1 28.Qxd1 Ng5 (28...Nxh5
29.Nxh4 followed by Qg4, and white’s
knight on f5 would be more dangerous
than the black one on f4. ) 29.Rxe8+
Nxe8 30.Nxg5 Qxg5 31.Qg4 Qxg4
32.hxg4 Nd6 33.c5 Nb5 34.Bf1 and
white’s bishops effectively protect any
possible approach to his pawns.
28.Qf5
Here I accepted Leko’s draw offer. The
position is probably equal and there is
always a risk of passing into a worse
endgame. A possible continuation is
28...Rxe1+ (better than 28...Rxd1
29.Rxd1 Nxf3+ 30.Qxf3 Qg5 31.Rd4!
Kf8 32.Qf4 h6 33.Qxh4 Nxh5) 29.Rxe1
Nxf3+ 30.Qxf3 Qg5= 1/2-1/2

Round 9: Kasparov catches
up with Shirov

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 23, 2001
Van Wely,L - Fedorov,A 1/2
Adams,M - Timman,J 1/2
Tiviakov,S - Piket,J 1/2
Kasparov,G - Shirov,A 1:0
Anand,V - Leko,P 1/2
Ivanchuk,V - Topalov,V 1/2
Kramnik,V - Morozevich,A 0:1


Today Kasparov at last showed who was
the boss in this tournament! Garry had to
win over Shirov at all costs in order to
obtain good chances for victory at Wijk
aan Zee. Moreover, Garry had not only to
win this game but also to demoralize
Shirov in order to get rid of obstacles on
his way to victory. Shirov, in contrast,
was not satisfied with his modest role of
a sacrificial lamb. It seemed to me that
the opponents were in different moods
when they started playing. Anyone could
feel this from the very beginning of the
duel.
[Adding fuel to the tense tournament
situation were more personal matters.
Prior to the Kasparov-Kramnik world
championship match, Shirov had publicly
stated his suspicions that the match was
fixed in Kasparov’s favor. After the
match Kasparov said that he had no
plans to shake Shirov’s hand until he
retracted his comments. -ed.]
The opponents played the Russian
Defense again, and Shirov proved that he
was a real fighter. From the very
beginning he rushed into battle. But when
the game transposed into the middlegame
he changed his mind. After a 30-minute
hesitation he forgot the idea of launching
counterplay and started doing his best to
achieve stability. That was what
Kasparov was waiting for! As a result,
few pieces remained in the ranks -
Kasparov kept attacking, while Shirov
didn’t have a single move. The
disadvantages of Black’s pawn structure

became obvious - Black’s queen ran
around like a madwoman, trying to reseal
all gaps in the defensive line. The end of
Black’s reign was prosaic: White’s heavy
artillery entered the opponent’s camp and
shot down the remnants of his army.
Thus, Kasparov managed to realize all
points of his plan! He reestablished his
leading role and tore Shirov to pieces. In
addition to this, Morozevich gave him a
good present, having defeated Kramnik
with Black.
Kramnik successfully coped with
Alexander’s novelty and got a promising
position. However, later he missed a
couple of good opportunities to
strengthen his position and transposed the
game into the endgame, thinking that he
had good chances for victory. He was
wrong! To be more precise, he
overestimated his chances: the activity of
White’s pawn gave him nothing except
weaknesses. As soon as the heavy pieces
left the board, Kramnik’s position went to
pieces - Black had a "dreadful" promoted
passer, while White’s pawns on the
opposite flank were nothing but easy
targets for the black king. White was
unable to resist Black’s frontal attack and
lost the battle.
Anand, who failed to defeat Leko,
disappointed me again. The result of
lively debates in the Sveshnikov
Variation was an extra pawn for White,
but Anand didn’t have enough energy to
take advantage of it. In spite of Vishy’s
attempts to change the situation, the game
finally ended in a draw.
Ivanchuk and Topalov produced an
incredible battle, which ended happily for
both parties. Although Vassily got the
worse position from the very opening, he
was solid as a rock, and Veselin didn’t
have enough energy to turn his advantage
into victory. Draw.
Three other games turned out to be quite
ordinary - they all were drawn. Tiviakov
confidently simplified the game from the
very beginning, and Piket, who was
playing with Black, decided not to
persist. For 44 moves Adams tried to
crush Timman, but the veteran was able

to confidently repulse all of his attacks.
As for Van Wely and Fedorov, they
couldn’t decide who would lose this
game. Finally they decreed that nobody
would lose! In the final position only the
two kings and Black’s bishop remained
on the chessboard…

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: A crucial game


Shirov A. - Kasparov G.

On January 23, 1971, thirty years ago
today, my father passed away. This is a
significant date for me and my mother -
of course, I felt that I had to
commemorate it in a particular way. I’m
proud that I managed to win this crucial
game, to do it smoothly and earnestly.
It happened that there was also another
reason to perceive today’s clash as
something more than just a game. My
opponent today, Alexei Shirov, has
accused me repeatedly of various
offenses and, in particular, I found it
insulting when he accused Kramnik and
me publicly that our London match was
fixed. When I met Shirov in Wijk aan
Zee I talked to him and asked that he
apologize. I said: Alexei, one can get
worked up and this is understandable but
now it is time to admit your mistake. He
didn’t give me any clear answer - and
after this I couldn’t shake his hand before
the game. I’m sorry to say that for the
first time in my life I had to disregard this
fine tradition.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4
5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6
9.Qc2 Na6 10.a3 Bg4 11.Ne5 Bh5
This is a rare move that I analyzed many
years ago with Makarichev. Later we
(Dokhoian and me) found some fresh
ideas here.
12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Nc3
A novelty.
13...Nxc3 14.bxc3 Kh8
I think that at first Shirov was going to
play 14...Bxe5 but had missed the idea
14...Bxe5 15.Bxh7+ Kh8 16.dxe5 g6

17.Qd2! followed by a forced line
17...Kxh7 18.Qh6+ Kg8 19.Bg5 f6
20.Bxf6 Rxf6 21.exf6 Qxf6 22.f3! and
White catches the black bishop. 14...Kh8
is relatively good but I’m not sure that
Black can equalize here.

15.f4
I spent quite a bit of time considering
15.Bxh7 g6 16.Qd2 Kxh7 17.Qh6+ Kg8
18.Bg5. First I calculated 18...f6 19.Nxg6
fxg5 (19...Bxg6 20.Qxg6+ Kh8 21.Rfe1
fxg5 22.Qh6+ Kg8 23.Re6 + -) 20.Qh8+
Kf7 21.Qxh5 and White wins.
But then I discovered that there is a good
defensive move, 18...Be7! 19.f4 (or
19.Bxe7 Qxe7 20.Rae1 Qf6 21.Nd7 Qg7
22.Qf4 f6 23.Nxf8 Rxf8 24.g4 g5 and the
bishop escapes) 19...Bf6 20.Bxf6 Qxf6
21.f5 Qh8 and though White gets back a
piece after g2-g4 it is not sufficient.
15...Bxe5?
Here I expected 15...f6 16.Nf3 Qd7
17.Nh4 g6 -- White has an advantage but
it is still playable.
16.fxe5
(Not 16.dxe5 Nc5 17.f5 d4 18.c4 f6 19.e6
Be8 and White has only a slight edge)
16...Bg6 17.a4!
Possible was 17.Bxg6 fxg6 18.Rxf8+
Qxf8 19.Qb3 Qf7 20.a4 Rf8 21.h3!? with
the same idea to put the bishop on a3, but
17.a4! is much stronger.
17...Qd7 18.Ba3 Rfe8
Still bad is 18...Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Rfc8
20.Rf3 Rc7 21.Raf1 Qe6 22.Rh3 Qg6
(22...h6 23.Rf6+-) 23.Qxg6 fxg6 24.e6+-
19.Bxg6 fxg6 20.Qb3 b6

[20...Rac8 21.Bd6 Rc4 22.Qb5; 20...Nc7
21.Qxb7 Reb8 22.e6 Qd8 23.e7 Rxb7
24.exd8Q+ Rxd8 25.Rf7+-]
21.Bd6 Nc7 22.Rf3 Rac8 23.Raf1 h6
24.Qc2
I didn’t like the line 24.Rf7 Qc6 25.Bxc7
Rxc7 26.Rxc7 Qxc7 27.Qxd5 Qxc3
28.Qd7 Rc8 29.h3 Qe3+ 30.Kh2 Rc1 and
Black has good chances to find a
perpetual check in the queen endgame.
24...Qg4
Or 24...Re6 25.Rf7 Qc6 26.Rf8+ Rxf8
27.Rxf8+ Kh7 28.Rc8; or 24...Ne6
25.Qxg6 Qxa4 26.Rf6! Qd7 27.Rf7 Qc6
(27...Qa4 28.Be7) 28.Rxg7 Nxg7 29.Rf7
25.Rg3 Qh5
After 25...Qe4 26.Qxe4 dxe4 27.Bxc7
Rxc7 28.Re1 White takes on e4 and the
endgame is completely lost for Black.
26.Rh3 [Stronger than 26.Qa2 Red8]

26...Qg5 27.Rg3 Qh5 28.Bxc7 Rxc7
29.Rxg6 Qh4
In the lines 29...Rxc3 30.Rxh6+; and
29...Rec8 30.Rg3 White is just a pawn up
and his position is better.
30.h3 Qxd4+ 31.cxd4 Rxc2 32.Rf7
The endgame is an easy win. White takes
on d5 and pushes the central pawns
forward.

32...Rg8 33.Rd6 Rc4 34.Rxd5 Rxa4
35.Rdd7 Ra1+ 36.Kf2 Ra2+ 37.Kf3
Kh7 38.e6 Kg6 39.d5 Rc8 40.Rc7 Re8
41.g4 a5 42.Rxg7+ Kf6 43.Rgf7+ Ke5
44.Rf5+ Kd4 45.e7
1-0

Round 10: The Breath of the
Finish

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 25, 2001
Fedorov,A - Morozevich,A 0:1
Topalov,V - Kramnik,V 1/2
Leko,P - Ivanchuk,V 1/2
Shirov,A - Anand,V 1/2
Piket,J - Kasparov,G 1/2
Timman,J - Tiviakov,S 0:1
Van Wely,L - Adams,M 0:1

The affair is coming to a head, and the
closer we get to it, the hotter the
competition gets. It is surprising, but this
year Holland has neither a clear favorite,
as Kasparov had been for the last two
years, nor an obvious outsider. Shirov,
Kasparov, Morozevich and Kramnik are
all fighting for the gold, while the Dutch
chess players, accompanied by Fedorov,
do their best to avoid shame.
Fortune has been extremely unfavorable
to Kasparov today. It seems that it
provides the ex-Champion with as few
chances for victory in the event as
possible. This year at Wijk aan Zee Garry
has been very unfortunate with colors.
His most difficult opponents, Anand and
Kramnik, had the black pieces against
him; while Morozevich, Ivanchuk, and
Piket, whom Garry usually defeated
easily, had White. The former
demonstrated very good defense, and the
latter did their best to draw the games.
Today’s game is another proof of the fact
that the drawing of lots was unsuccessful
for Garry!
White’s motto today was "safety and
reliability". Nevertheless, he missed
Black’s counterplay. Kasparov delivered
a powerful blow to the center and the
game entered a rook ending that was
slightly better for Black. The pawns were
symmetrical, but Black had an active
king and rook. However, in a rapid chess
tournament a year ago, Piket defeated
Kasparov in a rook ending: four vs three
pawns on the same side. So Kasparov
was all the more eager to win today, let
alone the fact that this was his first real
chance to outstrip Shirov in the event, as
the latter had already drawn his game.
However, the very moment that
everything seemed to be over White
found a marvelous resource that saved
the game. The black b-pawn froze two
steps away from the promotion square.
The game Shirov-Anand attracted a lot of
attention. It has hardly been a month
since Anand crushed Alexei in Tehran,
where the latter looked absolutely fagged
out. Now in Wijk aan Zee the situation is
just the opposite. Shirov tears his

opponents to pieces, and the champion,
on the contrary, cannot evade the web of
draws. Besides, Shirov had White and
thus a huge desire to win, while Anand
opted for an incredibly passive line of the
French Defense. And here you go! Shirov
blocked Black in his own camp and after
the queen exchange his two bishops
played the first fiddle, In a few moves’
time Black was an exchange down in a
hopeless position. The end, you would
say? Of course, not. Vishy seemed to
have hypnotized his opponent in time
trouble and the latter found the only way
not to win! This was Shirov’s most
vexing, and not first, mistake in the
event. Now he just has to live through
Ivanchuk, Morozevich, and Kramnik, and
one of the first prizes (if not the very
first) will migrate to his "home
collection"…
Morozevich’s victory over Fedorov is
easy to comment on: Alexander plays
much better than Alexei, and so there is
nothing to be said. It is Morozevich’s
fifth victory with Black at the event, so
he has nearly caught up with Kasparov’s
achievement of Linares 1999. As for his
chances to win gold, there is nothing to
envy, as he still has to face Topalov,
Leko, and Shirov.
And Kramnik, in contrast to Morozevich,
did not manage to get anything serious
with the black pieces in his game against
Topalov. Today he leveled the position
while in the past he used to defeat
Veselin in the Queen’s Gambit… This
draw is another proof of the Champion’s
middling performance at the event, which
is his first after the London match with
Kasparov. Indeed, we all expected more
from Kramnik. But he hasn’t met our
expectations so far…

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Stubborn Piket

Piket chose a non-agressive solid opening
line and it was very risky for me to look
for a win. Objectively, the position was
close to equal during the entire game and
a draw looked logical.

Piket, J. (2632) – Kasparov G. (2849)
[D58]
Corus Wijk aan Zee (10), 21.01.2001

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7
5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 b6 8.Qb3 Bb7
9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.Rd1 Re8
12.a3 c6 13.Bd3 Nd7 14.0-0 g6 15.Rd2
Nf8 16.Rc1 Ne6 17.Qd1 Qe7 18.Bb1
I don’t think that b1 or a2 is a good place
for this bishop. 18.Bf1 is better.
18...Rad8 19.h3 c5 20.Ba2 h5
Black feels maybe a bit more
comfortable, but in general the position is
equal. I decided to muddle with 20...h5;
other continuations were not dangerous
for Black: 20...cxd4 21.Nxd4 Bg5
22.Re2=; 20...c4 21.b4=
21.dxc5 d4 22.Nxd4 Nxd4
Earlier I liked 22...Bxd4, but then I
discovered that it was not possible:
23.exd4 Qg5 24.d5 Nf4 25.f3 Ba6 and
both 26.h4 or 26.Rcc2 would give an
advantage to White.
23.exd4 Bxd4

24.c6
White could also equalize after 24.Rxd4
Rxd4 25.Qxd4 Qg5 26.Bxf7+ Kxf7
27.Qc4+ Kg7 28.Qf1 Bxg2 29.h4 (Not
29.f4? Qg3 30.Qxg2 Qe3+) 29...Qf4
30.Kxg2 (The queen endgame after
30.Ne2 Rxe2 31.Qxe2 Qxc1+ 32.Kxg2
Qxc5 should be drawn, though Black still
has some formal edge.) 30...Qg4+
31.Kh2 Qxh4+ 32.Kg2 Qg4+ =
24...Bxc6 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.Bxd5 Rxd5
27.Rxd4 Re5

The position is completely equal, but in
time trouble Piket creates some
difficulties for himself.
28.Qf3 Rf5 29.Rf4 Qg5 30.Rcc4 Rxf4
31.Qxf4 Qxf4 32.Rxf4 Re1+ 33.Kh2
Re2 34.b3 Rb2 35.Rf3 Kf8 36.Kg3 Ke7
37.Kf4 f6 38.h4 a5 39.Re3+ Kd6
40.Rd3+ Kc5 41.Ke3 b5 42.g3
In case of 42.Rc3+ Kd5 43.Rd3+ Ke5
Black has some edge.
42...Rc2
Now after 42...a4 it is safer to push the
black king aside: 43.Rc3+ Kd5 44.Rd3+
Ke5, with a drawn endgame.
43.f3!
Maybe this is the only move. The pawn
endgame is lost for White after 43.Rd8
Rc3+ 44.Rd3 Rxd3+ 45.Kxd3 Kd5 46.f3
g5;
also bad is 43.b4+ axb4 44.axb4+ Kxb4
45.Rd6 Rc3+ 46.Ke2 g5 47.Rxf6 g4
48.Rf5 Rc5 – +
43...Ra2
43...b4= , all the pawn endgames after
Rc3 are drawn - the black king doesn’t
have space for an invasion.
44.b4+ axb4 45.axb4+ Kxb4 46.Rd6
Ra3+
Impossible is 46...Rg2? 47.Rxf6 Rxg3
48.Kf2 Rh3 49.Rf4+ Kc3 50.Kg2,
catching the rook.
47.Ke4
Simpler is 47.Ke2= After 47.Ke4 White
still has to find several precise moves.
47...f5+ 48.Kf4 Kc5 49.Rxg6 b4 50.Re6
b3 51.Re1 Kc4 52.g4!
52.Kxf5 b2 53.Rb1 Rxf3+ 54.Kg5 Rxg3+
55.Kxh5 Kc3 56.Kh6 Kc2 and the black
king will return just in time: 57.Re1 b1Q
58.Rxb1 Kxb1 59.h5 Kc2 60.Kh7 Kd3
61.h6 Ke4 62.Kh8 Kf5 63.h7 Kg6 – +
52...fxg4 53.fxg4 hxg4 54.Kxg4 b2
55.Rb1
1/2-1/2

Round 11: Triumph of the
“Barbarossa Plan”

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 26, 2001
Adams,M - Fedorov,A 0:1
Tiviakov,S - Van Wely,L 1/2
Kasparov,G - Timman,J 1:0
Anand,V - Piket,J 1:0
Ivanchuk,V - Shirov,A 1:0
Kramnik,V - Leko,P 1/2
Morozevich,A - Topalov,V 1/2

It was Judgment Day for the
tournament’s favorites! The positions of
all the leaders were bad today:
Kasparov’s against Timman, Shirov’s
against Ivanchuk, Morozevich’s against
Topalov, Adams’s against Fedorov, and
only Anand upheld the honor of the
strongest as he confidently outplayed
Piket. However, there’s a big difference
between having a bad position and losing.
Morozevich and particularly Kasparov
proved this by their play. Garry’s victory
together with Shirov’s defeat drew a line
in the struggle for first place in the first
tournament of the Millennium. It’s
unbelievable! Garry, who was one point
behind Alexei three rounds ago, is now a
whole point ahead of him!
However, I would like to start my review
with Vladimir Kramnik’s remarkable
deed. His opponent, Peter Leko, fell ill,
so their game started an hour later then
the appointed time. Moreover, the world
champion, who played with White,
offered a draw on the fifteenth move.
Bravo, Kramnik! With this fine gesture
Vladimir rectified his misdeed in their
recent rapid chess match in Budapest,
when in an absolutely drawn position he
made his opponent forfeit on time…
After the eleventh round Kramnik’s
position is quite unenviable: the world
champion shares fourth through sixth
places with Anand and Ivanchuk.
Kasparov is a point and a half ahead of
him, while Shirov and Morozevich are a
half point ahead of him. Taking into
consideration the fact that in the
semifinal round he will have to play
Shirov with Black, Kramnik will have to
do his best in order to finish second after
Kasparov.
By the way, Kasparov seems to be

realizing his "Barbarossa Plan" in his
conquest of the chess world! At present,
Garry Kasparov is confidently
succeeding for the third time at Wijk aan
Zee. This Dutch town is a lucky place for
him. He had to defeat Timman in order to
cut his way to the top. It’s well known
that Jan always gets prepared for his
games against Kasparov and, sometimes
he even presents him with unpleasant
surprises. This time Garry wanted to
frighten the Dutchman with his "London
revelations," but after the opening he got
almost a worse position: Black easily
developed his pieces, got rid of all
unnecessary pieces, and just waited for
his opponent’s reaction. However,
Kasparov confidently recaptured the
initiative and retained it untill the end of
the game… In the endgame Timman
could have resisted for a long time but he
decided to lose at once.
Thus, Kasparov won’t have to do much
for victory: all he has to do is not to lose
his advantage in the last two rounds. I
don’t think that he will meet any trouble:
Garry will have to play against Adams
and Van Wely, while Shirov and
Morozevich will first play each other and
then Kramnik and Leko…
I think that Shirov, unlike Kasparov,
won’t be pleased with his results at Wijk
aan Zee 2001. Several rounds before the
final Alexei had +5 and then he simply
squandered them. After two losses with
Black, Alexei was thrown back into the
main group. Today Shirov used such a
terrible novelty against Ivanchuk in the
well-known variation of the Sicilian
Defense that it seemed that Vassily
would surrender in the very opening.
Nevertheless, Ivanchuk managed to find
several accurate moves and not to drop
the flag in time trouble… As for Shirov,
he held out just till the first time control.
What an offensive defeat!
Unlike Shirov, Morozevich, who played
with White today, managed to get out of
a real scrape. On the sixteenth move
Alexander sacrificed a pawn; on the
eighteenth move he lost the second one
and left a third one under attack. It was a

real nightmare! Meanwhile, the white
king, the hero of the occasion, seemed to
feel himself comfortable on the weakened
first rank. When everybody buried
Morozevich’s position, he did the
impossible: Alexander found a way to
transpose the game into a drawn endgame
with opposite-colored bishops.
Strange as it may seem, Anand’s victory
over Piket with White and Fedorov’s
victory over Adams with Black can be
characterized with a single phrase:
confident victory without a real struggle!
Well, Piket always loses to Anand, but
nobody could predict Adams’ defeat with
White in the Dragon Variation! On the
thirteenth move Michael "won" the
opening pawn and then for twenty moves
he was reaping the fruits of his labor. He
did his best to defend himself but finally
lost the duel! As for Anand, he quickly
crucified the black monk Piket…
Interestingly, one move before the end of
the game my computer considered
Black’s position to be slightly better, but
after Vishy’s quiet move my silicon
monster cried: +-!!! So, Jeroen, don’t
forget that the computer helps those who
help themselves.

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: An uneven game with
chances for both ends


Kasparov,G (2849) - Timman,J (2629)
A29
Corus Wijk aan Zee (11), 26.01.2001
Garry Kasparov

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5
5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7
8.Rb1 0-0 9.b4 Nxb4 10.Nxe5 c6 11.a3
N4d5 12.Nxd5 cxd5
Worse is 12...Nxd5 13.Qc2+/-
13.a4 Bf6

14.d4
I spent a lot of time here. There were two
other worthy alternatives, but I didn’t
find any clear advantage in the end in
these lines:
A) 14.a5!? Bxe5 15.axb6 axb6 16.Qb3
(16.d4 Bf6 17.e3 Bf5 18.Rb5 Ra5 19.Qb3
Rxb5 20.Qxb5 Be4 and Black would
defend the b6-pawn with the rook (Rf8-
e8-e6), holding the position) 16...Be6
17.Qxb6 Qxb6 18.Rxb6 Ra7 unclear;
B) 14.Nd3!? Bf5 15.a5 Nc4 16.Rb5
(16.Rxb7 Qxa5 17.Nf4 Be4 18.d3 Bxg2
19.Kxg2 Nb6=) 16...Be4 17.Nf4 Bxg2
18.Kxg2 Nxa5 19.Ba3 Re8 20.Qa4 b6
21.Rxd5 Qc7 unclear
14...Bf5 15.Rb5 a6 16.Rb2
I also considered an exchange sac after
16.Rb4 a5 17.Rb5 Bxe5 18.dxe5 Bd7
19.Qb3 Bxb5 20.Qxb5, but the
compensation was not sufficient to give
an advantage.
16...Rc8 17.Bf4?
This is a serious mistake. I can’t even
explain why I didn’t play 17.g4 (which I
had in mind) 17...Be4 (17...Bxe5?
18.dxe5 Bxg4 19.Qd4) 18.f3 Bg6
19.Nxg6 hxg6 20.e3 Re8 21.f4 Nc4
22.Rb3 with advantage. Black is missing
the light-squared bishop. The e3-pawn is
secure and White can improve his
position step by step.
17...Bxe5 18.Bxe5 Re8!
White has to think about equalizing.
19.e3 Re7
In case of 19...f6 I was going to play
20.Bf4 (I didn’t like 20.g4 Bd7 21.a5 Nc4
22.Bxd5+ Be6!) 20...g5 21.g4 and White
will probably have to sac the a4-pawn,

but his counterplay on the kingside is
sufficient.
20.g4 Be4 21.f3 Nc4 22.Re2 Bg6 23.h4!
The only way to keep the balance. Black
is better after 23.Bf4 Qb6
23...f6
Black had to keep his bishop on the b1-
h7 diagonal and to block the White h-
pawn. 23...h5 24.Bf4 is unclear, but I
think that after 23...h6!? Black has some
edge.
24.Bf4 Qd7 25.Rfe1 Rc6 26.h5 Bf7
27.e4?

I miscalculated in the line mentioned
below (see the commentary to move 29).
It was necessary to play 27.h6! g5 28.Bh2
f5 29.gxf5 Qxf5 30.e4 with a complicated
position.
27...dxe4 28.Rxe4 Rxe4 29.Rxe4
Here I discovered that bad is 29.fxe4
Nb2! 30.Qd2 Qxg4 31.Qxb2 Qxf4
32.Qxb7 Re6
29...Bd5
Dangerous for White was 29...Nb2!?
30.Qe2 Nxa4 - probably White has to
sacrifice another pawn to try to get some
counterplay: 31.Re7 Qxd4+ 32.Be3
30.Re2 Rc8?
Misses the advantage. Black had to play
30...h6 ; or 30...Re6
31.h6 g5 32.Bg3 Re8 33.Qe1
Not 33.Bf1 Re3
33...Rxe2 34.Qxe2 Kf8
Better is 34...b5
35.Qd3 Nb6?
It was time to think about a draw! 35...b5
was necessary.

36.a5 Nc4 37.Bf1 Qe7 38.Qc3
Possible was 38.Kf2 Qb4, but I didn’t
like to play against so active a black
queen and preferred to pass to a better
endgame.
38...Qe3+ 39.Qxe3 Nxe3 40.Bd3 Nc4
40...Kg8 was probably slightly better,
though it didn’t change much.
41.Be1 Kg8 42.Kf2 b5?
Bad is also 42...Nd6? 43.Bb4 Nf7
44.Be7;
but 42...b6! would leave some chances to
draw after 43.axb6 Nxb6 44.Ba5
(44.Bxa6 Bc4 45.Bxc4+ Nxc4 should be
drawn) 44...Nc4 (worse is 44...Bc4
45.Bf5 Nd5 46.Bd8) 45.Bd8 a5 46.Bxf6
a4 47.Be7 (47.Bxg5 a3 48.Bxc4 Bxc4
49.Bc1 a2 50.Bb2 Kf7=) 47...a3 48.Bxc4
Bxc4 49.Bxa3 - I think I could win this,
but it is not that easy. After 42...b5?
Black loses immediately.
43.Bb4 Nb2 44.Bf5 Bc4 45.Ke3 Bd5
46.Bc8 Nc4+ 47.Ke2 1-0

Round 12: Things Are in a
mess in Wijk aan Zee…

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 27, 2001
Fedorov,A - Topalov,V 1/2
Leko,P - Morozevich,A 1:0
Shirov,A - Kramnik,V 0:1
Piket,J - Ivanchuk,V 1/2

Timman,J - Anand,V 0:1
Van Wely,L - Kasparov,G 1/2
Adams,M - Tiviakov,S 1:0

Things are in a mess… Leo Tolstoy could
well write these words, if he now were a
journalist and if he now witnessed the
upheavals of the twelfth round in Wijk
aan Zee. Kasparov, the leader, has
retained his leading position, drawing his
game with Van Wely. Today Kasparov
played with Black. Shirov and
Morozevich, who were in pursuit of
Garry, lost today. But Anand and
Kramnik won. So they have traded
places! Well, the fate of the prize for first
place is practically settled, but the fight
for second, third and fourth places is
going to be extremely tense tomorrow.
Kramnik (with White) is playing Piket,
Anand is playing Van Wely, and
Morozevich is playing Shirov.
The Shirov – Kramnik game was the
most interesting in round 12. They both
used to be pupils of the famous Botvinnik
– Kasparov school, and until recently
they were good friends. But their constant
competition worsened their relationship.
And after Kramnik (instead of Shirov, as
Alexei thought was fair) had played a
match with Kasparov, they became near-
enemies. In general, Vladimir has always
had better results than Alexei, but in their
personal games Shirov has been ahead.
He has often beaten Kramnik in very
important contests.
But lately the situation has clearly
changed, and Kramnik has regularly
outplayed Shirov… For example, last
year in Linares it was only a miracle that
helped the Spanish player to escape a
double fiasco. Today Kramnik even won
with Black! Already in the opening he
captured the initiative and then
transformed it into a win. So on the face
of it Kramnik is moving with
determination towards the prize for
second place. And as far as Shirov is
concerned, this tournament is really a
tournament of disappointments for him…
Morozevich also had a drama. Today he
lost, playing with Black! It was Leko

who spoiled Morozevich’s brilliant score.
By the way, Leko was seriously ill
yesterday. But he pulled himself together
and was set on demonstrating good play.
Morozevich, in turn, was very relaxed,
thinking that Leko would not be able to
put up much resistance. So he was
punished for his too-careless play.
Morozevich’s king was attacked by all
the white pieces right in the center of the
chessboard. Bravo, Peter! Tomorrow he
is playing Topalov. And Alexander must
have been too exhausted.
On the contrary, Anand has got into very
good form. He has won and is now
fighting for second prize. Just recall that
in the Wijk aan Zee 1999 tournament he
was only half a point behind Kasparov!
Perhaps, playing with White, he will beat
Van Wely tomorrow. And in the twelfth
round he won a sure victory over
Timman.
Adams won a purely technical game
today. Having gained nothing in the
opening, he simply exhausted Tiviakov
later on. Sergei’s pieces were absolutely
blocked. The black b6 rook looked
especially good: It kept attacking the
white b2 pawn for half the game, but did
not have the right to capture it. Otherwise
the entire pawn structure would have
been destroyed. Piket and Ivanchuk did
not last long, and Topalov tried to
outplay Fedorov for 75 moves, but in
vain: The Byelorussian chess player
stood his ground!

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Round 12

It was a good game. Van Wely employed
an interesting plan with 16.g4 and then
18.Rc3. I sacrificed a pawn and got the
initiative, but it wasn’t enough for a
significant advantage. White avoided all
the traps, and a draw is the logical result.

Van Wely,L (2700) - Kasparov,G
(2849) [D37]
Corus Wijk aan Zee (12), 27.01.2001

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7

5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.cxd5
Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.a3 Nc6 11.Bd3
Bb6 12.0-0 Bg4 13.h3 Bh5 14.b4 Re8
15.Rc1 a6 16.g4 Bg6 17.Bxg6 hxg6
18.Rc3 d4 19.Rd3 Qd5
[19...Re4!?]
20.exd4 Re4
First I was going to play 20...Rad8, but
then I didn’t like 21.Re1 (21.Be3 Re6 and
Black is better) 21...Rxe1+ 22.Qxe1
Bxd4 (22...Nxd4 23.Nxd4 Bxd4 24.Be3+-
) 23.Kg2 f6 24.Qd1 (24.Qe2 Qf7)
24...Qe4 25.Be3 Bb6 unclear
21.Be3

21…Rd8
Again I changed my mind. Before I had
considered 21...Bc7 22.Qb3 Qd7
followed by Rxg4, and Black gets a
dangerous attack (Impossible is the
immediate 22...Rxg4+ 23.hxg4 Qxf3
24.Qd1 Qh3 25.Bf4!+-)
However, I then found 22.Re1 Rae8
23.Nd2, and it looks like Black doesn’t
get anything here. After some hesitation,
I preferred the more secure 21...Rd8.
22.Re1 f6
A solid move, it appeared that White
didn’t have any way to improve the
position. Possible was also 22...Re6
23.Bf4 Rxe1+ 24.Qxe1 Bxd4
23.Kg2 f5 24.gxf5
Bad is 24.Kf1 f4 25.Bc1 Rxd4 26.Nxd4
Qh1+ 27.Ke2 Nxd4+ 28.Rxd4 f3+
24...gxf5 25.Qb3 Qxb3 26.Rxb3 f4
Correct. Worse is 26...Bxd4 27.Nxd4
Nxd4 28.Rd3
27.d5
The only move, otherwise Black gets the
advantage: 27.Bd2 Rxe1 28.Bxe1 Nxd4

29.Rd3 (29.Nxd4 Rxd4 30.b5 a5)
29...Nc2
27...fxe3 28.dxc6 Re6 29.fxe3
Dangerous is 29.cxb7 Rg6+ 30.Kh1 exf2
31.Rc1 Rb8, for instance: 32.Rc8+? Kh7
33.Rxb8 Rg1+ 34.Kh2 f1N#!
29...Rxc6 30.Kf2
In case of 30.h4 Rf8 31.Re2 Rg6+, Black
has sufficient counterplay
30...Rf8 31.Ke2 Rc2+ 32.Nd2! [32.Kd3
Rf2 33.Nd4 Rh2] 32...Rd8 33.Rd3
Worse is 33.Rd1 Ra2 34.Ke1 Bc7 35.Nf1
Rf8, with excellent compensation.
33...Ra2 34.Rxd8+ Bxd8 35.Rc1 Bf6
36.Rc7 b5 37.Rc6 Rxa3 38.Ne4 Be7
39.Nc5 a5 40.Rb6!
Avoiding the trap in time trouble:
40.bxa5? Rc3 41.a6 Bxc5 42.Kd2 b4-+
40...axb4 41.Rxb5 Ra2+ 42.Kd3 Rh2
43.Na6
1/2-1/2

Round 13: The tournament
ship enter its harbour

(Rapid Review by Eugeny Atarov)

January 28, 2001
Tiviakov,S - Fedorov,A 1-0
Kasparov,G - Adams,M 1/2
Anand,V - Van Wely,L 1-0
Ivanchuk,V - Timman,J 1-0
Kramnik,V - Piket,J 1/2
Morozevich,A - Shirov,A 1/2
Topalov,V - Leko,P 1/2

The Wijk aan Zee tournament is over. So,
it’s time to sum up. The final round,
which was considered a mere formality,
amazed us with its extraordinary tension.
Kasparov drew against Adams with
White and, thus, got to the 1st place.
Although Michael had a promising
position in sharp variation of the Catalan
System, he didn’t have any pretensions,
and on the 27th move the opponents
shook hands. Again Garry proved his
ambitions as the strongest chess player in
the world. Even taking into consideration
the troubles of this supertournament,

Kasparov made a great success there.
Kasparov was fearsome even with his
unusual prefix ‘ex,’ and, perhaps, the
chess world understood what a champion
it lost… It’s unlikely that someone will
take his place in the near future. Kramnik
and Anand are not going to show their
cards. As for Kasparov, he continues his
victorious way in chess. What will be his
next station? Perhaps, Linares…
As a result of his final dash, Anand got
2nd place! Vishy again proved the well-
known rule: if you want to gain success
in a tournament with a mixed
membership, you have get a grip on its
tail. Now the Indian can aspire to become
the champion of Holland! However, I
doubt whether many were too impressed
by his play in Wijk aan Zee.
Kramnik solved the question “to be or not
to be” till the very end of the tournament
- his game against Piket became the
longest duel of the round. It ended when
most of the participants had already come
closer to the banquet room. Finally, the
game ended in a draw. His first
tournament at champion’s rank Vladimir
ended having shared the 3rd place. It
seems that Kramnik hasn’t got used to his
title yet.
I can hardly express my pleasure at
seeing the mighty Ivanchuk once again.
Although Vassily didn’t avoid fails
during the tournament race, he finished
abreast of Kramnik! I haven’t seen such
purposefulness and eagerness to win for
ages. In the final round he had to defeat
Timman – and he didn’t make Jan doubt
in his success.
I think that the end of the tournament
became the “boomerang of optimism” for
Shirov and Morozevich. Coincidentally,
the two main aggressors of the Wijk aan
Zee tournament met in the final round.
Both hoped to win the competition and
both spoiled their results because of their
awful final laps. In the concluding game
they fought against all the odds: there
were no positional guiding lines, pieces
flew like birds, and the spirit of the
initiative reigned over the position! Thus,
a draw with the perpetual check became a

fair result of this colorful show.
Two more metamorphoses took place in
the event as the certain fell. Tiviakov beat
Fedorov and, thus, excaped the lowest
place in the fixture list. Now Timman, a
chess player who simply stopped playing
chess in the 2nd part of the tournament,
occupies it! As for Leko, after his sudden
draw against Topalov he became the sole
participant of the Wijk aan Zee
tournament to score 50 percent out of all
possible points. Obviously, Peter’s illness
didn’t prevent him from achieving a
result worthy of him.

Express commentary by Garry
Kasparov: Too many inaccuracies…

The tournament was exhausting! When
I’m back in Moscow, we’ll make a
detailed sizing up, now let me just say
that I’m content with the result but not
with the quality of games. I played a
couple of good games (I consider that the
best one was against Topalov). However,
in general, we all at Corus 2001 made too
many blunders and inaccuracies.

Thus, yesterday I received shocking news
about my game with Kramnik. It
appeared that instead of 25.Ng5 I could
win with a simple 25.g4! (see diagram)
and Black can’t play 25...hxg3 26.Nxg3
Rxh3 27.Rxd4! and 28.Nf5. This is
unbelievable - we both missed it! Black is
forced to retreat with the rook: 25...Rhh8
and after 26.f5 White has a clear
advantage.

This might help you to understand that in
the last round I didn’t want to risk.
Psychologically it was difficult to play
1.e4 - and I prepared myself for 1.d4.

Kasparov,G (2849) - Adams,M (2746)
[E04]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (13),
28.01.2001

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4
5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Qa4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Nd5
8.Bxb4 Ndxb4 9.a3 b5 10.Qxb5 Nc2+
11.Kd2 Nxa1 12.Qxc6+ Bd7 13.Qxc4 c5
14.Qa2 Qa5+
Adams has already played this line
against Bareev. That game was drawn. Of
course, we analyzed it with Yuri
Dokhoian and we found a way to
improve the line.
15.Nc3 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Rd8 17.Rxa1 e5
18.b4 Qb6 19.Nc2 Qxf2

20.Bd5
This is quite a good novelty (Bareev
played 20.Ne3 Be6 21.Ncd5 0-0 =)
Several moves are almost forced:
20...0-0 21.Qc4 Be6 22.Ne3 Qxh2
23.Qh4 Qxh4 24.gxh4
I think that White has some edge in this
endgame.
24...f5 25.Kc2?!
This inaccuracy lets Black equalize the
position. I had to keep the King on the K-
side: 25.Ke1 Kf7 26.Bxe6+ Kxe6 27.Na4
f4 (White gets a big advantage after
27...Rd4 28.Rc1 Rxh4 29.Rc6+) 28.Nc5+
Kf6 29.Nc4, and White’s position is more

comfortable.
25...Kf7 26.Rd1 f4 27.Nc4
After the exchange on d5 the endgame is
equal.
1/2-1/2

Press Conference with
Winner Garry Kasparov

(bv Fre Hoogendoom)

After his historic third successive victory
in Wijk aan Zee, Garry Kasparov gave a
press conference to the assembled press.
At first the questions were slow in
coming, but soon the press and Kasparov
warmed to each other, as the former
world champion answered questions on a
wide range of topics.
Winning Wijk aan Zee had been very
important to him. It had been his goal to
show that he was still the best tournament
player in the world. The quality of the
games, however, was not as high as he
thought it should be. Especially the
games between Kramnik, Anand, Shirov
and himself had been relatively poor, and
other games had seemed unworthy of
grandmasters. "Probably the tension of
the occasion was responsible."
The result of the tournament changed
nothing, however. "Everybody has their
own opinion of the current state of
affairs: Kramnik, Anand, me, and
probably everybody in this room. We
now have two world champions of equal
strength. Kramnik has 120 years of
tradition behind him, Anand has an
organization (FIDE). I recognize only
Kramnik as the world champion, as he
defeated me to become it. To become
world champion you have beat your
predecessor; the name of the
organization, be it FIDE, PCA,
Braingames or Pepsi, doesn’t matter.
That way you are part of a tradition of a
title which has only had fourteen holders
in almost 120 years."
He stated that it was up to Kramnik to
take the initiative in seeing that there was

some way for his challenger to be found.
"Winning the world title comes with
certain responsibilities. The longer he
waits, the less value his title will have.
Kramnik may have some dreams of his
own, but he has to take account of
economic realities. Money does not grow
on trees, or fall from the sky; he must
take account of what people are willing to
pay money for, and I believe that they are
most willing to pay for a rematch
between Kramnik and myself. Kramnik
also has a moral obligation to play me,
but it seems as if the new generation has
little respect for moral obligations."
Another question concerned the decline
in the number of top tournaments. Even
Linares would not be as strong as it used
to be, and when one journalist suggested
the term ’Linares-Lite’, Kasparov could
readily agree. He wasn’t sure himself
where else he would be playing this year
after Linares.
In response to a question about the
Kasparov Chess Academy, he stated that
the developments of the chess school in
Israel had proceeded very well, despite
the political situation the country found
itself in. They had just about finished
developing a blue-print which could be
used to set up academies in other
countries. The KasparovChess website
was, like many other internet-related
companies, going through a difficult
period, but he felt sure they would be
able to survive and prove the validity of
the current business model.
Would he be writing any books in the
near future? "At the moment I’m busy
with my book on the world champions
and their legacies. This is a somewhat
neglected in the current literature, and it
seems to have become my responsibility
to make sure this is not forgotten."
Would he be back next year? "Will there
be a tournament next year? I would like
very much to come back, although it
seems as though my result gets worse
every year: in 1999 I scored +7, in 2000
+6 and now +5... This year the
tournament was much stronger than in

1999, though. My best game was against
Topalov, in which I took a lot of risks."
Later that evening at the prize-giving,
after the traditional pea soup dinner, it
was reiterated that the future of the Corus
tournament is uncertain. The 2002
tournament, which will be the 64th
edition, has been guaranteed, but for
tournaments beyond that no decision has
yet been made. Kasparov spoke a few
words on behalf of the players, and
demonstrated once again that when it
comes to speech-making, Garry is a
natural. He was happy that for him there
was life after death, light at the end of the
tunnel. He emphasized the importance of
tradition: "Next year will see the 64th
tournament in Wijk aan Zee, and 64 is a
natural boundary in chess. But we need to
push beyond that boundary to preserve
one of the world’s top tournaments. "The
weather here was cold, maybe not as cold
as in Moscow, but still. Wijk aan Zee
may not be able to compete with Linares
in the weather, but it can compete in
strength."
In conclusion, he remarked that he was
happy that Teimour Radjabov, who like
himself comes from the capital of
Azerbaijan, had done so well in the
Grandmaster B tournament. Radjabov, 13
years old, had come second and scored a
GM-norm, as had the 14-year-old Indian
player, Harikrishna, who had come fifth.
"I’m glad to see that once again the boy
from Baku came ahead of the boy from
India!"