Day 6: 2002 Corus at Wijk aan Zee

After the second rest day, the players returned to once again match wits. While it is true that the battle at the board is indeed a one-on-one affair, the preparation before and after the games, companionship is shared with others. Many players came to the event with an entourage or a coach/friend for support. To mention a few of these, Leko came with his wife and her father GM A. Petrosian who is also his coach. Grischuk is accompanied by GM Byhovsky. GM Lobron, Timman's long time friend is here to help him (and amuse us!) Their presence in the pressroom can be quite entertaining, and not only chess wise. For example, when Lobron noticed Leko's wife and father in law/coach sitting and chatting with Leko's manager, he stated loudly and "innocently" that "Oh wow Leko is already losing" After which, the chat to his right abruptly stopped, and 3 very worried faces looked at the TV screen showing the game. It took a giggle and a look at the position for them to realize he was kidding.

Now for some chess: Today was a very lively day here with plenty of action and a nice mix of awesome moves and blunders:

Timman - Bareev: In a sideline of the four knights English, black castled where he intended to play …d6 (Bareev said he called himself an idiot for inverting moves.) Having entered an undesired line, he sprung what seems like a TN with 9…d5 (previously 9…c6 was played in Conquenst -Loginov 1996) Timman played quickly, perhaps he had this line prepared. The consensus in the pressroom was that white was comfortably better. That consensus remained intact with the disliking of white's set up of 15.Rad1 and 16.Qf4. That allowed black to regroup wisely and complete his development with 16…Bg4! and Bh5 defending the weak f7 square. Instead, after the game Timman suggested 15.Rb1!? as a better plan. White got gradually outplayed (17.Rf2 was also strange and probably not great, 17.Bf3 would have been equal), he "won" black's queen but his exposed king and black's piece activity outweighed the material deficit. Perhaps after black's 19 …Ng4, 20.Ne3 was a better try. After 20…Nxe3 21.Rxd8 Raxd8 22.h3 and white isn't much worse - Bareev. With a series of simple moves Bareev wrapped things up en route to sole leadership of the tournament.

Adams - Lautier

Adams - Lautier: Was a Rossolimo Sicilian where black played the lesser used 10…Nh4!?, with 11.Rc8. White was certainly slightly better after the opening, but after ample maneuvering and a few piece exchanges, a draw appeared on the TV screen. Certainly a "day off" for both players.

van Wely - Dreev: Well, what to say about this game… It was a dynamic semi Slav. But again, if one hasn't seen this before, one might be impressed by the fireworks. Alas: this has all been played before, all the way to the perpetual check. By whom, do you ask? Well, the first of a few examples is by none other than Loek van Wely himself! (van Wely- Lautier Monte Carlo 2000) GM Lutz who analyzed that game for ChessBase Magazine offered some other tries for white along the way (without analysis) but these would have to be left for another time.

Piket - Khalifman: Another game that excited me with what I thought were some original ideas in the opening, until I realized it was my own shortcoming of not knowing the theory! The players have followed a 1999 game between Bacrot and Gershon for 15 moves, where white then tried to improve on that game's 16. Bg2 with 16.Bh3, but the next move, 17.Nxb5? is very hard to agree with. Black regained his pawn immediately and was just a good pawn up for nothing. He was slowly consolidating when Piket (in time trouble) tried 32.f5? which was not only bad because of 32…gxf which was played, but also 32…Nxe3! which was missed. In mutual time pressure Khalifman went for the adventure with 33…Qg5? 34.h4! Qg6 but luckily for him White didn't play 35.Qa5! which would have left him with only a slight advantage. (idea: 35…Nxde3?? 36.Qd8+ and Qd4+ winning) The drama was still far from over! When 35.Kh1? was played, 35…Rxf2! Would have been an immediate game ender. Alas, time was little and 35…Nxe3 was played and was strong enough. After 36.Rg1 c2 was again resignable for white. 36…Ng4 was good enough to win, although much harder. Incredibly, after black's 43…Qg3? (43…g3 44.Qxc3+ f6 45.Bh3 Rh2 was still winning for sure!) 44.Rxf7+! white has found an amazing perpetual check! An astonishing finish and a very unfortunate outcome for El-Khalif, who certainly deserved to win this one.

Leko - Grischuk

Leko - Grischuk: The Petroff has become a regular in high-level competition chess. Almost every top player has included it at some point in his repertoire. Leko tried to put some new life into white's previously not-so-impressive tries in the position with his 17th. a4, and bringing the d2 knight to f3 instead of the usual b3. White was getting ready to utilize the e5 outpost when black went on an erroneous plan with 23…Re8 and worse yet 24…g5?. He certainly missed Leko's cunning trick with 25.Rxb7! and had to retreat. But 26.h4! guaranteed black's downfall. Another brilliant shot (29.Ng5!) and black was literally on the ropes - many moves were good to win, even Leko's 32.Bf5, although 32. gxh6 might have been a shortcut. Anyway, after some suffering against Leko's armada of pawns, black had to admit defeat. Quite a convincing win and a nice combo from Peter, who collected the public prize for the game.

Morozevich - Kasimdzhanov: A very topical line in the Rossolimo Sicilian, where white trades his light squared bishop to compromise black's queenside pawns, later undoubles them to claim a strong center. Black was maneuvering in his somewhat cramped but solid position. For much of the middle game, I liked white with his passed d pawn and c4 outpost. It is hard for me to tell if I was overoptimistic or if Moro didn't make the most of it, but black's activity got him a pawn, which he later returned to reach a rook ending. I suspect Kasimdzhanov relaxed a bit because he really should not have allowed 42.g5! All of a sudden he had some serious problems. Before long, the white king penetrated while eating some pawns (g5, e5). Only technical hurdles stood between Morozevich and the full point, which he overcame without sweat.

GM Boris Gelfand

Gurevich - Gelfand: Another Semi Slav where optically black has a bad position due to his light squared Bc8. This is an illusion. White's treatment of the position with 9.Bd2 and 10.Rad1 doesn't strike as too aggressive. Black equalized quite early. Later white tried to combine 14.f4 with 17.Bb3 unsuccessfully, since when he tried the consistent 18.e4?, black simply went into a sequence of trades that left him with a strong pair of bishops, a white N on a4 out of play and worse yet thanks to the above, a safer king and a more active queen. All that translated to a quick white demise when with a clever maneuver black was about to trap the poor black queen on a8 and so white resigned on move 30.