Corus Round 1 January 12th.
In my perception there has been more focus on early draws in 2007 then ever before (or maybe I'm just following the chess press a little closer.)
It was a bit surprising to see some fairly short draws in round 1 as none of the participants could complain about fatigue.
The likely reason is that white was already slightly worse and black was relieved to have equalised and did the usual mistake of not being mentally prepared to seize the possibilities with black.
With 4 games drawn in the A-group in 27 moves or less, commentators were starting to estimate the likelihood of 7 draws.
The most surprising one was maybe Kramnik as white against bottom seeded van Wely. (Maybe van Wely has learned most of Kramnik's secrets as his second in part of 2007.)
Fortunately the remaining three games were decided with the younger players drawing first blood.
Magnus was surprised by Mamedyarovs 1.e4 and chose the Sicilian as he did not expect Shakriar to go for the sharpest continuations.
Shakriar indeed chose 4.g3 with a quiet set-up. Magnus felt he got sufficient counterplay on the queenside to offset the potential white kingside attack as well as the white bishop-pair.
It is hard to say where Shakriar went wrong but Magnus thinks he was at least equal after 24.Qxa6 and clearly better after 32.Nh5.
Magnus went on to attack the white queenside and Mamedyarov obviously disliked the position and got into time trouble.
Just before the time control Magnus sacrificed both a-pawns to threaten the bishop on g2 with 40....Ne3 and it looked lost for white after for instance 41.Ra5 Rxb2.
At this stage the players thought black was winning, but they had probably both missed the defence with Bh1. Black would still have been clearly better, but it is far from obvious how to win.
Anyhow Mamedyarov resigned, and Magnus was immensely pleased to secure his first Corus a win after his +0=9-4 score last year!
(Maybe the one hour squash game last night was the right way to clear his mind and get ready for the tournament.)
And what a great start on his 2008 tournament activity.
Radjabov presented Anand with a novelty in the semi-slav and went on to win despite a usual strong defence by Anand.
Topalov won an exchange for a pawn early on and Magnus thought Topalov was clearly better.
Somewhere he went wrong, lost a pawn, and in the end Aronian won the rook endgame.
Tomorrow Magnus has white against Eljanov (2692) who won the B-group last year.
The wind has picked up here in Wijk, but it is quite nice to feel the forces of nature in this beautiful seaside resort as long as there is some sun and not too cold.
Time for take-away pizza!
(below is a link to a video of the 20+ minutes demonstration & press conferance Magnus did after the game;
http://www.chessvibes.com/coverstory/corus-press-conf-magnus-carlsen/ )
Henrik Carlsen
Wijk aan Zee, January 12th, 2008
It was a bit surprising to see some fairly short draws in round 1 as none of the participants could complain about fatigue.
The likely reason is that white was already slightly worse and black was relieved to have equalised and did the usual mistake of not being mentally prepared to seize the possibilities with black.
With 4 games drawn in the A-group in 27 moves or less, commentators were starting to estimate the likelihood of 7 draws.
The most surprising one was maybe Kramnik as white against bottom seeded van Wely. (Maybe van Wely has learned most of Kramnik's secrets as his second in part of 2007.)
Fortunately the remaining three games were decided with the younger players drawing first blood.
Magnus was surprised by Mamedyarovs 1.e4 and chose the Sicilian as he did not expect Shakriar to go for the sharpest continuations.
Shakriar indeed chose 4.g3 with a quiet set-up. Magnus felt he got sufficient counterplay on the queenside to offset the potential white kingside attack as well as the white bishop-pair.
It is hard to say where Shakriar went wrong but Magnus thinks he was at least equal after 24.Qxa6 and clearly better after 32.Nh5.
Magnus went on to attack the white queenside and Mamedyarov obviously disliked the position and got into time trouble.
Just before the time control Magnus sacrificed both a-pawns to threaten the bishop on g2 with 40....Ne3 and it looked lost for white after for instance 41.Ra5 Rxb2.
At this stage the players thought black was winning, but they had probably both missed the defence with Bh1. Black would still have been clearly better, but it is far from obvious how to win.
Anyhow Mamedyarov resigned, and Magnus was immensely pleased to secure his first Corus a win after his +0=9-4 score last year!
(Maybe the one hour squash game last night was the right way to clear his mind and get ready for the tournament.)
And what a great start on his 2008 tournament activity.
Radjabov presented Anand with a novelty in the semi-slav and went on to win despite a usual strong defence by Anand.
Topalov won an exchange for a pawn early on and Magnus thought Topalov was clearly better.
Somewhere he went wrong, lost a pawn, and in the end Aronian won the rook endgame.
Tomorrow Magnus has white against Eljanov (2692) who won the B-group last year.
The wind has picked up here in Wijk, but it is quite nice to feel the forces of nature in this beautiful seaside resort as long as there is some sun and not too cold.
Time for take-away pizza!
(below is a link to a video of the 20+ minutes demonstration & press conferance Magnus did after the game;
http://www.chessvibes.com/coverstory/corus-press-conf-magnus-carlsen/ )
Henrik Carlsen
Wijk aan Zee, January 12th, 2008
Comments:
Posted by: F.
Congratulations, a perfect start!
Posted by: Jagadish
Congratulations ! Keep it up
Posted by: nantaises
Hehe nice start ! cool, tomorrow Eljanov will be crushed
Posted by: Gegga
What a way to start this years Corus tournament! Thanks a lot for you quick post, Henrik, I am always very eager to read Magnus' and yours comments on the games.
Good luck tomorrow!
Good luck tomorrow!
Posted by: Robert
The Mozart of chess strikes again...congrats on such a beautiful win and good luck for the rest of Corus...your fans are with you :)
Posted by: Muzzy
Yes, congratulations! Great result. I watched the press conference video at ChessVibes. It was nice to see him demystify some of the moves in a simple and understandable way. Good food for us patzers. By the way, do you know why Karjakin isn't invited? Would have been nice to see him here as well. But how can anyone complain about anything at Corus. The most exciting tournament of the year. Good luck for the next round!
Posted by: Gegga
I don't think Karjakin was high enough rated at the time they inviterd players. Van Wely is Dutch, so he plays every year. Eljanov won last years B-group. The rest of the players were all higher rated than Karjakin when they decided, I think. Also, it doesn't look like Karjakin is half as popular as Magnus is, even though they are almost the same age, and they have almost the same rating. It might be because Magnus is from Norway. He is the biggest western talent since Bobby Fischer...
Posted by: Henrik C.
Muzzy, Gegga,
I was a bit surprised that Magnus got invited but not Karjakin too, but one explanation might be that the invitation was extended in March after Magnus had made his impressive Morelia-Linares performance. Maybe also the fact that Magnus seems to strike a chord with the Dutch and vice-versa after
kick-starting his international career here in 2004 is an emotional contributing factor.
I was a bit surprised that Magnus got invited but not Karjakin too, but one explanation might be that the invitation was extended in March after Magnus had made his impressive Morelia-Linares performance. Maybe also the fact that Magnus seems to strike a chord with the Dutch and vice-versa after
kick-starting his international career here in 2004 is an emotional contributing factor.
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