The Champ!

As predicted, Naka kicked some serious butt!

Hikaru Nakamura is the (sole) Champion of the 2011 Tata Steel Chess Tournament having outlasted World Champion Vishy Anand and a late charging World #1 Magnus Carlsen. Simply a superb performance and confirmation that he will be a real challenger for the World Champion title some day. (He has missed the window to be in the current cycle and will need to join next cycle.)

Congratulations Hikaru! And thank you for the excitement you bring to the game at the highest level.

Coming down the home stretch

Wow! The last 3 rounds to go and Hikaru Nakamura is tied for the lead with World Champion Vishy Anand. This is awesome. Great chess, great drama. Nakamura-Kramnik on Saturday morning (7:30am start) I hope you are following. The host site has been top notch this year, too. http://www.tatasteelchess.com/ .

Now to squeeze my last favorite "lost tapes" from last year, here is a two part clip of players from the B section who played a crazy game. Plus the moves. Check it out!

Black sacs 4 pawns and then the exchange for a nasty attack .... and the game ends in a draw!! Negi and Harikrishna played the game, Akobian and Nisipeanu are kibitzing and all are trying to find a winning line for either side. Peter Leko watches too, then leaves ...an hour later he is back in part (b) and finally calls it a night. As he leaves he laughs at the others and says something like "you know the press will say this was a 'nice grandy draw' between the two Indian players..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dscMmt-JYk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vQmrX7FG60&feature=related

(139) Negi - HarikkrishnaCorus Chess 2010 Wijk aan Zee (7), 23.01.2010
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Qc7 11.0-0 b6 12.Qg4 Bb7 13.Qxg7 Rf8 14.Re1 0-0-0 15.Kh1 Kb8 16.a4 Rg8 17.Qxf7 Rdf8 18.Qxe6 Nf6 19.Bxh6 Bc8 20.Qe2 Rf7 21.Ne5 Ng4 22.Nxg4 Bxg4 23.f3 Bc8 24.f4 Rh7 25.Bxh7 Qxh7 26.Qh5 Rg6 27.Re8 Rxh6 28.Qg4 Rxh2+ 29.Kg1 Rh1+ 30.Kf2 Qxc2+ 31.Ke3 Qb3+ 32.Ke4 Qc2+ 33.Ke3 Qb3+ 1/2-1/2

Oopsie!

There has been one game each in rounds 3 and 4 of the Tata Steel (aka Corus) tournament decided by one of the top players in the world simply blundering in the opening. On one level that reassures me - "we all do it" sometimes. And still... it seems hard to believe.

Well here was a very memorable moment from last year's Corus. I was in the media room when I heard analysts murmuring that Vassily Ivanchuk had just blundered against Magnus Carlsen. People were shaking their heads and asking why he plays like a genius at times and then makes such bonehead plays as well. Apparently he has that reputation.

I rushed out to the playing area and captured the moment on film. Notice the buzz that something just happened at Magnus' board and all the players coming over to see. Then watch Vassily's eyes as he tries to save face somehow. Too late, the damage was done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COynUB-vmRg

Hey, it happens....

Proof

First off - Hikaru this year is playing like the champion of the tournament. He has scored 2.5 out of 3.0 with a fantastic win over Shirov yesterday. Go Hikaru! Meanwhile...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRxakN0atgA

I was checking to see if my YouTube links I am posting were working - and yes they are - when I found this clip from last year that actually proves I was there. It was a post-game analysis where Kramnik was basically lecturing Van Wely about he had him no matter what Van Wely tried. This clip was good natured but there were some nastier comments by Vlad. I found out later Van Wely had been Vlad's second at one point so they knew each other well.

I was the new kid on the block and just understanding we really could crowd around and record their "private" conversation. Very cool. You can see me sneak in about half way thru the clip. Eventually I ended up sitting next to Kramnik from the very perspective of this videographer! (At first I thought this was my video!)

The memorable moment for me, though, was when they went through a line and then backed up to a starting position and I thought Kramnik had lost track of something. So, to be helpful, I pointed out to Kramnik that he was in check. Doh! What was I thinking???? I made a blog about it last year.

Corus post-post game analysis

Yes! Hikaru won game 1 today against grischuk. Good start.

Now it seems a bit wierd to show videos from last year while this tournament is going on. (See my two earlier posts.) What the heck, I'll show some anyway, hopefully for your enjoyment. Here's something pretty interesting to me from the skittles room at Corus in Jan 2010. It is Smeets (who spanked Shirov today) against Dominguez going over their crazy game in round 7. The game score follows. Wild, huh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I0Nag9NEFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41DzRXEXUOU

Smeets - Dominguez
Corus Chess 2010 Wijk aan Zee (7), 23.01.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.e5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.fxg5 Nd5 12.Ne4 Qb6 13.Bd3 hxg5 14.Bxg5 Qxb2 15.c4 Be7 16.Bxe7 Ne3 17.Qc1 Nxg2+ 18.Kd1 Ne3+ 19.Ke1 Ng2+ 20.Kd1 Ne3+ 21.Qxe3 Qxa1+ 22.Kd2 Qxh1 23.Bxd6 Rxh2+ 24.Be2 Qb1 25.Nf6+ Kd8 26.Qd4 c5 27.Bxc5+ Kc7 28.Qd6+ Kb7 29.Qe7+ Kc6 30.Qd6+ ½–½

It's Corus time!!!

Hello everyone. I am back with more reports on the Corus tournament - the only thing is it is from last year. Actually I just posted a full explanation but it showed up as being posted on 01/01/11. If you go to it (back in the timeline of posts), there is an excellent interview on video with Nigel Short. Anyway, check that out to understand why I am posting year old videos and pics. Meanwhile here is something to wet your appetite - the youngster Karjakin and Smeets having a good laugh going over their game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbpi59vniAg

One of these days I'll really figure out how to embed YouTube videos in my blogs. Sigh.

Tata For Now

It is time once again for the annual Corus Chess Tournament in the Netherlands. Although now it is called Tata, which is the new owner of the steel factory in Wijk aan Zee that has annually sponsored the event. Yes - I am psyched!

Regretably, I will not be reporting from there this year as I have done the past two tournaments. But I will be following the action every day. I hope you do, too, as it is one of the premier tournaments in the world and it is so easy to follow. Here are two sites anyone can access http://www.chessbase.com/ or http://www.tatasteelchess.com/tournament/information . And of course there are many other options for the chess internet savvy.

Recently, as I started looking forward to the daily action, I realized that I have materials from last year that I never published that might still be enjoyable reading or viewing. So I am passing them along before they get another year older.

I wrote an article for the pending issue of Empire Chess magazine - which you can now read on-line thru the NYSCA.NET website at http://www.nysca.net/winter11.pdf

Plus I will be posting stuff here from last year in the coming weeks as I only recently learned how to utilize YouTube to post my videos. Well, I thought I learned how ... but maybe I will have to start with beginner steps that hopefully will still work...

Anyway, here is my first real interview as a reporter last year. It was an easy one because Nigel Short just LOVES to be interviewed and he's very entertaining. He also came into the media room after being the first player to slow down Alexi Shirov. Alexi had ripped off 5 straight wins to start the tournament last year and Nigel made him play on his terms and Shirov ended up in a completely boring, even position. Draw. So Nigel was in a very good mood. Hope you like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQGeZ5fdMuA

Follow Tata as the field looks even better than last year. NY's own Hikaru Nakamura is out to win it this year. It should be a very exciting event.

Being there

To give you a sense of what it is like in the wee little town of Wijk aan Zee for a few weeks in January, here are three video clips. (They are around 30 seconds each as that seems like what I can upload successfully.) Upper left pans the town, with the steel plant - the tournament sponsor and predominant employer for the town - looming over the hill. Upper right shows the stream of chess players coming from every direction to the playing hall. Lower left shows pictures of tournament champions covering decades that lines the bookstore. And the picture in the lower right is from a restaurant that was used for the spill over of players from the amateur tournaments. Note the glass of wine while playing in the tournament.

Everywhere you go you see people playing chess in bars and restaurants, some in a tournament section but mostly just playing for fun. And at dinner time, at the few nice restaurants around town, you see the top players eating dinner, too. Like at my last dinner I literally was surrounded by Hikaru Nakamura, Varuzhan Akobian, Liviu Nisipeanu, and Sergey Karjakin. It is indeed a cozy little town.

I will suggest one thing if you are tempted to come here next year: come with a friend. Having meals alone was the one tough aspect to my trip simply because this is such a social environment. The restaurants are always abuzz(!) with chatter with most people seeming like very good friends. And while many locals can speak English, what you hear is Dutch and German. So I just think having a fellow English speaking chess fanatic around would be a good thing! Go and enjoy!

Parting Shots From the Skittles Room

Intrepid Reporter Version 1.1

Yes, we have video, too! At last I got one to upload. Let's start with a brief interview with Hikaru after he brought Shirov down to earth.

More after I get home!

One Down

This will be a brief update at the end of a long and exciting day, but one also with rather continuous internet problems.

The big news today was a convincing win by Hikaru Nakamura over Alexi Shirov that dropped Shirov to within 1/2 point of Naka and Carlsen. Hikaru is now in good shape entering the last half of the tournament. After playing Kramnik tomorrow, he will be facing the "weaker" players in the tournament. Meanwhile Shirov has yet to face most of the "strongest" players.

Carlsen enjoyed an Ivanchuk meltdown today and had an easy win, which means Magnus remains tied for second and Chuckie drops back a point. In third right now is Brazilian GM Dominguez. Kramnik needs to win to stay with him in third but right now Nigel Short has the ex-Champion on the ropes.

The last results update to share is that Ray Robson lost his first game and I was unable to speak with him.

That's it for my "news coverage" from the tournament. I return home tomorrow. And I need to go eat now before "rush hour" in this wee little village swarming with chess players who finished their games a little while ago.

However, I have a lot! of video clips and other sound recordings to go through so there will definitely be more coming ... when I have better access to the internet in the coming week.

Until then, this is your intrepid reporter signing off from Wijk aan Zee! - P

Bonus pics

"You're in check."

A What did you just do?
B What? He's in check.
A Shut up!
B What???
A You actually said that to him? Out loud??
B Yeah, I thought he lost track ...
A That's Kramnik!
B Well uh... maybe... oh... OH!
A Shut up!
B Um yes, right. Doh!
A Now make a subtle face to let everyone know you realize your mistake.
B Absolutely.
A You just can't help youself some times, can you?
B No I guess not.
A Well keep shutting up!
B You got it!
- 1.5 seconds of dialog in my head after I advised the ex-World Champion

Ray rules!

Traps, traps and more traps. For most of an hour, Ray Robson and Benjamin Bok of the Netherlands are working through what else they might have played in their game and they just keep finding nasty ways Ray could have won that game. As it was, Ray cruised to victory to and a point and a half lead in the Grandmaster Group C with a score of 5.5/6. Before I could interview him, Vladimir Kramnik entered the room and all attention turned to the ex-Champion. I looked back and Ray was gone like Clark Kent. Maybe I'll catch him tomorrow.

Equally impressive is the young leader of Group B, the home favorite Anish Giri. Not only is he unbeaten with a 5.0/6 score but the kid is eloquent! For the last two rounds he has gladly provided analysis of his game for the media (which can be seen at http://www.chessvibes.com/). Here, he is a big time chess player and movie star!

My starting with the C and B groups is partly to raise the awareness of these up and coming teen monsters ... and partly because the top section was just not very exciting today. There were some early draws including Nigel Short's quite easy defusing of the bomb named Alexi Shirov. The only other noteworthy event was Vladimir Kramnik's win over Loek van Wely which brings VK into a tie for second with Nakamura, Carlsen and Ivanchuk.

I did get some gold today, though! For one, I sat next to Kramik (OMG!!!) for 20 minutes as he and van Wely analyzed their game. Better yet, I tape recorded quite a lot of their commentary. Plus I recorded on video an interview I had with Nigel Short. I just don't know if/how to get any of that onto this site. I will work on that upon my return.

It was pretty amazing to hear Kramnik say from very early on in his game that he had everything completely under control and how he was going to play it out and win. So matter of fact that there was nothing his opponent could do about it. Yet his opponent was none other than van Wely, who every now and then mumbled a subtly incredulous "oh yeah?" But try as he might, van Wely was stuck. With impressive wins in the last two rounds, Kramnik is making his move in this tournament.

More tomorrow!

Chess is Spiritual?

Have you ever been staring at a difficult position, not knowing what to play, and asked ... "What would Jesus do?" Let's ask him (he's at Corus!)

Early Round 6 report: after getting the press room buzzing with excitement about a wild game ahead, Nakamura and Ivanchuk agree to a draw in 30 minutes!

Hikaru said "I studied 4 lines after 12 moves but not the 13 a5 Vassily played. As far as I could tell, the choice then was to either take the draw or play on in a worse position against him." He left disgusted shaking his head.

Pouring Gas on the Fire

"Fire on Board" author Alexi Shirov intends to take this tournament by storm. He has won his first 5 games by attacking fearlessly. Yesterday against Loek van Wely, a tough defender, Shirov launched a kingside attack on move 8 that became a wild, double edged battle. As the two went over the game afterwards for 30 minutes, it was clear that Shirov's position was more precarious than he thought during the game. Yet he won again- possibly due less to the soundness of his play and more a matter of how well his opponents have held up psychologically in the line of fire.

His competitors have taken notice. Chasing him are Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen, who faced off against each other. Both lost ground to Shirov as they fought to a draw. It also was an interesting psychological battle as Carlsen first chose to avoid a sharp game by passing on playing a Sicilian, to which Nakamura responded with a quiet and obscure line of the Ruy Lopez. The game gradually built to a wrestling match for control of the center. When Nakamura seemed to be getting the upper hand, Carlsen exchanged a piece for 3 pawns to alter the whole dynamic. Again it looked promising for Nakamura as he gained back a pawn but Carlsen found the best defense. After the game, Nakamura found it difficult to be satisfied with drawing the world's highest rated player (Carlsen) and the World Champion (Anand) in his last two rounds. "I'm here to win this tournament and with Shirov winning again, my drawing makes it that much harder."

Also in second place chasing Shirov is Vassily Ivanchuk, who spoiled Nigel Short's bid for his first win by wriggling his way to a draw. And coming up behind him is Vladimir Kramnik who played for his first win yesterday and he got it. Kramnik passed on playing his now-not-so-automatic Petroff's Defense as he wanted to win, not draw. He confessed that he bought a book at the tournament bookstore this week (yes, like a normal person) on the Pirc "that says that every line for black wins, which is of course not true. But I looked through it on my rest day and thought I'd give it a try."

Curiously, far back in the pack is Vishy Anand, who scored his fifth straight draw against Peter Leko. I enjoyed the privelege of sitting next to the World Champion (OMG!!!) as the two analyzed their quirky yet dull game. At one point, Leko said he didn't play a line because he "didn't want to lose any momentum." Anand raised his eyebrows, cocked his head to the side, and politely added "I looked at a lot of lines in this game but not once did the word "momentum" come to mind. Ha!" All the lines looked at from then on were viewed in terms of losing momentum that wasn't there and they were cracking each other up throughout. A very friendly, pleasant exchange that was a treat for this interpid reporter. And it left me wondering if Anand has the fight in him to want to win this tournament.

For those who want to take the title from Shirov, the good news is he still has to play every one who is in contention. And yet, I have this feeling that Alexi would say to them, "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

Next Update is Friday

My jet lag has caught up with me. I will blog more on Friday. Pic is Magnus yawning along with me.

Arrival

Vladimir Kramnik sips his coffee just 3 feet in front of me. Take the shot! Arr, too late. Move on. As I turn I almost bump into Vassily Ivanchuk pacing the aisle. Whoa. This is surreal. Hey, where's Ray Robson - USA superstar that I have to meet? He is in deep thought 5 moves into his game. Click! Aw, I'm getting the hook. Oh, every other photographer has laready left! I was so immersed in the sea of heroes in the flesh, time stood still. But now I move gracefully back to the press room.

Round 5 has begun.

Just 17 hours ago, I was flying out of Albany, NY. Two flights, two trains and a bus, one ocean, 4 half meals, 3 hours sleep and a hotel check-in later, it feels like I just left home and BOOM! here I am along the North Sea. Like I said, surreal.

And this place is buzzing. Lots of photographers and TV crews. A whole different scene than last year, thanks to the high drama in the first 4 rounds. And today we see Kramnik pass up the chance to play a Petroff! "He smells blood in the water" is the comment in the press room. Shirov launches an immediate kingside attack on Van Wely - ya gotta love 'im! And Carlsen chooses not to play a Sicilian against Nakamura, apparently not wanting to jump into a fight with him. Well, more on these games later.

I just wanted to play my first move on this blog!

One more Corus!

Blame Hikaru Nakamura and his spectacular play in recent months! I am inspired!
Of course, having Anand, Kramnik, Carlsen, Shirov, Short and Ivanchuk there as well inspires me, too.

I am returning to the Corus Tounament in the Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. I leave this Weds and I will be reporting during rounds 5-7 on Thursday 1/21 thru Saturday 1/23. I might even be tweeting! Look for me!

Phil Ferguson

Corus: Jan 20th Part II

Meeting the GM's:

There I am walking through the media control room for ICC when I come across Nigel Short and Jonathan Speelman watching games and doing some analysis. I am star struck and just stand next to them and listen in, barely laughing along with Short's prattle of jokes and quips. He likes to not take things too seriously. His friend Mr. Speelman meanwhile keeps asking Nigel for his insights. Eventually, Nigel says "Why don't you think that one through yourself, John? You can do that, yeah? I just got off work today."

Nigel moves along to the room I am in now, where the laptops and display boards are. I gave him a few minutes before I follow and when I came in, he and Vassily Ivanchuk are now watching the boards and chatting. I listen in:

VI: Why isn't Garry (Kasparov) playing any more, Nigel. Be real.
NS: Because he's bored. Vassily, you are about the whole breadth of the game. He is into other things.
VI: No really...
NS: It takes a lot to prepare (for tournaments). And Gary is all about getting results. He's into big things.

Vassiliy, or "Chuckie" as Nigel calls him, stops talking. I am there once again listening in, petrified to say anything. (I am so startstruck!) But I chime in with a impromptu casual conversation.

PF: So do you still talk with Kaspaprov?
NS: Oh yes, we stay in pretty regular communication.
PF: How often is that?
NS: Once or twice a month maybe. But it's not like he is calling me up asking me for some of my novelties. Like I am not going to just up and share with him my TWO novelties! Ha! ... Hey Chuckie, do you miss playing Garry? Is that it? Well I don't. I wouldn't have missed playing him 20 years ago either! I've had quite enough of that.

Chuckie just smirks and eventually leaves the room.

PF: So what does Garry say about how it is going in Russia (politically)?
NS: Oh, pretty pessimistic stuff.

And Nigel realizes there is a dinner he is to attend and he gets ready to go. I summon up the courage to actual BE a reporter and formally ask him a question. He says “okay what’s your question?” I honestly had one prepared:

PF: Nigel, you certainly have a good sense of humor. What other top players have a great sense of humor?

NS: Well that’s an interesting question. (The other media guys agreed. Score one for me!)

NS: Lots of players. Hmmm. Certainly NOT Leko! Ha! But don’t quote me on that.” (Sorry, I am.)

NS: Chuckie is really a funny guy. He has a good sense of humor. You know he really has come around over the years. He used to be, well, pretty strange. But he really has become a good guy. He’s very approachable, too. (Too bad I didn’t take a chance to talk with him, I had a lot of opportunities.)

NS: Aronian has a good sense of humor. But Radjabov is VERY serious. Really. He was like that even when he was 12. You know last year Radja was the only one who didn’t know about my Cheparinov (sp?) incident! Even Anand got up from his game to find out what happened but Radja just stayed right at his board staring at his game. Very serious!

PF: Thank you very much Mr. Short, this has been my honor.

Booyah!

And later I was able to watch Aronian and Carlsen get interviewed briefly for the internet about their game. It was pretty dull.

I tried to take some digital pics today to share but that didn’t work out. They are blurred. Rats! I took many more film pics. Hopefully I will have something ready for posting by the end of January.

I may post more. But for now I think I will bask in all that happened today and go enjoy a dinner.

Till next time… this is Phil Ferguson, Live from Corus, for ENYCA

(I get a kick just writing that! Ha!)