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!"