ODT060228

=**Rivalry at Wijk aan Zee**=


 * Problem:** White to play and win.

The Corus chess festival, held annually in January at the small Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee, is gathering a reputation as the premier event on the international chess calendar. Not just because the strength of the players in the the A tournament rivals that of any other, but also because the players invited are chosen for their fighting qualities. The result is usually a display of great chess battles and this year was no exception.

Top seeds in the A tournament, Veselin Topalov (BUL) and Vishy Anand (IND), continued their rivalry for the top spot in chess since the retirement of Garry Kasparov. Both scored a phenomenal 9/13 with six wins and one loss apiece to finish tied for 1-2, a point and a half clear of Michael Adams (ENG) and Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) in places 3-4. Anand claimed the trophy on tie-break and finally pushed his FIDE rating beyond the 2800 barrier - only the 4th player in history to do so, after Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Topalov. Both Anand and Topalov attributed their performance to the spur of having to match the other, which promises more great battles to come.

Today's game is from the final round of Wijk aan Zee and features the recent FIDE World Cup winner Levon Aronian of Armenia displaying the power of modern grandmaster preparation with White against Ivan Sokolov of the Netherlands. media type="custom" key="27107020" An old and venerable line of the Slav Defence Krause Attack – dating back to the 1929 Carlsbad tournament. This move and White's reply begin a sequence of much more recent pedigree – White's idea is to use threats against the loose Black pieces to rapidly launch a minority pawn attack on the Queenside and involves a pawn sacrifice. All this has been played before, but White has prepared a radical answer to the threat of Qxh2+... Already giving back two pawns, otherwise 21... bxc6 22 Nb5! Qd7 23 Qb4! traps the Black king in the centre and subjects it to a violent assault. With the Black king castled, the b7 pawn is now the key to White's attack. By allowing an exchange of queens Black would quickly lose the b8 rook for a knight. Black's defences can hold out no longer. It's possible that the following queen sacrifice was part of White's opening preparation, maybe the whole game – But what preparation! The b-pawn will cost Black a whole rook.
 * 1.d4 d5**
 * 2.c4 c6**
 * 3.Nf3 Nf6**
 * 4.Nc3 dxc4**
 * 5.a4 Bf5**
 * 6.Ne5 Nbd7**
 * 7.Nxc4 Qc7**
 * 8.g3 e5**
 * 9.dxe5 Nxe5**
 * 10.Bf4 Nfd7**
 * 11.Bg2 f6**
 * 12.0-0 Nc5**
 * 13.Ne3!? Bg6**
 * 14.b4 Ne6**
 * 15.Qb3 Bf7**
 * 16.Qb1 Nxf4**
 * 17.gxf4 Ng6**
 * 18.b5 Qxf4**
 * 19.Rd1 Bd6**
 * 20.Rxd6! Qxd6**
 * 21.bxc6 0-0**
 * 22.Nb5 Qc5**
 * 23.cxb7 Rab8**
 * 24.Qf5 Ne5**
 * 25.Qc2 Qb6**
 * 26.Qc7 Rfd8**
 * 27.Rc1 Qa6**
 * 28.Nf5 Qb6**
 * 29.Qxb8! Rxb8**
 * 30.Rc8+ Qd8**
 * 31.Nxa7 Be8**
 * 32.Rxd8 Rxd8**
 * 33.Bd5+ Bf7**
 * 34.Ne7+ Kf8**
 * 35.Nec6**


 * 1-0**


 * Solution:** 1 Rxe6! wins the knight (1 ... fxe6 2 Bxe6+ Kg7 3 Qxd8)