Chess

The Corus tournaments in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands, are in full swing with the eighth round finishing yesterday. GM Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia is in the lead in the elite A-group with 5 points. The English GM Nigel Short is at the top of the B-group with 5 1/2 points. The Swedish GM Tiger Hillarp Persson dominates the C-group with 6 points. The 13-round chess festival ends Sunday.

Punching Back

In a game from the B-group, the Czech GM David Navara pounced on an annoying anti-Grunfeld line with timely pawn sacrifices. It stopped white's kingside assault and forced the Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo Pons to defend a vulnerable position. In the end, black's initiative was too much for the Spaniard.

Vallejo Pons-Navara

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 (An anti-Grunfeld line played already by Alexander Alekhine in the world championship match against Efim Bogolyubov in 1929.) 3...d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 f5 10.h4!? (This violent attack, opening the h-file, looks dangerous, but black has good defensive resources.) 10...fxe4 11.h5 gxh5! 12.Rxh5 Bf5 13.Rg5 (White moves his rook to a danger zone, ready to shed the exchange. After 13.fxe4 comes 13...Bg4.) 13...Bg6 14.Nxe4 (Vallejo's surprise. The game Laznicka-Ponomariov, Carlsbad 2007, continued 14.Be2 e5 15.d5 Nd4 16.fxe4 c6 17. dxc6 Nxc6 18.Qe1 Qf6 19.Qg3 Nd4 20.Bh5 Bxh5 21.Rxh5 Rac8 and after 22.Kb1?, it finished with a merciless attack 22...Rxc3! 23.bxc3 Na4! 24.Bxd4 exd4 25.Kc2 Qf7 26.Rxd4 Qxa2+ 27.Kd3 Qb1+ 28.Kd2 Qb2+ and white resigned. It was the most brilliant game of the tournament. Navara also played in that event.) 14...e5 15.d5 Nd4 16.Nc3 (Indirectly protecting the d-pawn, since after 16...Nxd5? 17.Bxd4 wins.)

16...c6! (Counterpunching. Black finds an ingenious way to open files on the queenside.) 17.dxc6?! (Ignoring black's idea with 17.Bd3 can give white a slight edge after 17...cxd5 18.Bxg6 hxg6 19.Rxg6 Nc4 20.Qd3.) 17...Qc7 18.cxb7 Rab8! (Navara intends to capture the b-pawn with the rook, maintaining the pin along the c-file and creating two runways toward the white king.) 19.f4 (Undermining the knight on d4. After 19.Ba6 comes 19...Nc4 20.Bxc4+ Qxc4 21.b3 Qc6 22.Kb2 Qxb7, threatening 23...Nxb3 .) 19...Rfd8! (A nice rebuttal, threatening a discovery attack on the white queen. Suddenly, the game goes black's way.) 20.fxe5 Ne6! (The correct decision. Black picks up an exchange, preserving the bishop on g6. White was prepared to give up his queen 20...Nb3+ 21.axb3 Rxd2 22.Bxd2!? Qxb7 23.Nf3 with some compensation.) 21.Qe2 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1 Nxg5 23.Bxg5 Bxe5 24.Ba6 Bxc3 25.Qb3+ Nd5 (Keeping the queens on the board, although 25...Bf7 26.Qxc3 Nd5! 27.Qc4 [27.Qxc7 Nxc7 28.Bd 3 Bxa2!] 27...Rxb7! was good enough to win.) 26.Qxd5+ (After 26.bxc3 Bf7 27.Ne2 Qc6 28.Qa3 Nb4!29.Qxb4 Qxa6 black should also win.) 26...Bf7 27.Qf5 Bf 6+ 28.Kd1 Qd6+ 29.Kc1 Bxb2+! (Demolishing white's protective shield.) 30.Kxb2 Qxa6 31.Kc1 Qc6+ 32.Kd2 Qxg2+ 33.Ne2 Qd5+ (Exchanging into a clearly winning endgame.) 34.Qxd5 Bxd5 35.a4 Rxb7 36.a5 Kf7 37.Be3 Rb2+ 38.Ke1 a6 39.Bb6 h5 40.Nf4 Bf3 41.Nd3 Re2+ 42.Kf1 h4 43.Bd4 Bh5 44.Bf2 h3 45.Nf4 h2. White resigned.

Solution to today's two-mover by C.G. Campbell (White: Kf2,Qf6,Bh7; Black: Kg4,P:g5): 1.Qh8 Kh3 2.Bf5 mate; or 1...Kf4 2.Qd4 mate.