CHESS

Teenagers dominated the Corus chess festival in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. In the elite A-group, six grandmasters shared first place before yesterday's final round, but only Sergei Karjakin, 19, was able to win the last game and leap out of the crowd. The Ukrainian GM scored 8 points in 13 games, edging Levon Aronian of Armenia, Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan and Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia by a half point. The American Gata Kamsky ended with 6 1/2 points. In the B-group, Fabiano Caruana, 16, took first place, defeating England's Nigel Short in the last round. The Italian GM scored 8 1/2 -4 1/2 . GM Wesley So of the Philippines, 15, won the C-group with a 9 1/2 -3 1/2 score.

A Chinese Storm

Last year, a 13-year-old Chinese girl, Hou Yifan, smashed Short in a mere 23 moves. This year, playing in the B-group, she punished Francisco Vallejo Pons, after one of the best Spanish grandmasters went pawn-hunting in the Rossolimo Sicilian. Hou, now 14, used plenty of imagination and tactical skill in her brilliant victory. The Chinese grandmaster finished the tournament with a respectable 6-7 score.

Hou-Vallejo Pons

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 (A delayed Rossolimo Sicilian.) 4...g6 5.e5 Ng4 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.h3 Nh6 8.g4 Bg7 9.d3 f5 10.exf6 exf6 11.Qe2+! Kf7 (Trying to improve on 11...Qe7 12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 13.Be3 b6 14.0-0-0, followed by 15.d4, with white's advantage.) 12.Be3 Re8 13.0-0-0 Kg8 14.d4! (Accelerating through the center, Hou brings all her pieces into play.) 14...cxd4 15.Nxd4 Qc7 16.Rhe1 Nf7 17.Qc4 Qh2?! (Black defends against the threat 18.Ndb5 by going pawn hunting. After 17...Bd7 18.Ndb5 Qd8 19.Nd6 Be6 20.Nxe8 Qxd1+ 21.Rxd1 Bxc4 22.Nxg7 Kxg7 23.Rd7, white is clearly better.)

18.Nce2! (A marvelous two-pawn sacrifice, calculated by the Chinese girl with clockwork precision. The threat is to trap the queen with 19.Nf4 and 20.Nf3.) 18...Qxh3? (Accepting the challenge, but the queen should have returned, although after 18...Qe5 19.Nf4 Bd7 20.Nd3 Qc7 21.Nc5, white has the edge.) 19.Nf4 Qxg4 20.Rg1 Qd7 (The queen is back home, but the fun is only beginning. After 20...Qh4? 21.Nf3 Qh6 22.Rh1, the black queen is lost.) 21.Nde6 Qe7? (Loses by force. Black misses the last chance to stay in the game. After 21...b5! 22.Qc3 Qxd1+! 23.Rxd1 Bxe6 24.Qxc6, white is better, but black can still resist.) 22.Nxg7 (Making the dark squares around the king fatally weak.) 22...Kxg7 23.Nh5+ Kh8 (After 23...Kg8 24.Qh4 g5 25.Nxf6+! Qxf6 26.Bxg5, white's attack decides soon.) 24.Bc5 Qe6 (After 24...Ne5 25.Qf4 Qf7 26.Nxf6, threatening 27.Bd4, wins.)

25.Rge1! (Finishing the Spaniard with beautiful jabs.) 25...Qxe1 (After 25...Qxc4 26.Rxe8 mates; and after 25...Ne5 26.Qxe6 Bxe6 27.Nxf6 Nf3 28.Re3, white wins.) 26.Qxf7! Qxd1+ (After 26...gxh5 27.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 28.Kd2 Rg1 29.Qxf6+ Rg7 30.Qd8+ Rg8 31.Bd4 mates.) 27.Kxd1 Bg4+ 28.Kd2 Rad8+ (After 28...Bxh5 comes 29.Qxf6+ Kg8 30.Bd4, threatening 31.Qg7 mate.) 29.Kc3 Bxh5 30.Bd4! (Threatening 31.Bxf6 mate.) 30...Rxd4 31.Qxe8+ Black resigned.

Solution to today's study by D. Gurgenidze (White: Kg6,Qa6,Rc2,P:e6; Black: Kh8,Qd8,Bc5,Nb7,P:a2): 1.Rh2+ Kg8 2.Qf1! Qd3+! (or 2...Bf2! 3.Rh8+! Kxh8 4.Qa1+! Qd4 5.e7! Nd6 6.Qh1+ Bh4 7.Qa8+ wins; or 2...Qe8+ 3.Qf7+!) 3.Qxd3 a1Q 4.Rh8+! Qxh8 (or 4...Kxh8 5.Qh3+ wins) 5.Qd7! Nd8 6.Qe8+! Bf8 7.Qf7+! Nxf7 8.exf7 mate.