Report on the 2010 Corus Chess Tournament

In round 6 of the 2010 Corus Chess Tournament, Alexei Shirov was forced to settle for a draw against Nigel Short. Shirov’s remarkable win streak came to a soft ending. Short remarked to reporters, “I stopped the unstoppable machine!”

[Event “Corus”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee”]
[Date “2010.01.22”]
[EventDate “2010.01.16”]
[Round “6”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[White “Shirov”]
[Black “Short”]
[ECO “C96”]
[WhiteElo “?”]
[BlackElo “?”]
[PlyCount “2”]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Nd7 12.Nbd2 exd4 13.cxd4 Re8 14.b3 Nc6 15.Bb2 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Nxd4 17.Bxd4 Bb7 18.a4 Bf6 19.Nf3 bxa4 20.Rxa4 Rc8 21.Bd3 Nc5 22.Bxc5 Rxc5 23.Bxa6 Bc6 24.Rc4 Rxc4 25.Bxc4 Rxe4 26.Rxe4 Bxe4 27.Bd5 Bxf3 28.Qxf3 Qe7 29.g3 g6 30.b4 Bd4 31.Kg2  1/2-1/2

In Round 7, Shirov was shocked by a loss at the hands of Nakamura. Nakamura raised hopes in his fans that an American could win the Corus Chess Tournament.

[Event “Corus”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee”]
[Date “2010.01.23”]
[EventDate “2010.01.16”]
[Round “7”]
[Result “1-0”]
[White “Nakamura”]
[Black “Shirov”]
[ECO “B33”]
[WhiteElo “?”]
[BlackElo “?”]
[PlyCount “2”]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Na3 f5 10.Nc4 Nd4 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.Ne3 Bg6 13.Ncd5 Bh6 14.c3 Ne6 15.Bd3 Bxe3 16.Nxe3 Qb6 17.O-O Nf4 18.Be2 Rg8 19.Bf3 Nh3+ 20.Kh1 Nxf2+ 21.Rxf2 Qxe3 22.Bxb7 Rb8 23.Re2 Qb6 24.Bd5 Rg7 25.Qd2 f5 26.Rf1 Kd7 27.b4 f4 28.a4 a5 29.b5 Rd8 30.g3 fxg3 31.hxg3 Kc8 32.c4 Kb8 33.Rf6 Re7 34.Kh2 e4 35.Qc3 Rc8 36.Re3 Ka7 37.Bc6 Rd8 38.c5 dxc5 39.Bxe4 Rd6 40.Rxd6 Qxd6 41.Qxa5+  1-0

In Round 8, Nakamura had a major set back. Loosing to Kramnik forced him to fall two places in the standings and caused many supporters to give up on the hope that he could actually win the Corus Chess Tournament. I should not have to remind all the fair weather fans that it is perfectly acceptable for Nakamura to take a loss with the black pieces against a player as strong as Kramnik. Nakamura’s day will come and it still could happen this January.

[Event “Corus”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee”]
[Date “2010.01.24”]
[EventDate “2010.01.16”]
[Round “8”]
[Result “1-0”]
[White “Kramnik”]
[Black “Nakamura”]
[ECO “A88”]
[WhiteElo “?”]
[BlackElo “?”]
[PlyCount “2”]

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nc3 O-O 6.Nf3 d6 7.O-O c6 8.Rb1 Ne4 9.Qc2 Nxc3 10.bxc3 e5 11.Rd1 e4 12.Ng5 h6 13.Nh3 g5 14.f3 d5 15.Nf2 Kh8 16.cxd5 cxd5 17.c4 e3 18.Nd3 Nc6 19.Bxe3 Nxd4 20.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 21.Kh1 f4 22.Rb5 Qf6 23.Rxd5 Be6 24.Nxf4 gxf4 25.R5xd4 fxg3 26.hxg3 Rg8 27.Rf4 Qg5 28.Rh4 Rg6 29.Qc3+ Kh7 30.f4 Qxg3 31.Qxg3 Rxg3 32.Bxb7 Rb8 33.Be4+ Kg7 34.Kh2 Re3 35.Rg1+ Kf7 36.Bg6+ Ke7 37.Bd3 Rb2 38.Rg2 Rxa2 39.Rxh6 Bf7 40.Rh7 Kf6 41.c5 Ra4 42.c6 Rxf4 43.c7 Re8 44.Rxf7+  1-0

Here are the current standings of the Corus 2010 Chess Tournament:

1.    A. Shirov    6
2.    M. Carlsen
V. Kramnik    5½
4.    H. Nakamura    5
5.    S. Karjakin
L. Dominguez
P. Leko
V. Ivanchuk    4½
9.    V. Anand    4
10.    F. Caruana    3½
11.    S. Tiviakov
N. Short    2½
13.    L. van Wely    2
14.    J. Smeets    1½

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