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Corus Chess 2010: Americans Shine Brightly and Fade

For the first time in recent history, American chess players were commanding respect and attention in Wijk aan Zee.  Hats off to Hikaru Nakamura and Ray Robson for shining bright enough that the chess world took notice. Unfortunately for the American chess fans, it appears that our two rising stars have been swallowed by the black hole residing in round nine. Nakamura was issued his second loss in two games and is now tied for fifth. Meanwhile in the “C” section, Robson took a loss to top rated Li Chao and fell down to second place a half game back of Chao.  GM Robson appears to be running out of steam but remains in striking distance. Below are the dissappointing round nine performances from our American contingent in Wijk aan Zee. Also included is Vladimir Kramnik’s stunner over top rated Magnus Carlsen.  Kramnik has back to back wins over the very dangerous Nakamura and Carlsen. He is now tied for first with Alexei Shirov.

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2010.01.26"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Hi Nakamura"]
[Black "Sergey Karjakin"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2708"]
[BlackElo "2720"]
[PlyCount "96"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. g3 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Ne4 7. Qd3 Nxc3
8. bxc3 Be7 9. Bg2 O-O 10. O-O d6 11. Rd1 a6 12. Nb3 Qc7 13. Bf4 e5 14. Be3
Nd7 15. Nd2 f5 16. Rab1 Rb8 17. Ba7 Ra8 18. Be3 Rb8 19. Ba7 Ra8 20. Bd5+
Kh8 21. Qe3 Nf6 22. Bb6 Qd7 23. f4 Qe8 24. Nf3 Qh5 25. Kh1 Re8 26. Qg1 Nxd5
27. cxd5 Bf6 28. Qf2 Bd7 29. c4 Rac8 30. Rdc1 h6 31. e3 Re7 32. c5 exf4 33.
gxf4 dxc5 34. Bxc5 Re4 35. Rxb7 Bb5 36. Qg2 Rc4 37. Rg1 Rc2 38. Qg3 Be2 39.
Ne1 R2xc5 40. e4 fxe4 41. Rxg7 Bf3+ 42. Nxf3 Qxf3+ 43. Qxf3 exf3 44. R7g6
Bg7 45. Rxa6 Rc1 46. Rc6 Rxg1+ 47. Kxg1 Bd4+ 48. Kh1 Rb8 0-1

[Event "Corus (C Group)"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2010.01.26"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Li Chao2"]
[Black "R Robson"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2604"]
[BlackElo "2570"]
[PlyCount "68"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8.
Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. h4 Ne5 11. Bb3 h5 12. O-O-O Rc8 13. Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1
b5 15. g4 hxg4 16. h5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Nf6 18. Bh6 Nxd5 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Qh6+
Kf6 21. exd5 Nxf3 22. Ne2 e5 23. dxe6 Bxe6 24. Qf4+ Rf5 25. Qxg4 Kg7 26.
Bxe6 fxe6 27. Nd4 Nxd4 28. Qxd4+ e5 29. Qxa7+ R8f7 30. Qe3 Qg5 31. Qd3 Qf6
32. a3 Rf2 33. Qh3 Qf5 34. Qh8+ 1-0

[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee, Ned"]
[Date "2010.01.26"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Carlsen"]
[Black "Kramnik"]
[ECO "E04"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "2"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.Nc3 O-O 8.a3 Be7
 9.Qa4 c6 10.Qxc4 b5 11.Qb3 Ba6 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Qc2 b4 15.Na4 Rc8
 16.O-O c5 17.d5 exd5 18.Bh3 Bb5 19.axb4 axb4 20.Rfd1 d4 21.Bf5 Ne5 22.Bxh7+ Kg7
 23.Nxe5 fxe5 24.Bf5 Rc6 25.Qe4 Rh8 26.Qxe5+ Bf6 27.Qe4 Re8 28.Qg4+ Kf8 29.Be4 c4
 30.Bxc6 Bxc6 31.Qh5 Re5 32.Qh6+ Ke7 33.e4 d3 34.Qe3 Bxe4 35.Nb6 Bb7 36.Qf4 Qxb6
 37.Qxc4 Re2 38.Rf1  0-1

Published by chessmusings

Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.

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