In group B two of the three leaders lost their game yesterday. Bologan was not able to keep a draw position and lost against Sargissian. The top game between Vachier-Lagrave and Eljanov resulted in a victory for the latter. Especially the way the Frenchman lost, he won't forget easily. In group C leader Nepomniachtchi won his game against Brynell, after a lot of manoeuvring in a French opening. His rival, Krasenkow, gratefully accepted a dubious pawn sacrifice of Jonkman and won the endgame easily. Because of this Nepomniachtchi's margin is still only one point. Enjoy the game fragments.
"^Reports^^^1169920483^1314786230^jerrel
"Live reporting: round 12"^"
Last update: 18.40 CET (video online!)The most important round of the tournament has started. Of course, all attention is focused on the game Topalov-Kramnik. Before the game there was some speculation about whether there would be a handshake or not. We've got it on tape: there wasn't. (Video is uploaded as soon as possible.) It's total craziness in Wijk aan Zee at the moment, with press, television crews all over the place. More about that later.
What about the game itself? Kramnik surprised many by playing the Queen's Gambit Declined (instead of Slav/Meran Defence like in recent the Topalov-Kramnik WC match). A very sharp position with opposite castling is now on the board. There's not much theory about this line, so we'll see what the players come up with.
Carlsen-Karjakin is a theoretical discussion in the Open Ruy Lopez. Navara-Pono seems to be about equal. Svidler played his beloved Grunfeld defence against Loek van Wely, who also knows the opening very well. We predict a draw ;-)
Radjabov again shows great faith in the King's Indian Defence. Motylev tries to break it with gentle means, but the current position is very unclear. Tivi plays safety first again. Aronian has solved all his problems in the anti-Marshall. More later.
Update 14.47 CET: We present you the (already historic) footage of the start of Topalov-Kramnik!
Update 15.52 CET Loek has won! Our prediction clearly didn't come out, but of course we don't care for the moment :-) Tiviakov has played a draw, this is obviously the surprise of the day... (Of course, drawing Anand is actually quite good.) The game between supertalents Karjakin and Carlsen looks very exciting. We hope to have the movie of the press conference by Loek van Wely online soon! According to Loek, Black's ..Bxh6 was wrong in any case.
Update 17.10 CET It seems Kramnik and Topalov can start shaking hands any minute now (figuratively speaking). The same is happening with Karjakin and Carlsen, who just drew. Motylev and Radjabov are yet to begin the real game, and Ponomariov will face a tough afternoon. By the way, very curious was the draw between Atalik and Werle, all 16 pawns were still on the board.
Update 17.28 CET The press conference of Loek van Wely is online. Click
here to check out Loek's story. In the meantime, Radjabov has won.
Update 18.10 CET The draw between Topalov and Kramnik arose in a completely bizarre way. After move 44 it was clear the position was dead drawn. What would happen now? Topalov was thinking, Kramnik was walking around. Who would be the first to call it a day? A pair of knights was exchanged. Kramnik looked up for a second. Topalov nodded. Kramnik took his scoresheet and signed it. While the arbiter was putting the kings in the middle of the board, the scoresheets were exchanged. Kramnik immediately left the building, Topalov was caught by a number of journalists. He answered some questions (images soon to be uploaded), and after that he too left 'De Moriaan', with Cheparinov, but without Danailov. A historical moment!
Update 18.40 CET A quick reaction by Topalov straight after the game in this video:
In group B two of the three leaders lost their game yesterday. Bologan was not able to keep a draw position and lost against Sargissian. The top game between Vachier-Lagrave and Eljanov resulted in a victory for the latter. Especially the way the Frenchman lost, he won't forget easily. In group C leader Nepomniachtchi won his game against Brynell, after a lot of manoeuvring in a French opening. His rival, Krasenkow, gratefully accepted a dubious pawn sacrifice of Jonkman and won the endgame easily. Because of this Nepomniachtchi's margin is still only one point. Enjoy the game fragments. "^Reports^^^1169920483^1314786230^jerrel
"Live reporting: round 12"^"
Last update: 18.40 CET (video online!)The most important round of the tournament has started. Of course, all attention is focused on the game Topalov-Kramnik. Before the game there was some speculation about whether there would be a handshake or not. We've got it on tape: there wasn't. (Video is uploaded as soon as possible.) It's total craziness in Wijk aan Zee at the moment, with press, television crews all over the place. More about that later.
What about the game itself? Kramnik surprised many by playing the Queen's Gambit Declined (instead of Slav/Meran Defence like in recent the Topalov-Kramnik WC match). A very sharp position with opposite castling is now on the board. There's not much theory about this line, so we'll see what the players come up with.
Carlsen-Karjakin is a theoretical discussion in the Open Ruy Lopez. Navara-Pono seems to be about equal. Svidler played his beloved Grunfeld defence against Loek van Wely, who also knows the opening very well. We predict a draw ;-)
Radjabov again shows great faith in the King's Indian Defence. Motylev tries to break it with gentle means, but the current position is very unclear. Tivi plays safety first again. Aronian has solved all his problems in the anti-Marshall. More later.Update 14.47 CET: We present you the (already historic) footage of the start of Topalov-Kramnik!
Update 15.52 CET Loek has won! Our prediction clearly didn't come out, but of course we don't care for the moment :-) Tiviakov has played a draw, this is obviously the surprise of the day... (Of course, drawing Anand is actually quite good.) The game between supertalents Karjakin and Carlsen looks very exciting. We hope to have the movie of the press conference by Loek van Wely online soon! According to Loek, Black's ..Bxh6 was wrong in any case.Update 17.10 CET It seems Kramnik and Topalov can start shaking hands any minute now (figuratively speaking). The same is happening with Karjakin and Carlsen, who just drew. Motylev and Radjabov are yet to begin the real game, and Ponomariov will face a tough afternoon. By the way, very curious was the draw between Atalik and Werle, all 16 pawns were still on the board. Update 17.28 CET The press conference of Loek van Wely is online. Click here to check out Loek's story. In the meantime, Radjabov has won.Update 18.10 CET The draw between Topalov and Kramnik arose in a completely bizarre way. After move 44 it was clear the position was dead drawn. What would happen now? Topalov was thinking, Kramnik was walking around. Who would be the first to call it a day? A pair of knights was exchanged. Kramnik looked up for a second. Topalov nodded. Kramnik took his scoresheet and signed it. While the arbiter was putting the kings in the middle of the board, the scoresheets were exchanged. Kramnik immediately left the building, Topalov was caught by a number of journalists. He answered some questions (images soon to be uploaded), and after that he too left 'De Moriaan', with Cheparinov, but without Danailov. A historical moment! Update 18.40 CET A quick reaction by Topalov straight after the game in this video:
