Wijk aan Zee 2009

Warming up for Wijk – or regaining one's drive16.01.2009 – There are plenty of super-GM tournaments these days – so many, in fact, that even the most enthusiastic chess fans may start to lose their natural enthusiasm. But there are a few that never fail to interest, and one of them starts on Saturday, in the windswept Dutch seaside town of Wijk aan Zee. We will provide full and spectacular coverage on Playchess. Steve Giddins gets us in the mood.

 Wijk R01: Top seeds Ivanchuk, Morozevich falter17.01.2009 – Vassily Ivanchuk will be howling at the moon tonight. In an essentially drawn position, one move before the time control, the top seed in the A-Group overstepped and handed the point over to a pleasantly surprised Jan Smeets. Third seed Alexander Morozevich was taken to the cleaners by the former boy prodigy Sergey Karjakin. We bring you pictures, games and comments.

 Are you ready? Wijk aan Zee starts on Saturday17.01.2009 – The players have arrived in the Dutch seaside town, the opening ceremony has been conducted, and the pairings of all three groups are now available. The games start on Saturday, January 17th at 13:30. You can watch them live on the official web site and the Playchess server. Jeroen van den Belt provides us with pictorial impressions from the opening day.

 Wijk R02: Ivanchuk, Morozevich strike back18.01.2009 – After their shock losses in round one the top seeds Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Morozevich struck back. The Ukrainian player defeated Wang Yue in just 25 moves, after the Chinese GM's opening preparation went catastrophically wrong, while Morozevich produced the first defeat of a Dutch player – Loek van Wely – in this year's event. Full report with pictures and annotated games.

 Wijk R01: More pictorial impressions from day one18.01.2009 – There are three "GM tournaments" in Wijk aan Zee, with a total of 37 grandmasters, two IMs, one WGM and two FMs. Two of the 42 players are female, two are just 14 years old. Naturally the top section attracts the greatest attention, but we don't want to ignore totally the other interesting participants. For starters we bring you players, biographies and a video report.

 Wijk R04: Drawfest before the day of rest20.01.2009 – It is often seen in GM tournaments: the play before a rest day tends to be quiet, caution is the order of the day. In the fourth round of Wijk aan Zee 2009 all seven games of the A-Group were drawn, five of them quietly. But the encounter Carlsen vs Aronian, with a miracle escape by the Armenian GM, fired everyone's imagination. We bring you extensive live annotations by GM Sergey Shipov.

 Wijk R03: Ivanchuk, Morozevich lose in roller coaster event20.01.2009 – First round the top seeds Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Morozevich both lost their games, then both won in round two. Today Morozevich was defeated by Gata Kamsky, who played a very convincing game. Vassily Ivanchuk lost in his trademark heart-wrenching style to Teimour Radjabov. After three rounds five players lead, with 2.0/3. We bring you a full report with commentary, pictures and videos.

 Wijk R05: Dominguez defeats Morozevich, Karjakin leads22.01.2009 – Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez administered a crushing defeat to the number three seed Alexander Morozevich, while Aronian, Karjakin and van Wely won their games against Movsesian, Stellwagen and Radjabov respecively. This leaves Karjakin in the sole lead with 3.5/5, and as fate would have it, tomorrow he faces his main age-group rival Magnus Carlsen. Report with annotated games.

 Wijk aan Zee rest day – slumming it22.01.2009 – It is one of the strongest super-tournaments in the world, but Wijk is also a chess festival with almost 2000 participants competing in all kinds of events. The B and C Groups are GM tournaments which could be the main attraction in many other chess festivals. We use the rest day to "slum it" a bit and take a look at the great chess and players from these groups. With pictures by Fred Lucas.

 Wijk R06: Karjakin escapes Carlsen, leads A-Group23.01.2009 – In the clash of the prodigy rivals Magnus Carlsen played aggressively and imaginatively, and has Sergey Karjakin on the ropes. But at the critical moment he didn't heed the advice of Emanuel Lasker (see report) and threw away the win. Adams beat Wang Yue, Morozevich lost to Movsesian, and Radjabov beat Kamsky. Report, annotated games, and a young photographer's impressions from Wijk.

 Wijk R07: Movsesian beats Ivanchuk, joins Karjakin in the lead24.01.2009 – After beating the third seed yesterday Sergei Movsesian today downed top seed Vassily Ivanchuk with the black pieces. Jan Smeets blundered at the end of a tough game to give Morozevich a win. Daniel Stellwagen somehow wriggled his way out of a dead lost position against Gata Kamsky to salvage a draw. In group B Nigel Short leads after defeating Rustam Kasimdzanov. Round seven report.

 Wijk R08: Ivanchuk beats Karjakin, Wang beats Morozevich25.01.2009 – Yesterday the young Ukrainian GM Sergey Karjakin led the A-Group in Wijk. Today he lost to the experienced Ukraining GM Vassily Ivanchuk and dropped to place five. Alexander Morozevich, the world's number five player, continued his losing streak and is now alone in last place, with a dismal 2.5/8. In the C-Group the oldest player, Oleg Romanishin, lost to the youngest, Anish Giri. Report.

 Impressions from Wijk – Round Seven25.01.2009 – Our daily reports contain a lot of chess. But we have been frugal with the visuals, bearing in mind the admonition of a young GM that we were publishing too many pictures "of us players, from the front, from the side, from above, from below, thinking, not thinking." To compensate here are some unusual visual impressions from Wijk by Dutch photographer Frits Agterdenbos. Feast your eyes.

 Wijk R09: Karjakin, Aronian, Dominguez win and lead27.01.2009 – Sergey Karjakin defeated yesterday's leader Sergei Movsesian; Levon Aronian beat Gata Kamsky with black; and the new Cuban star Leinier Dominguez defeated Daniël Stellwagen – with that all three winners rose to the leading 1–3 spot, with 5.5/9 points. Magnus Carlsen still hasn't won a game, Alexander Morozevich is at the bottom of the table. Report with videos and pictures by Fred Lucas.

 Wijk aan Zee rest day – we went slumming again27.01.2009 – On the second free day in Wijk we again take a look at the "lower" groups – each of which itself could be an attractive main tournament. Nigel Short leads alone in the B-Group, with 5.5/8 and a 2774 performance – but it was David Navara who won an Expert's Prize for his fine sixth-round win against Vallejo. In the C-Group Tiger Hillarp Persson is a full point ahead. Pictures by Fred Lucas.

 Wijk R10: Aronian, Carlsen win, Aronian leads28.01.2009 – Armenian GM Levon Aronian broke the three-way tie for leadership in Wijk aan Zee by grinding down England's Michael Adams and taking sole first place in the tables. Magnus Carlsen scored his first victory in this event, over Cuban Leinier Dominguez, to move into third. The most exciting game was the furious draw between Radjabov and Smeets. Report, videos and pictures by Fred Lucas.

 Wijk free day: Statistics and Slumming (part three)30.01.2009 – There are three rounds left in Wijk aan Zee, and in each of the three groups there is a sole leader by half a point. The shortest game so far was a 12-move draw, the longest a 99-move win by the youngest player (with black) against the oldest. The best performance so far is 2826 (by Aronian), and the most points above the nominal rating was +138 (by Bosboom). Free day report.

 Anish Giri, 14, makes his final GM norm31.01.2009 – Who is the world's youngest grandmaster? The correct answer, as of today, is Anish Giri, a Nepalese-Russian lad who lives in Holland. Anish completed his final GM norm on Saturday by beating GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela. The lad is 14 years, 7 months and two days old – a pleasantly precocious, independent, quadrolingual lad. We have some great Wijk aan Zee pictures by John Nunn.

 Wijk R11: Dominguez beats Aronian, Kamsky, Movsesian, Radjabov win31.01.2009 – Levon Aronian can forget about cruising to victory in Wijk aan Zee. Today he suffered a shock loss against the Cuban GM Leinier Dominguez. Gata Kamsky clobbered Sergey Karjakin on the white side of a Slav. Movsesian beat van Wely and Radjabov beat Wang Yue. Aronian, Radjabov, Dominguez and Movsesian lead after eleven rounds, with Carlsen and Karjakin in hot pursuit. Pictorial report.

 Wijk R13: Sergey Karjakin wins Wijk aan Zee 200901.02.2009 – A very dramatic final round saw the Ukrainian star Sergey Karjakin defeat Leinier Dominguez with black to go into the lead. Magnus Carlsen had chances against Wang Yue, but threw away the game. With that Karjakin had the sole victory in his pocket. In Group B it was Fabiano Caruana and in Group C Wesley So who took first place. Full illustrated report.

 Wijk R12: after the penultimate round – too close to call01.02.2009 – Incredible: one round before the end six players are in the joint lead, with 7.0/12. The talk of the town was Magnus Carlsen, who won his game and joined his previous year's co-winner in Wijk, Levon Aronian in the lead. In Group B Nigel Short and Rustam Kasimdzhanov battle it out for first place, and in Group C the two youngest players lead. The final round starts on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.!