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Leko and Adams Share Corus Lead

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Leko and Adams Share Corus Lead

Michael Adams defeated Veselin Topalov, while Peter Leko secured a draw with black against Ruslan Ponomariov to share the lead at the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk ann Zee. Adams and Leko each have 3 points after four rounds of play, a half-point more than Topalov, Ponomariov, Nigel Short and Alexander Grischuk.

Just as notable as the leaders are some of the players struggling early on. The most notable might be Viswanathan Anand with just 1.5 points so far. Anand lost his second round encounter with Peter Leko, and has managed just three draws. World Champion Vladimir Kramnik has also had trouble finding his form, losing in the second round to Topalov. He is currently tied for 7th with 2 points.

The field in the Corus A section features eight of the world's top ten players, including all of the players ranked second through eighth. Judit Polgar, although currently off the FIDE rating lists due to her inactivity in 2004, would be ranked 9th if she were included.

Here are the complete standings so far:

Adams, Michael................. 3.0
Leko, Peter........................ 3.0
Topalov, Veselin................ 2.5
Ponomariov, Ruslan........... 2.5
Short, Nigel....................... 2.5
Grischuk, Alexander.......... 2.5
Bruzon, Lazaro.................. 2.0
Van Wely, Loek................ 2.0
Kramnik, Vladimir............. 2.0
Polgar, Judit...................... 2.0
Anand, Viswanathan......... 1.5
Sokolov, Ivan................... 1.0
Svidler, Peter.................... 1.0
Morozevich, Alexander..... 0.5

The format for this tournament is a single round robin with several rest days. With nine rounds remaining, there will be plenty of opportunities for changes in the standings, although the players near the bottom of the field will need to win several games to get back into contention.

We will continue to provide updates on the Corus Chess Tournament A Group in the coming weeks. For now, here is Leko's win over Anand:

White: Anand, V (2786)
Black: Leko, P (2749)
Corus A, Round 2
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. c3 Bg7 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3 Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. O-O Ra7 17. a4 Ne7 18. Nxe7+ Rxe7 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bxb5 d5 21. Ra6 f4 22. Nc2 Bc8 23. Ra8 Qd6 24. Nb4 Bb7 25. Ra7 d4 26. Ba6 Bxg2 27. Bc4+ Kh8 28. Ra6 Qc5 29. Kxg2 f3+ 30. Kh1 Qxc4 31. Rc6 Qb5 32. Rd6 e4 33. Rxd4 Bxd4 34. Qxd4+ Qe5 35. Qxe5+ Rxe5 36. Nc2 Rb8 37. Ne3 Rc5 38. h3 Rxb2 39. c4 Rg5 40. Kh2 Kg8 41. h4 Rg6 42. Kh3 Kf7 43. Nf5 Rc2 44. Ne3 Rd2 45. c5 Ke6 46. c6 Rg8 47. c7 Rc8 48. Kg3 Rxc7 49. Kf4 Rd4 50. Ra1 Rf7+ 51. Kg3 Rd8 52. Ra6+ Ke5 53. Ng4+ Kd5 54. Nf6+ Rxf6 55. Rxf6 Ke5 56. Rh6 Rg8+ 57. Kh3 e3 0-1

Mamedyarov, Alexseev Lead Lower Corus Groups

While the super-GM filled A Group at Corus receives the most attention each year, Wijk aan Zee simultaneously hosts two other strong tournaments: the Corus B and C Groups. These tournaments allow rising stars to compete with strong grandmasters, and the winner of each group gets a chance to play in the next group up the following year. Last year, Lazaro Bruzon won his way into the 2005 A Group, while Magnus Carlsen made a name for himself by dominating the C Group.

This year's lower groups look to be as competitive as always. The B Group contains a number of stars - both young and established. Two of the tom female players in the world are playing: Antoaneta Stefanova and Alexandra Kosteniuk. Top youngsters Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin are in attendence, as is Peter Heine Nielsen, one of Denmark's top grandmasters. Alexander Onischuk, one of the top American players, is also competing.

Despite all the big names, the top seed and current leader is not a household name. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov currently leads with a score of 3.5 after four rounds, a half-point ahead of IM Daniel Stellwagen. Carlsen, Stefanova and Karjakin are part of a group a point back with 2.5.

Top-seeded Evgeny Alekseev leads the C Group with a score of 3.5. Closely following him at 3.0 are four players, including fellow favorite Alexey Korotylev, the only other player in the group rated over 2600. The biggest story in the early going may be the performance of Wouter Spoelman of the Netherlands, who is also part of the group at 3 points. Spoelman, rated 2381, is untitled and one of the lowest-rated members of the C Group. Despite this, he currently sits ahead of many masters and grandmasters, and has a great chance at earning a norm towards the IM or GM title.

Like the A Group, these tournaments are single round-robin events ending on January 30th. We will be providing continuing coverage of both of these groups in the coming weeks.