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Leko Edges Anand for Corus Crown

Peter Leko grabbed a late lead and held on to win the 2005 Corus A Group Championship, scoring 8.5 out of 13 rounds. Viswanathan Anand finished a close second with 8.0 points.

Anand, who stuggled early in the tournament, rallied back to contention with a series of strong performances. Heading into the final round, it appeared that he may have a chance to catch Leko, as Anand was paired against Ivan Sokolov, who had a terrible tournament, finishing last. Meanwhile, Leko had a potentially dangerous matchup against Judit Polgar. In her first major event in over a year, Polgar played impressively, finishing in a tie for fourth at 7 points.

The first game to end was Leko's. Playing white, and needing only a draw to clinch a tie for first, it seemed unlikely that Anand could pass him.

White: Leko, P (2749)
Black: Polgar, J (2728)
Corus A, Round 13
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. a3 Bb7 5. Nc3 d5 6. cxd5 Nxd5 7. Bd2 Nd7 8. Nxd5 exd5 9. g3 Bd6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Rc1 c6 13. Bh3 O-O 14. O-O Nf6 15. b4 a5 16. Ne5 axb4 17. axb4 Qxb4 18. Nxc6 Bxc6 19. Rxc6 Ne4 20. Qb1 Qxd4 21. Qxb6 Qxb6 22. Rxb6 1/2-1/2

After the quick draw, Anand could only share first with a win over Sokolov. The task would be more difficult than normal though; despite his bad run at Corus, Sokolov had a reputation as being difficult to beat when he held the white pieces:

White: Sokolov, I (2685)
Black: Polgar, J (2786)
Corus A, Round 13
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. Bd2 O-O 10. Ne4 Nxe4 11. Bxe4 Bb7 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. b4 Qe7 14. Qb3 e5 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. Qb1 g6 18. O-O Qd6 19. Bc3 Bxh2+ 20. Kh1 Be5 21. Rfd1 Qe7 22. Bxe5 Qxe5 23. Rd7 Rc7 24. Rd2 Qe7 25. Bf3 Rd8 26. Rxd8+ Qxd8 27. Qb2 Rd7 28. Kg1 Rd2 29. Qc3 Qd6 30. a3 Rd3 31. Qa1 h5 32. a4 a6 33. axb5 axb5 34. Qa7 Qd7 35. Qb8+ Kg7 36. Qe5+ f6 37. Qb8 Rd6 38. Ra1 Qe7 39. Ra7 Rd7 40. g3 Bc8 41. Ra1 Rc7 42. Rc1 Bb7 43. Rc5 Qd6 44. Bd5 Bc8 45. Qb6 Bb7 46. Rxb5 Rd7 47. Rc5 cxd5 48. Qxd6 1/2-1/2

The key game of the tournament was likely Leko's early win over Anand, which provided the half-point cushion he needed in the end. Veselin Topalov, who held the lead for most of the tournament, finished in 3rd with 7.5 points.

Here are the complete final standings:

Leko, Peter........................ 8.5
Anand, Viswanathan......... 8.0
Topalov, Veselin................ 7.5
Adams, Michael................. 7.0
Kramnik, Vladimir............. 7.0
Polgar, Judit...................... 7.0
Grischuk, Alexander.......... 7.0
Van Wely, Loek................ 6.5
Ponomariov, Ruslan........... 6.5
Bruzon, Lazaro.................. 6.5
Svidler, Peter.................... 6.0
Short, Nigel....................... 5.5
Morozevich, Alexander..... 4.5
Sokolov, Ivan................... 3.5

Karjakin Surges to Win B Group; Georgiev Takes C Group Title

Ukrainian GM Sergey Karjakin surged past Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Jan Smeets to win the Corus B Group by a full point with an impressive 9.5/13 score. For his efforts, Karjakin will get to compete in the A Group at next year's event.

Karjakin, only 14, has been making waves in the last few months with a string of impressive performances, including a dominating tournament at the Chess Olympiads. Karjakin helped the Ukrainian national team win the gold medal, and he picked up a medal for his individual play as well.

Other big names did not fare quite as well in the event. Young sensation Magnus Carlsen, who won the C group last year, had a solid effort; he scored 7 points to finish in 7th place. Antoaneta Stefanova and Alexandra Kosteniuk, two of the top female players in the world, finished 9th and 10th respectively.

In the C Group, Vladimir Georgiev put up an amazing 10.5 points, and still only held off the field by a half-point to take first place. Alexey Korotylev and Natalia Zhukova kept the pressure on until the last round, each scoring 10 points in this highly competitive group. Georgiev earns a place in next year's B group, as does IM Erwin L'Ami, the highest placed player from the Netherlands. L'Ami finished 4th overall with 9 points.