Games: Chess

The last round at Tilburg produced two fine games and one extraordinary blunder in the games affecting first prize. We start with the blunder. The game Lautier-Kasparov reached the diagram position when Lautier played 1.Rc7 and offered a draw. Kasparov accepted, and only later noticed that Lautier's final move had been a total blunder. 1 ... c5! wins a pawn after 2.b5 Rb8 or a piece after 2.bxc5 Rb8. Almost any other plausible move for White in the diagram position would have led to a draw, and Kasparov did not stop to check that 1.Rc7?? was any different.

That result gave two players a chance to catch Kasparov, which they both gratefully accepted. Kramnik allowed van Wely the chance of a tempting combination which rebounded badly on the Dutchman. After 16 ... Qd4, White must avoid 17.Bxa8? Qxf2+ 18.Kh1 Ng4 19.Bg2 Qg1+! 20.Rxg1 Nf2 mate, but the calm 17.Bf3! kept White on top. At the end, there was no defence to the threat of Bxe6.

White: Vladimir Kramnik

Black: Loek van Wely

1 Nf3 Nf6 18 Kh1 Rac8

2 c4 b6 19 Rf1 Qd4

3 g3 Bb7 20 Rad1 Qb4

4 Bg2 e6 21 a3 Qb5

5 0-0 Be7 22 Qf5 Qa4

6 d4 0-0 23 e4 Qc2

7 Re1 d5 24 Rd2 Qc4

8 cxd5 exd5 25 Rfd1 Qe6

9 Nc3 Nbd7 26 Qxe6 fxe6

10 Bf4 Ne4 27 e5 Ne8

11 Qc2 c5 28 Bg4 Nc7

12 dxc5 Bxc5 29 b4 Be7

13 Nxe4 dxe4 30 Rd7 Rf7

14 Ng5 Nf6 31 Rc1 Bf8

15 Nxe4 Bxe4 32 Rxf7 Kxf7

16 Bxe4 Qd4 33 Rc6 resigns

17 Bf3 Qxf2+

Svidler then made it a triple tie for first with the following game. His temporary piece sacrifice at move 23 elegantly exploited White's overstretched position, and his final combination, returning the extra pawn with 33 ... Ne7 was energetic and very well calculated. At the end, 39.gxh6 Bf6 is mate, and there is no defence to the threats of 39 ... Nf5+ 40.Kh3 Nd6+ and 39 ... Ng2+ 40.Qxg2 Qg4 mate.

White: Alexander Onischuk

Black: Peter Svidler

1 e4 c5 21 Qb3 Bg7

2 Nf3 d6 22 Rge1 Nb6

3 d4 cxd4 23 Red1 Nexc4

4 Nxd4 Nf6 24 Bxc4 Re4

5 Nc3 a6 25 Qf3 Rxd4

6 Be2 e5 26 Rxd4 Bxd4

7 Nb3 Be7 27 Bb3 Rxc1

8 0-0 0-0 28 Bxc1 Qc8

9 Kh1 Qc7 29 Bf4 Qf5

10 g4 Be6 30 Kg2 Nc8

11 g5 Nfd7 31 Bd2 Qe5

12 f4 exf4 32 Bf4 Qe1

13 Bxf4 Nc6 33 a3 Ne7

14 Nd5 Bxd5 34 Bxd6 Nf5

15 exd5 Nce5 35 Bg3 Ne3+

16 Nd4 g6 36 Kh3 Qc3

17 c4 Rfe8 37 Qe4 Qc8+

18 Rc1 Rac8 38 Kh4 h5

19 b4 Qd8 White resigned

20 Rg1 Bf8