Chess

The final round at Wijk aan Zee provided fine entertainment. When play began, Jeroen Piket and Valery Salov shared the lead, half a point ahead of Ivan Sokolov. Salov, as White against Korchnoi, made the mistake of playing for safety and rapidly found himself a pawn down in an endgame. Piket was struggling against Yermolinsky, and eventually suffered his only loss of the tournament. Sokolov, meanwhile, was playing a wild game against Nikolic, with the advantage apparently changing hands every few moves. When that ended in a draw, Salov needed a draw to take first place. He finally saved himself, a queen for rook behind in an endgame.

Final scores: Salov 81/2; Sokolov, Onischuk, Piket 8; Yermolinsky 7; Granda, Timman 61/2; van Wely, Short, Korchnoi, Lautier 6.

Here's Nigel Short's 12th-round win, a rare King's Gambit leading to a good positional victory.

White: Nigel Short

Black: Predrag Nikolic

1 e4 e5 22 Qe5 Rf6

2 f4 exf4 23 Rxf6 gxf6

3 Bc4 c6 24 Qf4 Kh7

4 Nc3 Nf6 25 c4 Rg8

5 Bb3 d5 26 cxd5 exd5

6 exd5 cxd5 27 Rc1 Qe6

7 d4 Bd6 28 Rc7+ Rg7

8 Nf3 Nc6 29 Rxg7+ Kxg7

9 0-0 Be6 30 Qc7+ Kf8

10 Ng5 h6 31 Nf4 Qf5

11 Nxe6 fxe6 32 Qb8+ Ke7

12 Bxf4 Bxf4 33 Qxb7+ Kd6

13 Rxf4 0-0 34 b4 axb4

14 Qd3 Qd6 35 Qxb4+ Kc6

15 Raf1 Nh7 36 Qa4+ Kb6

16 Ne2 Na5 37 g3 Kc7

17 c3 Nxb3 38 Qa5+ Kc6

18 axb3 a5 39 Kg2 h5

19 Qg6 Qe7 40 Qa8+ Kd6

20 Qh5 Ng5 41 Qd8+ resigns

21 h4 Ne4