chess

A wise old Pole once gave me a piece of advice during a tournament in the Soviet Union. "Don't be dispirited by your results in the first half," he said. "The Russians always try hard in the early rounds. Then, when some of them realise they are not going to take first place, they go back to the vodka bottle."

I do not know what Michael Adams has been drinking or not drinking during recent tournaments, but whatever it is or isn't, it only seems to work in the second half. In Groningen, he began with 21/2 out of 7, but stormed through with 31/2 points from his last four games. It was much the same at his previous event in Horgen. Now he's doing it again at Wijk aan Zee.

Starting with 11/2 out of 6, Adams then beat Dreyev and Sokolov, both of whom had been among the leaders. His win against Dreyev was a fine attacking performance.

The sacrifice with 15.Nxg7 is known to theory and had been considered not particularly dangerous for Black. However, Adams's quiet build-up with 19.Rad1! and 20.Bc1! showed that the defence may be more strained than had been believed. At the end, Black is mated after 28...Bxh4 29.Be5+.

Adams now has 4 out of 9. Ivanchuk leads with 6 points. Here are the full moves of Adams (White) against Dreyev:

1 e4 e6 15 Nxg7 Rd8

2 d4 d5 16 Qf3 Kxg7

3 Nd2 c5 17 Bh6+ Kg6

4 exd5 Qxd5 18 c3 Nd5

5 Ngf3 cxd4 19 Rad1 f5

6 Bc4 Qd6 20 Bc1 Bd6

7 0-0 Nf6 21 Bxd5 exd5

8 Nb3 Nc6 22 Rxd5 Bd7

9 Nbxd4 Nd4 23 Qh3 Bf8

10 Nxd4 a6 24 Re3 Kg7

11 Re1 Qc7 25 Rg3+ Kh8

12 Bb3 Bd6 26 Qh4 Be6

13 Nf5 Bxh2+ 27 Bf4 Be7

14 Kh1 0-0 28 Bxc7 1-0