Wijk roundup

The powerful Corus tournament at Wijk aan Zee concluded last Sunday, 28 January.

Three players tied for first place, Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaidzhan) and Levon Aronian (Armenia). Each scored 8.5 out of 13.

After his loss to Kramnik in the match for the World Championship in Elista, Russia, last year, and a setback at the Essent tournament which followed immediately afterwards, Topalov re-established his position as the world’s highest-rated player. Topalov plays risky and exciting attacking chess which gives him many victories. Sometimes, however, he comes a cropper, as in his loss to Svidler at Wijk.

Only 21 years old, Radjabov has become a credible challenger for Kramnik’s world crown; and, after many successes in the last two years with a rapid rise in his rating, Aronian confirmed that this is no flash in the pan. He too stands at the top of the tree in world chess.

With 8.0 out of 13, World Champion Vladimir Kramnik took fourth place. Unbeaten in the tournament, super-solid Kramnik demonstrated that he is an exceedingly difficult player to defeat.

Vishy Anand will be disappointed with fifth place with 7.5 out of 13 and suffering two defeats. Although Anand remains among the top three players in the world, his hopes of becoming World Champion must have dimmed.

There are further details on the tournament, with a crosstable, in the Chessbase report -

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3638