Viswanathan Anand Wins Corus Wijk aan Zee 2004
Saturday, January 10 was the first day of play of one of the strongest annual tournaments, Wijk aan Zee. It concluded on January 25.
Viswanathan Anand of India led since Round 7, only stumbling in Round 12 by losing to Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. He could theoretically have shared the lead with Peter Leko of Hungary or Michael Adams of England , if either of them had won their last round games, since his last-round game concluded early in a well-known position and he took the rest of the day off. But Adams did not get an advantage playing the Black side of the Ruy Lopez against Russian Champion Peter Svidler and they agreed to a draw on move 26. Leko, with Black against Vladimir Kramnik, had to struggle a bit to hold a draw. Topalov's win over Jan Timman of Netherlands was instructive, with Timman forced to defend passively while Topalov maneuvered carefully for the win. Evgeny Bareev of Russia outplayed Vladimir Akopian of Armenia in great style, so much so that it was a credit to Akopian that he survived till move 55. Viorel Bologan of Moldova took advantage of Alexei Shirov of Spain's perhaps trying too hard to win.
The final standings of this excellent tournament: Anand came in clear first; Michael Adams of England and Leko tied for second and third places; Topalov and Bologan tied for fourth and fifth; Shirov, Van Wely, Kramnik and Akopian tied for sixth to ninth places; Peter Svidler and Evgeny Bareev tied for 10th-11th; Ivan Sokolov and Zhang Zhong for 12th and 13th; Jan Timman came in last.
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From www.worldchessrating.com
Standings
1. Anand, Viswanathan
2. Adams Micheal
2. Leko, Peter
4. Topalov, Veselin
4. Bologna, Viorel
6. Shirov, Alexei
6. Van Wely, Loek
6. Kramnik, Vladmir
6. Akopian, Vladmir
10. Svidler, Peter
10. Bareev, Evgeny
12. Sokolov, Ivan
12. Zhang Zhong
14. Timman, Jan