Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.Vladimir Kramnik continued his winning ways in Wijk aan Zee with a powerful victory against Boris Gelfand. With four out of four, Kramnik is now a point ahead of the field. Scores: Kramnik 4; Anand and Topalov 3; Timman and Adams 21/2; Karpov, Gelfand and Polgar 2; Shirov and Nijboer 11/2; Piket, van Wely, van der Sterren and Salov 1.
Kramnik's win was a typically energetic performance, unnerving the usually solid Gelfand by switching his attack from Q-side to K-side and back again, never letting his opponent settle down. The most attractive game of the day, however, came from Michael Adams against the Dutch grandmaster Friso Nijboer.
When White avoided Adams's favourite Marshall Gambit with 8.a4, the game settled into a characteristic type of Ruy Lopez manoeuvring, with White trying to create weaknesses among the black Q-side pawns. Perhaps White had thought 28...bxb5 unplayable because of 29.Nc7, but 29...Qc8! is then good for Black. The real fun, however, came with 30...Nf6! and 31...Nxe4! when both 32.Bxf8 and 32.Bxb8 are met by Qxd5. As the game went, Black's bishop and two pawns were too much for White's rook. At the end, 39.hxg3 Qh4+ leads to mate next move.
White: Friso Nijboer
Black: Michael Adams
1 e4 e5 21 b4 fxe4
2 Nf3 Nc6 22 dxe4 Nd4
3 Bb5 a6 23 Nfxd4 cxd4
4 Ba4 Nf6 24 b5 axb5
5 0-0 Be7 25 axb5 Bh4
6 Re1 b5 26 Rf1 Qe8
7 Bb3 0-0 27 Nb4 Bd7
8 a4 Bb7 28 Nd5 Bxb5
9 d3 d6 29 Bxb5 Qxb5
10 c3 h6 30 Bb4 Nf6
11 Na3 Qd7 31 Bxd6 Nxe4
12 Bd2 Nd8 32 Nc7 Qd7
13 c4 bxc4 33 Bxf8 Rxf8
14 Nxc4 Ne6 34 Rc2 Bxf2+
15 Na5 Bc8 35 Kh1 Rf4
16 Bc4 c5 36 Na6 d3
17 Nb3 Rb8 37 Rc7 Qd8
18 Ra2 Nh7 38 Qc1 Ng3+
19 Na1 Kh8 White resigned
20 Nc2 f5
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