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There are three important games in this round. These games were filled with exciting tactics and combinations. You can try to figure out some of the tactical solutions to the key positions in these grandmaster games.
One of the goals of this site is to provide you with puzzles and positions without providing all of the solutions so you can learn to figure out the winning combinations yourself. This is how you can improve your rating as a chess player.
First, I will analyze the Topalov-Gelfand game in which Topalov caught Gelfand unawares in the opening.Topalov,V (2780) - Gelfand,B (2737) [C42]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (5), 17.01.2008
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Nc3
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Black to move: Topalov plays the unusual Nc3 rather than the classical c4 for the 8th move as white in the Petroff Defense
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Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bg4 10.Re1 0-0 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Bxd6 cxd6 13.Re3 Qd7 14.h3 Bh5 15.Qd2 Rae8 16.Nh4 Rxe3 17.Qxe3 Qe6 18.Nf5 Rd8 19.Qg5 Bg6 20.Ne3 Be4 21.Re1 h6 22.Qh4 Qg6 23.Be2 Bxc2 24.Bh5 Qe4 25.Qg3 Bd3 26.f3
26...Qe7?? 27.Ng4 Qg5 28.f4
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Black to move: Gelfand resigns because Qxh5 is met with Nf6+ with the g-pawn pinned to his king and a knight fork; other knight forks loom ahead as well
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1-0.
The Mamedyarov-Van Wely game was a tactical slugfest that was exciting to watch. Here are some of the key tactical puzzles from the game. Can you resolve them without the aid of a computer program?
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White to Move: Mamedyarov plays an unusual opening in which his knight is well placed, but black has considerable pressure on the knight on d2 and the advantage of open files, move 16
Can you see white's tactical combination here?
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18... Black to Move: What is Van Wely's tactic here? Can you spot it?
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White to move: White is down material. How does white regain lost material on move 20?
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Black to Move and Threaten Mate on move 27. Can you spot this tactic?
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White to Move (move 30): Can you spot the tactic?
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Black to Move: Black resigns
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The Eljanov-Radjabov game was also full of tactics. Radjabov got into a King's Indian Defense position, which was bad news for Eljanov because Radjabov has done some deep analysis of the King's Indian defense and revived this unbalanced opening for the twenty-first century after Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik decided to abandon it. He makes a spectacular exchange sacrifice on move 27 as black.
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Black to Move: Can you see the purpose of an exchange sacrifice here?
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Black to Move and justify the exchange sacrifice!
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Black to Move and Win More Material
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