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The third round of the Corus Wijk Aan Zee tournament produced two significant results. The game between Radjabov and Ivanchuk was an error-filled one. Ivanchuk enjoyed the advantage almost throughout the game and pushed Radjabov to the wall with extreme pawn pushes and had most of Radjabov's pieces too in corners. In the end, Ivanchuk blundered away his Queen (which should anyway have been only a bishop). A miserable game for Ivanchuk and not a pretty sight at this level. The other decisive game was played between the solid Kamsky and the shaky (so far) top seed of this tournament, Morozevich. Kamsky squeezed the juice out of a normal middle game to beat Moro in just 34 moves.

The final list of participants for Corus Chess 2009 has been announced. The tournament will be played from January 16 - February 1 at Wijk Aan Zee. Participants Grandmaster Group A Name Country Rating GM Alexander Morozevich RUS 2787 GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2786 GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2786 GM Levon Aronian ARM 2757 GM Teymour Radjabov AZE 2751 GM Wang Yue CHN 2736 GM Michael Adams ENG 2734 GM Sergei Movsesian SVK 2732 GM Sergei Karjakin UKR 2730 GM Gata Kamsky USA 2729 GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2719 GM Loek van Wely NED 2618 GM Daniel Stellwagen NED 2605 GM Jan Smeets NED 2604

The field for Corus Wijk Aan Zee 2009 Group A has been announced. The first Grand Slam event boasts an impressive list but will miss the presence of Anand, Topalov, and Kramnik. Topalov could use the absense at Wijk Aan Zee to prepare for a possible postponed match against Kamsky. Ironically, Kamsky has signed up for the event. The players to watch are Wang Yue of China, Sergei Movsesian of Slovakia, and Leinier Dominguez of Cuba. Also under the scanner are the dutch newcomers Smeets and Stellwagen. Wang Yue shocked everyone with his Grand Prix performances and is at the cusp of the top ten in the world rankings. The chess world is curious to see how he performs in a world class event like Corus. Movsesian had an equally impressive climb, although he did not have any major achievement in terms of tournament wins. Leinier Dominguez won the world blitz championship, but this is a completely kettle of fish, but Dominguez is a fighter and his games will be worth watching. Alexander Moroze...