Wijk Aan Zee
WijkAanZee2007finaltable (9K) crosstable from chessbase site

(1) Navara,D (2719) - Van Wely,L (2683) [B90]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (7), 20.01.2007

the two 'weakies' of the 'a' group - both essentially 2700 GMs 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 g6 7.g4 Bg7 8.Bg2 h5 9.g5 Nfd7 10.Be3 Nc6 11.Qd2 0-0 12.0-0-0 Nde5 13.b3 Qa5 14.f4 Nxd4 15.Bxd4 Nc6 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Kb2 Be6 18.Rhf1 Rac8 19.Qe3 Nb4 20.Rf2 Qc5 21.Qxc5 Rxc5 22.Na4 Rc7 23.f5 b5 24.Nc3 Rfc8 25.fxe6 Rxc3 26.Rdd2 R3c7 27.e5 fxe6 28.exd6 exd6 29.a3 Nd5 30.Bxd5 exd5 Diagram

and there we have it - a 'pure' rook ending , although things did look stronger beforehand (rook endings being the most common and tricky) 31.Rxd5 Rc6 32.Rfd2 Rd8 33.h4 Rd7 34.R5d3 a5 Diagram

35.Rd5 Rb6 36.R2d4 a4 37.Rb4 Rdb7 38.Rbd4 Re7 39.Rxd6 Rxd6 40.Rxd6 Re4 41.Rb6 Rxh4 42.Rxb5 Rg4 43.bxa4 h4 44.a5 h3 45.Rb7+ Kg8 46.Rb3 Rxg5 47.Rxh3 Rxa5 48.c4 Kf7 49.Kb3 g5 Diagram

an interesting endgame for us to see, and one that we'll come close to stumbling over in our own games 50.Kb4 g4 51.Rg3 Rg5 52.c5 Ke6 53.Kb5 Ke5 54.Kb6 Kf4 55.Rg1 Rg8 56.c6 Rb8+ 57.Kc5 Rb3 58.a4 Rc3+ 59.Kb5 g3 60.a5 Rc2 61.a6 Rb2+ 62.Kc5 Rc2+ 63.Kb6 Rb2+ 64.Kc7 Ra2 65.Kb7 Rb2+ 66.Kc8 Ra2 67.c7 Ke4 1-0

(2) Svidler,P (2728) - Topalov,V (2783) [B90]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (11), 26.01.2007

Svidler had been out of form in the early stages of the tournament while Topalov had scored heavily 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.f3 h5 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.Bd3 b5 13.Bg5 Nb6 14.f4 Diagram

and white started to open up the position14...Rb8 15.Rhe1 Nc4 16.Bxc4 bxc4 17.Nc1 Qb7 18.b3 exf4 19.Bxf4 0-0 20.Bxd6 Bxd6 21.Qxd6 Rfc8 Diagram

one single pawn advantage - but note the many many open files 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.exd5 Bf5 24.Rd2 Bg6 25.Re7 Qb5 26.Rc7 Qa5 27.Rxc8+ Rxc8 28.Re2 cxb3 29.axb3 Qc3 30.Qg3 Bxc2+ 31.Ka2 Bb1+ 32.Kxb1 Qxc1+ 33.Ka2 Rc5 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Qb4 f5 36.Qd2 Qxd2+ 37.Rxd2 Kg6 38.b4 Rc8 39.Kb3 Kf7 40.Ra2 Ra8 41.h4 f4 42.Re2 Kf6 43.Kc4 Rc8+ 44.Kd4 Rb8 45.d6 Rxb4+ 46.Kc5 Rb1 47.Rd2 Rb8 48.d7 1-0

(3) Shirov,A (2715) - Aronian,L (2744) [C88]
Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (12), 27.01.2007

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Nc3 Nc6 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Qc7 15.c3 Nb8 16.Bxb7 Qxb7 17.Nh2 Nd7 18.Ng4 Nf6 19.Ne3 g6 20.b3 Rab8 21.Bb2 Rfd8 22.Qf3 d5 23.exd5 Nxd5 24.d4 Nf4 25.Qg3 Diagram

and now for some maneuvering 25...Nd3 26.Ng4 e4 27.d5 Qxd5 28.c4 Qe6 29.Be5 Bd6 30.Bxd6 Qxd6 31.Nh6+ Kf8 32.Rxe4 Qxg3 33.fxg3 Diagram

33...bxc4 34.bxc4 Rd4 35.Rxd4 cxd4 36.Ng4 h5 37.Nf2 Ne5 38.c5 Rb3 39.g4 Ke7 40.gxh5 gxh5 41.Ne4 Re3 42.Nd6 Ke6 43.Ne8 a5 44.Nc7+ Kf5 45.Nb5 Ke4 46.Rd1 Nc6 47.Kf2 a4 48.Nd6+ Kd5 49.Rxd4+ Kxd4 50.Nf5+ Kxc5 51.Kxe3 Ne5 52.g4 hxg4 53.h4 Kc4 54.h5 Kb3 55.Kd4 Diagram

interesting - especially the superficial between this and Ben and Mike's games last round 55...Nf3+ 56.Kd3 Kxa3 57.Kc3 also interesting - in that some strong chess engines give black a hearty lead 1/2-1/2