There were a crack 32 teams from four corners of the world that slug it out in the qualifying stages of the World Cup that literally kicked off last June 11, 2010, and when the dusts of battle settles in from the second round up to the semifinal round of the tournament only two teams are left standing. The mighty orange men that is the Netherlands and the resilient Spain overcame separate tough opponents in the semifinals en route to earning the right to have a grasp of the football glory and assures that there are no past champion that will lift the much sought after and the elusive World Cup trophy this time around. The two remaining teams showed the world once again that Europe not South America is the Mecca of the sports of soccer in the planet.
The fourth-seeded the Netherlands earlier dealt two-time winner (1930 and 1950) Uruguay a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to overcome the 16th ranked team who fielded its best team since 1970. While Spain hacked out a shocking 1-0 victory over three-time winner Germany which is led by fast rising soccer superstar Miroslav Klose . Prior to the game the famous oracle sea creature named Paul based in Germany which is an octopus predicted a win by the Spanish national soccer team which materialized and made the certainly not elated Germans wanting the poor psychic fed to the sharks instead. The German team was the World Cup champions in 1954, 1974 and 1990 but there hopes is derailed by the tough as nail Spain team.
The Dutch team is expected to rely on the formidable tandem of Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben against the solid striker David Villa and the Spanish team. The championship tussle between these two countries will indeed be unforgettable since both endured many great opponents in the tournament and showed flair and solid teamwork on both ends of the soccer field.
With the departure of past champions such as France, Italy, England, Argentina, Brazil and most recently Uruguay and Germany from the tournament in the semifinals, the finale for this year’s edition of the most famous sports in the world will certainly be memorable and historic since either of the teams that barged to the finals haven’t tasted a championship before.
Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands – GM Wesley So posted two straight victories by whipping GM Dimitri Reinderman of the Netherlands in the 7th round in 2010 Corus Chess Open at the De Moriaan Commercial Center. Riding on the crest of his first win in the tournament against third seeded European Champion Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in the sixth round, So posted his first back-to-back victories by subduing Dutch Grandmaster Dimitri Reinderman in the seventh round. So carried the fight out of the booklines and trounced his opponent with two active bishops and passed pawn in the end game. So extracted the full point after 36 moves of Dutch Defense Stonewall Variation. Finally showing his fierce fighting form So is on the verge of capturing his one of opponent’s two rooks with a lethal bishop move to b5. With the win, So hikes his score to 4.5 points to jumped into a tie for the second to fifth places with 4.5 points, a full point behind local hero GM Anish Giri who agreed to a draw with his compatriot GM Erwin l ‘Ami.
GM David Howell of England, GM Ni Hua of China and GM l’ Ami tied so with similar 4.5 pints. Howell pulled of a win over Finnish GM Tomi Nyback, while Ni agreed to halve the point with top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsh of Germany. So will have his hands full when he meets Ni Hua in the eighth round, playing the disadvantageous black pieces. While current pace setter in Group B Section Giri will face Howell.
In the elite Group A Section hostilities, GM Hikaru Nakamura of USA provided the biggest and shocking win in the eighth of the tournament by nipping undefeated GM Alexei Shirov of Spain in 41 moves of the Sveshnikov.
Tags: 2010 Corus Chess Open, Alexei Shirov, David Howell of England, Dimitri Reinderman, European Champion, Germany, GM, GM Arkadij Naiditsh, GM Dimitri Reinderman, GM Erwin l 'Ami, GM Ni Hua, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Netherlands, Spain, Tomi Nyback, Wesley So, Wijk aan Zee
Chess | howitzer | 
January 25, 2010 5:16 pm | 
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Spain clinched its third ever Hopman Cup at the expense of Great Britain. The feisty and fiery tandem of Tommy Robredo and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez turned back the duo of Andy Murray and Laura Robson 7-5 (6), 7-5 in the deciding set in mixed doubles to wrap up the the championship trophy and bragging rights of having the best man-woman team in the world. Robson provided Britain an early lead by taking the women’s single with a victory over Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 7-6. Robredo tied the score 1-1 by claiming his fourth straight singles match of the event by subduing Murray, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the men’s singles, to force a mixed doubles rubber-match. The game Spanish tandem, combined to rip through Robson’s serve in the first game. Spain was up a break in the first set two times, but the gritty Britain side fought back twice in the next games. This is evident when Martinez Sanchez was serving for the set at 6-5, but Britain was determined to climb back as they neutralize the Spaniards to tie the game at 6-all. The triumphant Spanish team saved three set points and collected five points in a row overall to annex the hardly fought first set.
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