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The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place from 10 to 26 January 2014. The top players will compete in two groups (previously there were three), with twelve players in each, instead of fourteen. The structure of the amateur tournaments remains unchanged. Both groups start on January 11th 2014, with all rounds starting at 13:30h (1:30 p.m.) local time, except for the last round on January 26th, which begins at 12:00h. Two rounds will be played in Amsterdam and Eindhoven and will start at 14:00. The time controls are 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.
Today the tournament had a special appearance by one of the most famous artists from the Netherlands. Nick Schilder, from the duo Nick and Simon, was the guest of honor today. The duo has won many awards and has released many double platinum albums. They were the most booked artists in the Netherlands in 2007.
Chess fans turned to be music fans for the day as well!
Even our photographer couldn't help feeling admiration and played Nick in a game of blitz
The young people crowd around the star
The traditional gong to start the round
| Group A: Round 8 - Tuesday Jan. 21 | |
| Anish Giri - Levon Aronian |
½-½
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| Sergey Karjakin - Boris Gelfand |
1-0
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| Leinier Dominguez - Wesley So |
1-0
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| Loek van Wely - Arkadij Naiditsch |
1-0
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| Pentala Harikrishna - Hikaru Nakamura |
1-0
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| Fabiano Caruana - Richard Rapport |
1-0
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Giri had an interesting idea in the Catalan but it was not sufficient
Giri, Anish ½-½ Aronian, Levon
Giri's interesting handling of the Catalan gave him an extra pawn, but unfortunately it did not come with realistic winning chances as Aronian's active rook in the endgame gave him sufficient counterplay to hold the half point.
Aronian is still leading, but it's only by half a point
We reported previously that Giri and Caruana shared Chuchelov as a coach. We have been corrected and Giri recently said in an interview that he is now working with Tukmakov instead.
Harikrishna, Pentala 1-0 Nakamura, Hikaru
[Event "76th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2014.01.21"] [Round "8"] [White "Harikrishna, P."] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B51"] [WhiteElo "2706"] [BlackElo "2789"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez, Alejandro"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bd3 {The point of this move is to tuck in the bishop on c2 after c3 and Bc2. This will lead to a Spanish type position as it will be difficult for Black to prevent White from establishing his strong pawn center without the move e5.} Ngf6 6. c3 b5 7. Bc2 Bb7 8. Re1 e5 9. d4 {White has sacrificed some development to obtain the desired structure. Logic says that Black should be ok, but the position is playable for both sides.} Be7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Nf1 Re8 12. Ng3 Bf8 13. d5 g6 14. b3 {A new move which doesn't change the character of the position. The game closely resembles a Breyer Spanish, but Black has some extra tempi in hand. On the flip side of the coin, he cannot challenge White's center with c6 since he has committed to c5.} (14. Bg5 h6 15. Bd2 {was played in David-Olswezski 2011}) 14... Nb6 15. Rb1 c4 {it's possible that this move was rushed.} 16. bxc4 Nxc4 17. a4 Qc7 ( 17... Qa5 18. Nd2 $1 Qxc3 $2 (18... Nb6 19. c4 {gave White a pleasant advantage }) 19. Ne2 Qa5 20. Nxc4 {loses a piece because of the hanging bishop on b7}) 18. axb5 axb5 19. Rxb5 {White won a pawn but it is not for free. Black has good compensation on the queenside with open files and powerful knight on c4, not to mention the weakness on c3.} Na3 (19... Ba6 20. Rb3 Nd7 {looked slightly more logical.}) 20. Rb3 Nxc2 21. Qxc2 Nd7 22. Be3 Ba6 23. Ra3 Bb5 24. Rea1 Rxa3 25. Rxa3 {White's pawn is slowly being consolidated, but it will remain a weakness for a long time. The problem is that White won't have to worry about it being taken any time soon.} Rb8 26. Ra7 Qc8 27. h3 Nb6 28. Qc1 Nc4 29. Bh6 {Switching gears to the kingside is very smart as Black has left it relatively undefended. Even with the solid structure there are some weak squares that White can try to take advantage of.} Qc5 $2 {An unusual miscalculation by Nakamura. Harikrishna destroys this weak move.} (29... Ra8 30. Rxa8 Qxa8 31. Bxf8 Qxf8 $14 {still gives Black real chances to hold, though it is unpleasant.}) 30. Nh5 $1 {A nice combination finish.} Bg7 (30... Qxa7 31. Nf6+ Kh8 32. Bxf8 Ne3 {this sad move is the only way to prevent the queen coming to h6.} (32... Rxf8 33. Qh6 {gets mated quickly.}) 33. Bxd6 $18 { and the game is quite obviously over.}) (30... gxh5 31. Qg5+ Kh8 32. Qf6+ Kg8 33. Qxf7+) 31. Bxg7 Qxa7 32. Qh6 f5 33. Ng5 {Black will be mated soon. A surprising turn of events!} 1-0
Daniel King shows his highlights of the day including Harikrishna vs Nakamura
Nakamura is losing a fair amount of rating in Wijk Aan Zee, but surely he will
bounce back in the upcoming events. He will play in Zurich later this month.
Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 Rapport, Richard
It's hard to expect Rapport to play a normal variation nowadays, but this line of the French is beyond questionable. Caruana's version of it was quite enterprising and the game turned murky and wild from the beginning, White's development advantage being offset by pawn that kept taking pieces until it reached g2 (!). However once this pawn perished it was clear that White's pair of bishops and superior structure was sufficient to give him a clear edge which the Italian converted without problems with a swift mating attack.
Dominguez Perez, Leinier 1-0 So, Wesley
George Margvelashvili annotates:
[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.01.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C42"] [Annotator "Margvelashvili, George"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [SourceDate "2014.01.04"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {Leinier is known to be a very aggressive player, therefore, Wesley chooses the safest opening that there is against 1.e4 - the Petroff Defense.} 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 {In the recent years this is the most popular line for white.} (5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 {has been tried thousand times before.}) 5... Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O {Wesley decides to castle on the king's side.} (7... Nc6 8. Qd2 Be6 {In my opinion, this is the most solid set-up for black. The idea is to play Qd7 and then castle on the queen's side. The downside of this line is that it is somewhat passive and white maintains constant pressure.} 9. O-O-O Qd7 10. Ng5 Bxg5 11. Bxg5 f6 12. Be3 O-O-O $14) 8. Qd2 b6 {This line has been recently played by Wang Hao.} 9. O-O-O Bb7 10. h4 { Both Nakamura and Caruana have chosen 10.Nd4 against Wang Hao. Dominguez chooses more direct way to attack black's king.} Nd7 11. Bd3 Nf6 {I don't really like this move.} (11... Nc5 $5 12. Bf5 Re8 13. h5 h6 14. Kb1 Bf6 {with a balanced position.}) 12. Bd4 c5 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Qf4 {It is already visible that Dominguez has an initiative.} d5 15. h5 Re8 (15... h6 $4 16. Qf5 Re8 17. Qh7+ Kf8 18. Rhe1 $18) 16. g4 g6 $2 {This is a crucial mistake by So. Probably in his calculations he has missed white's 19th move.} (16... d4 $1 {and black's position is still very solid. For example:} 17. g5 $6 Bxf3 18. gxf6 Qxf6 19. Qxf6 gxf6 20. Rdg1+ Kh8 21. Rh3 Be4 $11) 17. hxg6 hxg6 18. g5 Bg7 19. Rh7 $3 {A spectacular move by Dominguez. Now white's attack is very strong.} d4 {The only move.} (19... Kxh7 20. Qxf7 $18 {with the following Rh1 mate.}) 20. Bc4 $1 Qe7 $2 (20... Bxf3 $1 {was the only chance.} 21. Rxg7+ Kxg7 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 23. Qxg6 Re7 24. Qf6+ Rg7 25. Qxf3 Qxg5+ 26. Kb1 $16 {Black's king is very exposed, but at least this line offered more resistance.}) 21. Qh4 $1 {Here So resigned, since there is no defense against upcoming Rh1 and Rg7. For example:} (21. Qh4 $1 Bxf3 22. Rxg7+ Kxg7 23. Qh6+ Kg8 24. Qxg6+ Kh8 25. Qh6+ Kg8 26. g6 $18) 1-0
George MargvelashviliGeorge is an active grandmaster representing Georgia. He was born in 1990 and completed his title in 2010. He is currently a student at the University of Texas at Dallas finishing his Master's degree in Finance. |
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So was on the receiving end of a violent attack
Van Wely, Loek 1-0 Naiditsch, Arakdij
Naiditsch successfully equalized out of the opening using a Bogo-Indian, and he even managed to win an exchange soon afterwards. However horribly passive play from then on allowed the Dutch player to build a serious initiative on the kingside while the German's pieces were doing absolutely nothing. Van Wely missed a couple of killing blows but that was ok since Naiditsch kept giving him opportunities, until at last Van Wely found one of the winning sequences and finished the game off.
Naiditsch seemed to have everything under control,
but something happened and he lost the thread of the game
Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 Gelfand, Boris
White's positional opening gave him a pleasant major piece endgame. Gelfand shed a pawn to shatter his opponent's structure and for some counterplay, and it seems like this was the correct decision. However the Israeli transposed into a rook endgame at the worst possible time and it ended up being hopelessly lost as White's passed b-pawn was too powerful. Had he simplified earlier (32...Qxg3!?) he might have been able to hold.
Gelfand will also try to recover lost ground in Zurich
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
| Group B: Round 9 - Tuesday Jan. 21 | |
| Anna Muzychuk - Zhao Xue |
½-½
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| Ivan Saric - Radek Wojtaszek |
1-0
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| Yu Yangyi - Merijn van Delft |
1-0
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| Sabino Brunello - Baadur Jobava |
1-0
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| Benjamin Bok - Etienne Goudriaan |
½-½
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| Jan Timman - Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
1-0
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| Dimitri Reinderman - Kayden Troff |
1-0
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The new leader
Saric has emerged as the new leader in the Challenger's group after his important victory against Wojtaszek. The game was a positional Najdorf in which the opening of the queenside proved fatal for Black, whose sever underdevelopment did not allow him to defend that side of the board. The other important result was of course Jobava's loss to Brunello. Jobava had an extra pawn but had to deal with a nuisance as his opponent reached a pawn all the way to c7. To top things off his king didn't feel particularly safe. He kept moving back and forth until he made a critical mistake that was exploited by the Italian.
Brunello was Jobava's executioner this round
Jan Timman is only one point away from Saric
Timman joined Muzychuk in a tie for third as he beat Duda in an endgame in which he was up a pawn. Anna Muzychuk could only manage a draw against Zhao Xue in a tense game that finished in a perpetual.
The battle between the ladies (Zhao Xue vs Muzychuk) was a crazy draw
Troff seemed to have the better position against Reinderman but he underestimated how weak his c4 pawn became. With this pawn plucked the b3-pawn became a weakness and it fell soon afterwards.
Jobava has four rounds to overtake Saric.
Saric has yet to play Muzychuk, but Jobava has not played Timman
Yu Yangyi was first winning, then completely drawn, then Van Delft blunder horribly and the Chinese player won a full point. Lastly Bok and Goudriaan played a very long drawn endgame.
Surely this is called 'trespassing'
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Photos by Alina l'Ami
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Wednesday, Jan. 15 – Free day
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Monday, Jan. 20 – Free day
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Thursday, Jan. 23 – Free day
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| Day | Date | Round | English | German |
| Wednesday | January 22 | Free | ||
| Thursday | January 23 | Round 9 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
| Friday | January 24 | Free | ||
| Saturday | January 25 | Round 10 | Simon Williams | Klaus Bischoff |
| Sunday | January 26 | Round 11 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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