Tata 10 (Group B): Close Race

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.

Round ten - Challengers

Sabino Brunello (left) with Yuri Garrett, board director of the Association of Chess Professionals

Jobava has regained his position as tied for first place after beating Bok in a complicated game. The Georgian player chose a reversed Philidor system that did not give him any advantage. Soon afterwards fireworks were seen on the board as Jobava sacrificed a full rook for an initiative on the kingside. Only deep analysis would reveal if this sacrifice is correct, although it would be hard to play the defensive side for sure. Bok declined the sacrifice but had to deal with massive compensation for Jobava's missing exchange. A couple of mistakes later his position collapsed.

Muzychuk is still only a point away from Jobava and Saric and is definitely not out of the race yet

Saric can be happy with a draw against one of the better performers of this event, Muzychuk

The battle of pre-tournament favorites between Wojtaszek and Yu Yangyi was a relatively quiet draw. Muzychuk and Saric's draw was also nothing special. Timman took advantage of this draw to gain spots on the leaderboard and is now in third place after beating Goudriaan with Black. White bravely sacrificed a piece for an attack but it just did not work.

"I am impressed by the perfection of Benjamin's hair" - Alina L'Ami

Duda won a pawn thanks to Reinderman's bizarre opening idea and then proceeded to convert it into a win. Van Delft's pawn weaknesses on the queenside were his downfall as Brunello had nothing to worry on the other side of the board and could focus all of his attention in exploiting the b3 pawn.

Van Delft's 2.5/9 still puts him a full 1.5 points ahead of Goudriaan

Kayden Troff is still too young to travel alone, so he is always accompanied by his mom, Kim.
She is known to endlessly suffer infront of an iPad running Shredder on her son's game while he plays.

Zhao Xue was completely winning today against Troff, but a bad defense cost her half a point as she allowed too much counterplay from the American International Master. A few accurate moves was all he needed to finish her off, but without them he found himself in a pawn up endgame that was impossible to convert.

Jobava (right) regained the lead, but Goudriaan suffered another loss

Lorena Zepeda in the amateur section

Anna-Maja Kazarian, a new Dutch talent, shird third at the World Youth Chess Championship in 2010

What do commentators do on their day off? They play blitz against the seconds. Here IM Lou Yiping (Yu Yangyi's second) vs. Erwin L'Ami

Replay Challenger's games

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Standings after ten rounds

Photos by Alina L'Ami

Schedule and results

Grandmaster Group B

Commentary schedule on Playchess

Links Official tournament site All Master Section games All Challenger section games The 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.