2/2/2016 – It was a thrilling finale to a thrilling tournament. Magnus Carlsen added a fabulous fifth Wijk aan Zee title to his resume, tying Anand for the record. Fabiano Caruana's hope to snatch it ended up in ashes as he lost to Tomashevsky. Still, his tiebreak guaranteed second place. The Challengers was a tight affair, with Adhiban taking first. Large illustrated report.
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The 78th Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place from January 15 to 31, 2016, in the coastal village of Wijk aan Zee, North Holland. It is one of the most prestigious events in the international chess calendar. The "Wimbledon of Chess" attracts the very best chess grandmasters in the world, along with thousands of amateur players, live event visitors and online visitors from around the world. The tournament has two main player groups, each with 14 players. They are known as the Tata Steel Masters and the Tata Steel Challengers. You will find the schedule, starting times, pairings and results at the bottom of the page.
In the Masters, all attention went to the top two boards. The variety of combinations was
both staggering and chock full of drama. For example, if Ding Liren defeated Magnus Carlsen
and Fabiano Caruana lost his last round game, he could become the miracle winner!
The look on Ding Liren's face of dead concentration shows he understands fully
Nevertheless, it takes two to tango, and in this case four, as the outcome of the myriad
possibilities also depended on Fabiano Caruana's game against...
... Evgeny Tomashevsky.
Though focused, Magnus didn't seem overly worried...
... and he justified his aloof demeanor by inverting a slightly worse endgame into a rook versus
rook and bishop endgame (Magnus had the extra bishop), where he spent nearly 50 moves
torturing his Chinese opponent.
Yasser Seirawan receives Magnus Carlsen after his game with Ding Liren
Needless to say, the audience was enthralled by the tense fights on all boards til the end
Carlsen could probably not believe his eyes when his potential rival for first place, Fabiano
Caruana, found himself dead lost and ultimately failed to save the game. Luckily for Caruana,
even losing to Tomashevsky did not deny him silver as he had beat Ding Liren in their game.
The game between Anish Giri and Hou Yifan was quite the rollercoaster. Giri lost the thread of his
game and found himself in dead lost endgame. Hou seemed poised to win, but inaccuracies kept
delaying the final result in her favor, and Anish took advantage to keep the game alive. Eventually,
much to the chagrin of her many fans, she was unable to close the deal, and Giri saved the game.
Pavel Eljanov fought until the end, adding three Elo to his next rating.
Aside from Tomashevsky, he was the only player to score in the last round
beating David Navara.
Daniel King shows the highlights from the final round
Replay round thirteen Masters games (with times per moves)
The battle for the gold and qualifying spot in next year's Masters was no less tense in the
challengers. Though Adhiban Baskaran had led until now, he was caught by Dreev, and
his place in the sun was no longer so secure.
Dreev proved a formidable competitor, and hoped to qualify for the
Masters. Note that he won the Wijk Aan Zee tournament in 1995.
Try as he might, Dreev was unable to break his opponent, Admiraal
The players in the Masters were all following the Challengers, whether it be Caruana observing Benjamin Bok...
... or Carlsen watching Dreev...
... or Mamedyarov following his compatriot Eltaj Safarli. The Azeri defeated Batsiashvili in
the last round, and this tied him for first. Although his tiebreak could not edge out Adhiban
who had won their individual game (the first tiebreak criterion), it did beat Dreev for silver.
Adhiban held on to a hard-fought game against teen wonder Samuel Sevian, securing gold.
As to Sevian, it can only be described as a lukewarm result, neither gainng rating, nor losing.
The cause of the disappointing result may lie in the words of a top player who commented he
felt Samuel "Hadn't figured it out". When pressed what he meant, he explained Sevian was
alternating styles of play too much and had not figured out where he stood himself stylistically.
In the top group that qualifies to the Challengers, the winner was Vladimir Dobrov who was
promoted to the Challengers for 2017 by winning the TOP group of Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
Little Machteld Van Foreest lost her final round game to the winner of her group, but had a
very commendable 1750 FIDE performance. The 8-year-old will soon be a terror.
Your photographer Alina L'Ami enjoying her first taste of Nikon's bad boy, the
70-200 f/2.8 telezoom lens. Her comments after were of awe. (photo by Patrick Put)
Replay round thirteen Challengers games (with times per moves)
First on the to-do list of the closing ceremony was a helping of Erwten Soep (pea soup)!
With food for all and warm bellies, ...
...everyone was in a highly receptive mood
Time for the awards - tournament director, Jeroen van den Berg assisted by the Dutch TV
personality, IM Hans Böhm
The Fair Play prize, awarded by Vugar Gashimov's brother, Sarkhan, to Jorden van Foreest
and David Navara.
The special Johan van Hulst prize was offered to two young talented chess players, Jorden van
Foreest and Wei Yi, by none other than the famous 105-year-old politician, war hero and big chess
lover - Johan van Hulst!
No good deed can be ignored, and the organizer offered a gift of their own to Johan van Hulst
Adhiban Baskaran receives his first place award for winning the Challengers group
Magnus Carlsen receives his trophy and is now tied with Vishy Anand for five titles
Final photo with the winners and organizers (click on image for high-res version)
Schedule and results of Tata Steel Masters 2016
Round 1 - Saturday the 16th
Hou, Y. - Karjakin, S.
½-½
So, W. - Giri, A.
1-0
Ding, L. - Adams, M.
1-0
Navara, D. - Carlsen, M.
½-½
Caruana, F. - Eljanov, P.
1-0
Wei, Y. - Tomashevsky, E.
½-½
Mamedyarov, S. - Van Wely, L.
½-½
Round 2 - Sunday the 17th
Karjakin, S. - Van Wely, L.
½-½
Tomashevsky, E. - Mamedyarov, S.
½-½
Eljanov, P. - Wei, Y.
½-½
Carlsen, M. - Caruana, F.
½-½
Adams, M. - Navara, D.
½-½
Giri, A. - Ding, L.
½-½
Hou, Y. - So, W.
½-½
Round 3 - Monday the 18th
So, W. - Karjakin, S.
½-½
Ding, L. - Hou, Y.
½-½
Navara, D. - Giri, A.
½-½
Caruana, F. - Adams, M.
1-0
Wei, Y. - Carlsen, M.
½-½
Mamedyarov, S. - Eljanov, P.
0-1
Van Wely, L. - Tomashevsky, E.
½-½
Round 4 - Tuesday the 19th
Karjakin, S. - Tomashevsky, E.
1-0
Eljanov, P. - Van Wely, L.
1-0
Carlsen, M. - Mamedyarov, S.
½-½
Adams, M. - Wei, Y.
½-½
Giri, A. - Caruana, F.
½-½
Hou, Y. - Navara, D.
1-0
So, W. - Ding, L.
½-½
Round 5 - Thursday the 21st
Ding, L. - Karjakin, S.
1-0
Navara, D. - So, W.
½-½
Caruana, F. - Hou, Y.
½-½
Wei, Y. - Giri, A.
½-½
Mamedyarov, S. - Adams, M.
1-0
Van Wely, L. - Carlsen, M.
0-1
Tomashevsky, E. - Eljanov, P.
½-½
Round 6 - Friday the 22nd
Karjakin, S. - Eljanov, P.
½-½
Carlsen, M. - Tomashevsky, E.
1-0
Adams, M. - Van Wely, L.
½-½
Giri, A. - Mamedyarov, S.
1-0
Hou, Y. - Wei, Y.
½-½
So, W. - Caruana, F.
½-½
Ding, L. - Navara, D.
½-½
Round 7 - Saturday the 23rd
Navara, D. - Karjakin, S.
½-½
Caruana, F. - Ding, L.
1-0
Wei, Y. - So, W.
½-½
Mamedyarov, S. - Hou, Y.
1-0
Van Wely, L. - Giri, A.
0-1
Tomashevsky, E. - Adams, M.
½-½
Eljanov, P. - Carlsen, M.
0-1
Round 8 - Sunday the 24th
Karjakin, S. - Carlsen, M.
½-½
Adams, M. - Eljanov, P.
½-½
Giri, A. - Tomashevsky, E.
½-½
Hou, Y. - Van Wely, L.
0-1
So, W. - Mamedyarov, S.
½-½
Ding, L. - Wei, Y.
½-½
Navara, D. - Caruana, F.
1-0
Round 9 - Tuesday the 26th
Caruana, F. - Karjakin, S.
½-½
Wei, Y. - Navara, D.
1-0
Mamedyarov, S. - Ding, L.
½-½
Van Wely, L. - So, W.
½-½
Tomashevsky, E. - Hou, Y.
½-½
Eljanov, P. - Giri, A.
½-½
Carlsen, M. - Adams, M.
1-0
Round 10 - Wednesday the 27th
Karjakin, S. - Adams, M.
0-1
Giri, A. - Carlsen, M.
½-½
Hou, Y. - Eljanov, P.
0-1
So, W. - Tomashevsky, E.
½-½
Ding, L. - Van Wely, L.
½-½
Navara, D. - Mamedyarov, S.
½-½
Caruana, F. - Wei, Y.
1-0
Round 11 - Friday the 29th
Wei, Y. - Karjakin, S.
½-½
Mamedyarov, S. - Caruana, F.
½-½
Van Wely, L. - Navara, D.
½-½
Tomashevsky, E. - Ding, L.
0-1
Eljanov, P. - So, W.
½-½
Carlsen, M. - Hou, Y.
1-0
Adams, M. - Giri, A.
½-½
Round 12 - Saturday the 30th
Karjakin, S. - Giri, A.
½-½
Hou, Y. - Adams, M.
½-½
So, W. - Carlsen, M.
½-½
Ding, L. - Eljanov, P.
1-0
Navara, D. - Tomashevsky, E.
½-½
Caruana, F. - Van Wely, L.
1-0
Wei, Y. - Mamedyarov, S.
½-½
Round 13 - Sunday the 31st
Mamedyarov, S. - Karjakin, S.
½-½
Van Wely, L. - Wei, Y.
½-½
Tomashevsky, E. - Caruana, F.
1-0
Eljanov, P. - Navara, D.
1-0
Carlsen, M. - Ding, L.
½-½
Adams, M. - So, W.
½-½
Giri, A. - Hou, Y.
½-½
Schedule and results of Tata Steel Challengers 2016
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Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.
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