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The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the 'round robin' system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Tata Steel Masters has 14 participants and the Tata Steel Challengers has 14 participants. Both groups start on January 10th 2015 and the last round is on January 25th. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 25th, which begins at 12.00 hours. The time control is 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.
Admission to the playing hall in Wijk aan Zee, Rotterdam and The Hague is free of charge
Before we being our report, we would like to take the time to remember Vugar Gashimov, a great player, and former participant of the Wijk Aan Zee super-tournament, who passed away far too early, exactly one year ago.
| Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 11 | |
| Van Wely, L. - Wojtaszek, R. |
½-½
|
| Carlsen, M. - So, W. |
½-½
|
| Aronian, L. - Giri, A. |
½-½
|
| Caruana, F. - Saric, I. |
1-0
|
| Hou, Y. - Ding, L. |
0-1
|
| Jobava, B. - Vachier-Lagrave |
½-½
|
| Radjabov, T. - Ivanchuk, V. |
½-½
|
Not Magnus Carlsen, but maybe better: Kaja Marie Snare from Norwegian TV2 is here to cover the event live...
While the studio analyzes the games with a live show from Norway!
Van Wely, Loek ½-½ Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
Van Wely might have some trouble sleeping tonight. After outplaying Wojtaszek powerfully after the middlegame and beautifully exploiting his opponent's weakened king position, he kept missing the finishing blows. First it was a beautiful rook deflection, then a simple controlling tactic, then the transition into a winning pawn endgame, and finally a way to restrain his opponent's queen in the endgame...
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.11"] [Round "2"] [White "Van Wely, L."] [Black "Wojtaszek, R."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A08"] [WhiteElo "2667"] [BlackElo "2744"] [PlyCount "160"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4 e6 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 dxc4 7. Qa4 Bd7 8. Qxc4 b5 9. Qd3 c4 10. Qd1 Rc8 11. Re1 Qb6 12. e4 Rd8 13. Bg5 h6 $5 {The start of an amazingly complex game. This fighting signal will pit the pair of bishops and active pieces against White's solid structure and center. Both sides have interesting chances.} 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nc3 Bc8 $5 16. d5 Bc5 17. Qd2 $1 { Preventing Black from castling.} Ne5 (17... O-O 18. Qxh6 Bxf2+ 19. Kh1 Bxe1 20. Rxe1 $1 {Is simply unplayable; the attack is too strong.}) 18. Nxe5 fxe5 19. b3 $5 {An interesting idea. White opens up files for the attack on the queenside while Black's rook on h8 is stuck on the other side.} cxb3 20. Rab1 Bd4 21. Rxb3 a6 22. Nd1 {This seems a little passive, deeper analysis might reveal a better move. 22.Rc1 springs to mind.} exd5 23. exd5 O-O {Black has creatively defended h6 now that the path of the queen has been opened by removing both the f6 and e6 pawns.} 24. a4 Bd7 25. axb5 axb5 26. Nc3 Rc8 27. Reb1 Bxc3 (27... Qg6 $1 $15 {A strong move missed by Wojtaszek. This would be awkward to meet as Nxb5 is not a possibility.} 28. Nxb5 Rc2 $19) 28. Rxc3 Rxc3 29. Qxc3 Qd6 { The passed pawn on d5 is blockaded, but so is the one on b5.} 30. h4 Rc8 31. Qb2 Rb8 32. Re1 f6 {I'm not a fan of weakening the king.} (32... Re8 $11) 33. Qc2 Kg7 $2 {The start of Wojtaszek's problems.} (33... f5 34. Qb2 e4 $11) 34. h5 $1 Be8 35. Ra1 $1 {Despite being low on time Van Wely started playing with vigor and accuracy.} Rd8 36. Bh3 $5 {Really pushing for Ra7.} Qb6 $2 (36... Qe7 37. Qe4 $16) 37. Be6 $1 Bxh5 38. Rc1 $2 {Missing the first of many wins.} (38. Ra6 $1 Qxa6 39. Qc7+ Kg6 40. Qxd8 {And Black's king is completely helpless against the multiple threats from White.}) 38... Be8 39. Qe4 h5 40. Qb4 Qd6 41. Qa5 Kf8 $2 (41... Kg6 $1) 42. Qa7 $1 Bd7 43. Rc6 $1 {Powerful play!} Qe7 44. Rc7 Ke8 45. Qa6 (45. Qb6 {was just a touch more exact.}) 45... b4 46. Qb6 b3 47. Qxb3 (47. Rb7 $1 $18 {Would have prevented the game continuation.}) 47... Qd6 48. Qc2 e4 $8 49. Bxd7+ Rxd7 50. Qxe4+ (50. Rc8+ $1 Kf7 51. Qxe4 Qxd5 52. Qe8+ Kg7 53. Qh8+ Kg6 54. Rg8+ Kf5 55. Qxh5+ Ke6 56. Re8+ Kd6 57. Qe2 {looks very gloomy for Black.}) 50... Kd8 51. Rxd7+ Qxd7 52. Kh2 Qg4 {probably some psychological warfare, using the fact that the opponent was low on time.} 53. f3 $2 (53. Qxg4 hxg4 54. Kg2 Kd7 55. f3 gxf3+ (55... Kd6 56. fxg4 Kxd5 57. Kf3 Ke5 58. Ke3 Kd5 59. Kf4 Ke6 60. g5 $18) 56. Kxf3 Kd6 57. Ke4 $18) 53... Qg5 54. Kh3 $2 (54. f4 $1 Qg4 55. d6 $18 Kd7 56. Qe7+ Kc6 57. d7 $1 Qxd7 58. Qxf6+ {is pretty hard to hold, if not just lost.}) 54... Qc1 $1 {Here finally Wojtaszek has strong counterplay. The king feels unsafe on h3.} 55. f4 Qf1+ 56. Kh4 Qd1 57. f5 Qd2 58. Kh3 Qd1 59. Kh2 Qd2+ 60. Kg1 Qd1+ 61. Kg2 Qd2+ 62. Kh3 Qd1 63. d6 Qxd6 64. Qf3 Ke7 65. Qxh5 Qd5 (65... Qd3 $1) 66. Qe2+ Kf7 67. Kg4 Qd4+ 68. Kh5 Qd5 69. Qc2 Qf3+ 70. Kh4 Kg7 71. Qc7+ Kh6 72. Qc1+ Kg7 73. Qc7+ Kh6 74. Qf4+ Qxf4+ 75. gxf4 Kg7 76. Kg3 Kg8 77. Kf3 Kf7 78. Ke4 Ke8 79. Kd4 Kd8 80. Kc5 Kc7 1/2-1/2
Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ So, Wesley
The American player equalized without problems from the opening and never let Carlsen have even a hint of an advantage. Carlsen took his time before agreeing to the repetition, probably trying to find something better, but there was simply no rope to pull from.
A battle between titans was again rather quiet
Aronian, Levon ½-½ Giri, Anish
Both players blitzed out 23 moves of theory to arrive in a position in which Aronian had two extra pawns, but Giri's activity and the opposite colored bishops made it extremely hard for White to convert. After a transition into an endgame Aronian was forced to give back one of his pawns, which made the resulting endgame unwinnable.
Levon Aronian and Anish Giri was full of fireworks on the board...
ok, maybe not...
Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 Saric, Ivan
Fabulous Fabi starts 2-0!
Daniel King shows Caruana's win over Saric
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.11"] [Round "2"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Saric, Iv"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C92"] [WhiteElo "2820"] [BlackElo "2666"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 {The Zaitsev Variation of the Spanish is not exactly topping the popularity rankings nowadays, but it remains fully playable.} 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. d5 Nb8 13. Nf1 Nbd7 14. N3h2 {Both players were playing rather quickly up to this point. The main line and a move that has been tried more than 100 times is 14...Nc5, but Saric felt like deviating.} a5 {Actually this move has only been seen twice in grandmaster play.} 15. a4 {Perhaps Caruana was not familiar with the Saric game from 2010, because he spent a significant amount of time fron this move forward. However his moves were good and strategically sound.} (15. Qf3 h6 16. Be3 c6 $132 {Brkic-Saric, 2010!}) 15... b4 16. cxb4 axb4 {In the long term Black will have problems with this passed pawn on a4, but for now he can hope to put pressure on e4 and break the center with c6.} 17. Bg5 {With the impending central breaks and potential weakness on e4, it makes sense to trade this bishop off.} Be7 18. Bc4 Nc5 {Threatening 19.. .Nxd5, as unlike 18...Nxd5 the bishop on b7 is now defended at the end.} (18... Nxd5 $4 {This standard trick doesn't work.} 19. Bxd5 Bxg5 (19... Bxd5 20. Bxe7 $18) 20. Bxb7 $18) 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Bb5 Rf8 21. Nd2 Ba6 22. Nb3 $1 Bxb5 23. Nxc5 Be8 24. Nd3 $14 {White's pair of knights is not that much inferior than the pair of bishops yet, and with the protected passed pawn on a4 White has a long term s trategical advantage. Black has to hurry up and open the game.} Qb8 25. b3 Bg5 26. Nf1 (26. Nf3 {was maybe more cautious.}) 26... c6 27. Nb2 f5 $1 {Certainly the correct approach.} 28. dxc6 Bxc6 (28... fxe4 29. Nc4 Qa7 $13) 29. exf5 d5 $2 {But this is way too ambitious. Black's play does not compensate the lack of a pawn, and he will soon be forced into the defensive.} (29... Rxf5 30. Qc2 Qc8 31. Ng3 {and both sides still have chances.}) 30. Ne3 $1 Qb7 (30... Bxe3 31. fxe3 Rxf5 32. Rc1 Bb7 33. Nd3 {the pawn center yields nothing to Black while his pieces look misplaced. White would hold a strong advantage in this line.}) 31. Nd3 Rae8 32. Qg4 Bxe3 33. fxe3 Bd7 34. Qxb4 {Two free pawns, the rest just requires some accuracy in time pressure.} Qa8 35. g4 {why not be greedy?} Qa6 36. Nc5 Qd6 37. e4 Rc8 38. Rac1 Rfd8 39. exd5 e4 40. Re3 Qh6 41. Qe1 Bxf5 42. gxf5 Rxd5 43. Nxe4 1-0
Hou Yifan 0-1 Ding Liren
A strange game, as Hou Yifan seemed to lose a pawn out of the opening. Her compensation was at best good enough for equality, and maybe not quite that. Ding Liren's precision was felt as he slowly uncompressed from his restrained position, and slowly but surely his position improved. Hou Yifan entered a bad endgame that was cleanly won by her opponent.
Not the best start for Hou Yifan
Jobava, Baadur ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
After spending an hour and a half on the clock to reach a harmless position in the Accelerated Dragon, things were not looking so hot for Jobava. MVL decided that his position was not good enough to try to win and press his time advantage, but it would have been good to see him try. The end position was objectively equal, but not without any resources for both sides.
Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vassily
Radjabov's opening experiment seemed to yield him a sizeable advantage. He had some sort of good version of the Fianchetto King's Indian, but he was unable to capitalize on the advantage. Once Radjabov took en passant on e6 it seemed his advantage dissipated. If anything Ivanchuk started looking for a win somewhere, but it was not to be found.
| Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 11 | |
| Wei, Y. - Potkin, V. |
1-0
|
| Gunina, V. - Saleh, S. |
1-0
|
| Sevian, S. - Michiels, B. |
0-1
|
| Klein, D. - Van Kampen, R. |
½-½
|
| l' Ami, E. - Timman, J. |
½-½
|
| Haast, A. - Navara, D. |
0-1
|
| Shankland, S. - Dale, A. |
½-½
|
The Challengers section has some interesting highlights.
The first and and most visually pleasing was the demolition of Potkin by Wei Yi. A beautiful attack conducted by the Chinese young player annihilated his opponent's defenses and won him a nice game.
Robin Van Kampen and David Klein in their quick draw today
Gunina was able to take care of Saleh in a complex Benoni structure. Sevian had a promising position against Michiels, but instead of putting more pressure he finds himself in a disappointing 0-2 start.
Baadur Jobava giving Valentina Gunina some pre-game encouragement
The last decisive game of the day was of Navara cleanly outplaying Haast. Shankland can be happy about this, as he seems to have miraculously survived against the lowest rated player of the event.
One of the players got the memo about the picture being taken
As usual, Sagar Shah provides us with awesome commentary:
All pictures by Alina l'Ami from the Official Website
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The tournament has a slight change this year. Most of the rounds will be played in the traditional De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk Aan Zee, but two of the rounds will be played elsewhere. Last year the tournament traveled to the National Museum in Amsterdam and the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.
This year the fifth round will be held in De Rotterdam. De Rotterdam is a building on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam, designed by Rem Koolhaas in 1998.
Rotterdam is ready to host Tata Steel!
The tenth round will be played in the International Press Cnetre Niewuspoort in the Hague. Councillor Karsten Klein of The Hague had this to say: "The Hague is honored to be able to host the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2015 at the heart of the Dutch parliamentary democracy. Our city has a long history of international chess tournaments, a tradition which is continued in this manner. "
This being the first major event of the year, it is clear that we will be bringing you live commentary on our server www.playchess.com!
| Day | Date | Round | English |
| Saturday | January 10 | Round 1 | GM Alejandro Ramirez |
| Sunday | January 11 | Round 2 | GM Alejandro Ramirez |
| Monday | January 12 | Round 3 | GM Alejandro Ramirez |
| Tuesday | January 13 | Round 4 | GM Daniel King |
| Wednesday | January 14 | Free | |
| Thursday | January 15 | Round 5 | GM Daniel King |
| Friday | January 16 | Round 6 | GM Simon Williams |
| Saturday | January 17 | Round 7 | GM Nicholas Pert |
| Sunday | January 18 | Round 8 | GM Simon Williams |
| Monday | January 19 | Free | |
| Tuesday | January 20 | Round 9 | GM Daniel King |
| Wednesday | January 21 | Round 10 | GM Simon Williams |
| Thursday | January 22 | Free | |
| Friday | January 23 | Round 11 | GM Daniel King |
| Saturday | January 24 | Round 12 | GM Simon Williams |
| Sunday | January 25 | Round 13 | GM Daniel King |
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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