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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
| Round 5 - Thursday Jan. 15 | |
| Vachier-Lagrave - Van Wely, L. |
½-½
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| Ding, L. - Ivanchuk, V. |
½-½
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| Saric, I. - Radjabov, T. |
0-1
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| Giri, A. - Jobava, B. |
1-0
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| So, W. - Hou, Y. |
½-½
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| Wojtaszek, R. - Caruana, F. |
1-0
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| Carlsen, M. - Aronian, L. |
1-0
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Daniel King shows the game Giri vs Jobava
Today's round was played in the De Rotterdam, the brand new building between the KPN Tower and the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal. A bus transported the players from Wijk aan Zee to Rotterdam. The action returns tomorrow to Wijk aan Zee.
The mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb. He was recently quite prominent in the press
for his harsh remarks against muslims who "don't like freedom".
The Mayor and the World Champion
Gong-ringing responsibilities fell onto Nouchka Fontijn,
a World-class female boxer from Rotterdam
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Van Wely, Loek
Van Wely was able to outplay MVL in the opening, going into an endgame where his slight structural advantage and pressure on the queenside promised him a small, but stable edge. The game soon transposed into a 3v2 endgame with the kingside pawns. Van Wely was pushing for the win but, alas, had to be satisfied with a draw.
Van Wely tortured MVL, but the Frenchman did not break
Ding Liren ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vassily
The leader and his pursuer played a relatively quiet game. With only one open file and no real weaknesses to attack the players agreed to a repetition in an equal position.
The tournament leader takes a casual stroll.
Ding Liren is still in second place, but now shares it with Wojtaszek.
Saric, Ivan 0-1 Radjabov, Teimour
Saric chose an early d3 Spanish to avoid the Berlin, and quickly traded on c6. The equal position that resulted from the opening was certainly better understood by the Azerbaijani player. Radjabov slowly but convincingly pushed White back and started exploiting the weaknesses on the queenside. After winning a pawn Radjabov showed great technique in the endgame. Today, Black was simply the better player.
Keen analysis going on over in Rotterdam
Giri, Anish 1-0 Jobava, Baadur
Jobava very likely played the move of the tournament with the brilliant 22...Nh4!!.
Jobava uncorked the wonderful 22...Nh4!!
His attack was menacing, but Giri neutralized it at the cost of an exchange. Unfortunately, Jobava then blundered in a still complicated position:
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.15"] [Round "5"] [White "Giri, A."] [Black "Jobava, Ba"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E97"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2727"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 {The KID always promises a complex fight.} e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 Nh5 10. Re1 Nf4 (10... f5 {is considered to be the main line, but Nf4 is an old and playable alternative.}) 11. Bf1 f5 12. a4 (12. Bxf4 exf4 13. e5 {is considered to be the "refutation" of this variation. White scores about 83% from this position. Giri surprisingly did not go for it, maybe fearing some Jobava preparation.}) 12... h6 13. Nd2 g5 14. Ra3 g4 15. a5 h5 16. c5 h4 {With both sides mounting an attack the tension is on! In these positions it is difficult to say who will be faster. The computers always like White, but as Nakamura once pointed out computers are not usually right in these types of position.} 17. Nc4 Neg6 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. Nb5 Rf6 20. g3 {This important move sets Black back by a few tempi. Clearly he will not withdraw the knight, but he cannot break on g3 anymore.} hxg3 21. hxg3 a6 22. Nc3 (22. Nb6 $5 axb5 $1 23. Nxa8 fxe4 {is very murky.}) 22... Nh4 $3 {Marching forward! Neither knight can be taken.} 23. Ne2 (23. gxh4 Rh6 {and Black's attack is too strong. The threat of Qh4 is too fast.}) (23. gxf4 Nf3+ 24. Kg2 Rh6 {is clearly over.}) 23... Nf3+ 24. Rxf3 Nxe2+ 25. Bxe2 gxf3 26. Bxf3 {Giri sacrifices the exchange and therefore diffuses most of the attack. However his own pressure has somewhat dissipated as well.} Bh6 27. Nb6 Rb8 28. Kg2 Bxc1 29. Qxc1 f4 (29... Qf8 {was maybe a touch more precise. Closing the position with f4 is always strategically dangerous.}) 30. Rh1 Rg6 31. Rh5 Qf8 32. Qh1 Qf6 33. Qh2 Bg4 $4 { Simply not the right time to do this.} (33... fxg3 34. fxg3 Qg7 {leaves the game wide open. Black will trade on g4 eventually.}) 34. Bxg4 Rxg4 35. Qh3 Qg6 (35... Qg7 36. Nd7 $18 {the threat is Qxg4 and Black has no good response.}) 36. Kf3 $1 {oops! The rook is trapped as it cannot go to g5.} (36. Kf3 Rg5 37. Rh8+ Kf7 38. Rxb8 {with mating threats.}) (36. Rh8+ Kg7 37. Rxb8 Qxe4+ {leads to a perpetual!}) 1-0
So, Wesley ½-½ Hou Yifan
A somewhat strange game. A Ragozin turned into a strange structure where Hou Yifan's attack on the kingside (which came out of nowhere) netted her an extra pawn, but with a dubious pawn structure. So did not respond in the best way and Black's bishop and potential passed queenside pawn promised her good chances in the endgame. After a mistake in time pressure, it was Hou Yifan who was against the ropes as she underestimated the danger against her exposed king.
Wesley So had a difficult game against Hou Yifan
After a seemingly inexplicable decision on move 47 by Black to exchange rooks and go into a much worse endgame, it seemed like So might have good winning chances. However, the World Women's Champion showed she had everything under control: her activity with the passed pawn created by the exchange was just sufficient to net the draw.
Perhaps with better time management Hou Yifan could have put
pressure on Wesley So, instead of the other way around.
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 1-0 Caruana, Fabiano
An amazing performance from the Polish player! In this tournament he has defeated the number one and number two players in the World. Both, coincidentally with White in a Dutch defense. GM Cristian Chirila annotates:
[Event "77th Tata Steel Chess Masters"] [Site "Rotterdam"] [Date "2015.01.15"] [Round "5"] [White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A88"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2820"] [Annotator "Chirila Cristian"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] {The Polish player is simply having the best tournament of his life. Beating the two best players in the world in a span of 3 days must feel quite legendary. What is more or less surprising to me is Caruana's opening choice, the Dutch! This seems like a provocative statement saying: "You might have beaten the world champion in this opening, I can do better than that!"} 1. d4 f5 (1... d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 f5 4. b4 {Wojtaszek-Carlsen 1-0 2015 (3 days ago)!} ) 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 (3. Nf3 g6 {if white would have tried to repeat the early queen side grab spacing push} 4. b4 e6 {black has this option now, with the pawn on d7 black can create some threats winning a few tempos in the process} 5. Qb3 b6 6. Bb2 Bb7 7. e3 Qe7 8. a3 Bg7 $11 {with a tricky move order, black achieved a nice version of a queens indian defense, he also forced white into making some concessions with Qb3 and a3}) 3... g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Nc3 {this is the tabya position of the Leningrad Dutch, black has a lot of set-ups to chose from} c6 (7... Qe8 8. d5 Na6 9. Rb1 Bd7 10. Nd4 c6 { Wojtaszek lost a game against Malaniuk earlier in 2014 in this position, this must have ignited Caruana's originality during his game preparation} 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. b4 $14) 8. Re1 {preparing the e4 push} (8. d5 e5 $13 {Nakamura loves this position as he used it in his infamous win against Gelfand, in Tata Steel 2012!}) 8... Na6 (8... Ne4 9. Qc2 Nxc3 10. bxc3 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Ba3 Re8 13. Rad1 $14 {white has a nice advance in development, though he must be careful due to his damaged pawn structure. His dynamic advantage might dissapear and then he will be left with a difficult position.}) 9. b3 {the move that scores the best in the database, Wojtaszek was well prepared} Ne4 10. Bb2 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 Nc5 12. Ng5 $5 $146 (12. Nd2 d5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Rc1 Ne4 $11 {has been tried before, black seems to be doing fine}) 12... d5 13. Nh3 {this is the difference, now the knight is heading to f4-d3 from where he will have a nice control over the central squares} Ne4 14. Bb2 Be6 (14... dxc4 15. bxc4 Be6 16. Qc2 b5 {this was an interesting try, forcing the matters in the center and trying to obtain a few white squares on the queen side} 17. d5 $1 (17. cxb5 cxb5 18. Nf4 (18. Bxe4 fxe4 19. Nf4 Bd5 {is good for black}) 18... Rc8 $13) 17... Bxb2 18. Qxb2 cxd5 19. cxb5 Qd6 20. a4 $14 {white has a nice queenside majority, while black can try to create some active play against the white king using his central domination}) 15. Nf4 Bf7 16. cxd5 cxd5 17. Nd3 a5 18. a4 b5 {maybe a bit too optimistic} (18... Qb6 19. e3 Rfc8 20. f3 Nf6 21. Ne5 Be8 22. Ba3 e6 23. Bc5 $14) 19. axb5 Qb6 20. e3 Rfb8 21. Bf1 Qxb5 22. Ra3 Qe8 23. f3 Nd6 24. Qa1 {the pressure on the a pawn is mounting} g5 25. Bc3 {now the pawn is lost, black can only hope for a succesfull attack on the kingside} g4 26. f4 Ne4 27. Bxa5 {the game follows a strikingly similar scenario to what happened in the Woztaszek-Carlsen game. White grabbed a pawn without worrying too much of what will happen on the kingside.} h5 28. Rc1 $1 {I like this nice defending resources, white is leaving the e1 square for the bishop, defending and also preparing the exchange of a few heavy pieces} h4 29. Be1 Bf6 30. Nc5 ( 30. gxh4 Kg7 31. Rxa8 Rxa8 32. Qb2 Qh8 33. b4 Bxh4 34. Bxh4 Qxh4 35. b5 $16) 30... hxg3 31. hxg3 Nxc5 32. Rxc5 e5 $1 {nice resource} (32... Rxa3 33. Qxa3 e5 34. fxe5 Be7 35. b4 Bxc5 36. bxc5 {white has two pawns for the exchange but black might be able to hold due to the somehow exposed white king}) 33. Rxa8 Rxa8 34. Qb1 exd4 35. Qxf5 Qxe3+ {too gready} (35... Qe6 36. Qxe6 Bxe6 37. Rc6 Kf7 $11 {was a much better version of the endgame}) 36. Bf2 Qe6 37. Bd3 (37. Qb1 Be7 38. Rc7 Bd8 39. Rc1 Bb6 40. Bd3 $16) 37... Qxf5 38. Bxf5 Ra1+ 39. Kg2 d3 (39... Ra3 {pawn grabbing actions were required} 40. b4 (40. Rc8+ Kg7 41. Rc7 Kg8 42. Rb7 {now that the rook is off the c file black can create different threats} Ra2 $11 {no more Rc2 defending resource}) 40... d3 $132) 40. Bxd3 d4 41. b4 $16 Bb3 $2 (41... Ra3 42. Bf5 Rb3 43. b5 d3 44. Bxg4 Rb2 $14 { would have been much more resilient}) 42. b5 {pawns have to be pushed!} Be7 43. Rh5 (43. Rc8+ Kf7 44. Bxd4 Rd1 45. Bc4+ Bxc4 46. Rxc4 $18) 43... Rd1 44. Be2 Rd2 45. Bxg4 Rb2 46. Bf3 (46. b6 Bf7 47. Ra5 $18) 46... Bb4 (46... Bf7 47. Bd5 d3 48. b6 d2 49. Bxf7+ Kxf7 50. Rh1 $18) 47. b6 {another great game from the Pole. As a future advice to his opponents, don't test this guy in the Dutch, he just slayed two monsters in it while making it look easy..} 1-0
Defeating #1 and #2: Radoslaw Wojtaszek
Fabiano Caruana will have to try to recover tomorrow with White... against Magnus Carlsen!
Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Aronian, Levon
A critical mistake by Aronian in what was already an uncomfortable position:
[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.15"] [Round "5"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Aronian, L."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2862"] [BlackElo "2797"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 {The Ragozin! This incredibly popular opening is played by both players on both sides, so they are definitely well versed in the variations. Look out for an upcoming ChessBase DVD in this opening!} 7. Bxf6 Qxf6 8. Qa4+ {The idea of this move is to force Nc6+, preventing a future c5.} Nc6 9. e3 O-O 10. Be2 Be6 11. O-O a6 12. Rfc1 Bd6 13. Qd1 {The drawback of the position. The queen is not well placed on a4 and must retreat. Black is solid, but somewhat passive. His pair of bishops gives him good chances to equalize.} Ne7 14. a3 Rfd8 (14... c5 $5 { gives Black an isolated pawn but good chances of equalizing. It was seen in the game Jobava-Efimenko 2010}) 15. b4 Nc8 16. Na4 b6 {Black's plan is somewhat strange as he will be left with many passive pieces and only one good piece: the bishop on d6. The pressure on the c-file will be felt soon.} 17. Nb2 Ne7 18. Nd3 Ng6 19. a4 a5 20. b5 Re8 21. Rc3 Bf5 22. Rac1 Rad8 23. Nd2 Rd7 24. g3 Nf8 25. Bg4 {Black is passive, though solid. His position is uncomfortable to play as he doesn't have a good plan, but on the other hand it is still hard for White to break through.} Nh7 26. Bxf5 Qxf5 27. Qf3 Qg5 (27... Qxf3 28. Nxf3 {is a sad endgame.}) 28. h4 Qe7 29. Rc6 Nf6 30. Nf4 g6 $2 {This move is absolutely horrible. Aronian clearly underestimated the threats after 31.h5} (30... Bb4 {and then back to d6 continues the uncomfortable fight.}) 31. h5 $18 (31. Nxd5 Nxd5 32. Qxd5 Ba3 {doesn't work yet.}) 31... Kg7 (31... g5 { Unfortunately for black this weakening of the sixth rank proves to be fatal.} 32. Nxd5 Nxd5 33. Qxd5 Ba3 (33... Bxg3 34. Qf5 Bd6 35. Nc4 $18) 34. Qf5 Bxc1 35. Rxh6 f6 36. Qg6+ {is a deadly attack.}) 32. hxg6 fxg6 33. Nxd5 Nxd5 34. Qxd5 Bxg3 (34... Ba3 35. Qxd7 Qxd7 36. Rxc7 {is simply no good.}) 35. Qg2 Bd6 36. Nc4 {Black keeps the material balance, but he has no coordination and White's mounting pressure is too strong.} Rf8 37. Ne5 $1 Bxe5 38. Qxg6+ Kh8 39. Qxh6+ Kg8 40. dxe5 {The rest is very, very simple.} Qxe5 41. Rg6+ Kf7 42. Rc4 Qa1+ 43. Kg2 Rh8 44. Rf4+ Ke8 45. Re6+ Re7 46. Rxe7+ Kxe7 47. Re4+ (47. Re4+ Kd8 48. Rd4+ Qxd4 49. Qg5+) 1-0
Grandmaster Cristian Chirila - Guest CommentatorFormer World u-16 Champion, he recently finished his studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. Cristian is an ambitious chess player who streams, blogs, teaches and plays plenty! Find out more about Cristian, including his chess lesson services, biography and games here. |
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Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
| Round 5 - Thursday Jan. 15 | |
| Navara, D. - Wei, Y. |
½-½
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| Timman, J. - Dale, A. |
1-0
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| Van Kampen - Shankland, S. |
0-1
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| Michiels, B. - Haast, A. |
1-0
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| Saleh, S. - l' Ami, E. |
0-1
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| Potkin, V. - Klein, D. |
1-0
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| Gunina, V. - Sevian, S. |
0-1
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Another exciting round in the Challengers Group. Yet another day with only one draw, this time between the highest rated players of the event, Navara and Wei Yi.
Van Kampen was too optimistic with his attack against Shankland; his piece sacrifice simply did not work and the American took a full point with Black. Another American winning with Black was Sevian who won a complicated position against Gunina. Despite leading after three rounds, Gunina's two losses now puts her at the bottom of the table.
With l'Ami's victory over Saleh there is a three way tie at the top. A very close tournament, and one that is full of action!
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Photos by Nadja Wittmann for www.ChessBase.com
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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 |
| 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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