1/24/2017 – There is something about Wijk aan Zee, it just never fails to provide exciting and thrilling encounters! Despite today's abundance of draws, the way the players reached these "peaceful" results were incredibly wild. Andreikin-Eljanov takes the cake, a game that saw passed pawns, kings in the center, two exchange sacrifices, but it was Carlsen took the chance to gain some ground.
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The elite Tata Steel tournaments in Wijk aan Zee are underway and take place from January 13-29, with two main tournaments, the Masters with both Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin as headliners, as well as Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, Baskaran Adhiban, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Richard Rapport, Dmitri Andreikin, Wei Yi, Pavel Eljanov, and Loek van Wely. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 1.30pm, except for the last round on 29 January 2017, which begins at 12.00pm. Both rounds on the Chess On Tour days start at 2.00pm.
All Photos by Alina l'Ami for the official site
Masters tournament
Round 9 - Tuesday, January 24
So, W.
½-½
Aronian, L.
Wojtaszek, R.
½-½
Karjakin, S.
Andreikin, D.
½-½
Eljanov, P.
Wei, Y.
½-½
Adhiban, B.
Nepomniachtchi, I.
½-½
Harikrishna, P.
Carlsen, M.
1-0
Van Wely, L.
Giri, A.
½-½
Rapport, R.
Quick Review of Round 9
Video with impressions from round nine
The entrance to the event hall
The press knew where the blood was going to be spilt
Despite the results of today, this was one of the most thrilling rounds we have seen! Many still remember Carlsen's resurgence in 2015 when, after losing to Wojtaszek, he went on a rampage to win the event. His first step towards this repeat performance was a clean victory over one of his favorite clients (including exhibition games, Carlsen is now 14-2 against Van Wely). The game was pretty simple: an opening advantage transformed into an extra pawn in an endgame, and Carlsen's technique was immaculate.
Carlsen bounced back nicely against the legendary Dutchman
The game of the day, without a doubt, goes to the topsy-turvy match between Andreikin and Eljanov. One could argue that Eljanov was ahead most of the game, but we bring you full analysis of the game courtesy of American resident and Filipino Grandmaster Julio Sadorra:
Julio "Ino" Sadorra is one of the funniest GMs you'll meet...
GM Julio Catalino Sadorra is a professional player from the Philippines based in Dallas, USA. He played on board 1 for his country in the 2014 and 2016 World Olympiads. When he's not competing, he trains young talented players in North Texas Chess Academy (NTCA).
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.24"] [Round "9"] [White "Andreikin, Dmitry"] [Black "Eljanov, Pavel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2736"] [BlackElo "2755"] [Annotator "Sadorra, Julio"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 {This shouldn't be a surprise from Andreikin as he's known to play London and Torre Attack structures both in short and long time-control games.} e6 3. Nd2 ({The other popular move here is} 3. e4 {leading to imbalanced middlegames after} h6 ({or} 3... c5 $5 4. e5 h6) 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. c3 d6 $11 {where both sides have advantages and disadvantages.}) 3... h6 4. Bh4 d5 5. e3 c5 6. c3 {We're now officially in the land of Torre Attack :-)} Nc6 7. Bd3 {Andeikin's handling of the Torre System, delaying his king's knight development, is intriguing as he leaves himself the option of switching to a favorable Stonewall game after the move f2-f4 (his dark-squared bishop is outside of the pawn chain instead of being passive on c1)!} Qb6 {Controlling the important b5-square with tempo.} 8. Rb1 {and now Eljanov doesn't allow Andrekin to achieve his desired Stonewall set-up with} e5 $1 9. Ne2 $5 { Placing the knight on e2 is another option availed by Andreikin's move-order.} ({Black has no problems after} 9. dxe5 Nxe5 {Do you see now why it's important to control b5? :-)} 10. Bc2 (10. Be2 $2 Bf5 $17) 10... Be7 {safe and solid.} ( 10... Qa6 $6 {A nice idea but a little too ambitious because White can take over the initiative with accurate play after} 11. Ndf3 $1 (11. Ngf3 Nd3+ 12. Bxd3 Qxd3 {with the bishop pair advantage.}) (11. Ba4+ $2 {only helps Black's cause} Bd7 12. Bxd7+ Nfxd7 $17) 11... Nxf3+ 12. Nxf3 Be7 $5 {sac-ing a pawn may be the best practical choice} (12... Be6 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Bd3 Qb6 15. O-O O-O-O 16. b4 $1 $40) 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Qxd5 Be6 15. Qe4 $1 (15. Qxc5 $6 Rc8 16. Qb4 Rc4 {White's queen is in trouble giving Black at least enough compensation for the pawns!}) 15... Qxa2 16. O-O (16. Qxb7 O-O $13) 16... Qd5 17. Ra1 $1 $36 {It is clear that White has good pressure, but Black still has chances for a successful defense.}) 11. Ngf3 Nxf3+ 12. Nxf3 Be6 $11) 9... cxd4 10. exd4 e4 11. Bc2 g5 12. Bg3 Bg7 13. O-O O-O {the opening was a success for Black as not only did he manage to equalize but also achieved better chances in the ensuing middlegame struggle due to the simple plan of pushing down his pawns on the kingside.} 14. b4 {starting counterplay on the queenside with ideas of kicking back the c6-knight, but it's also positionally risky as it weakens many squares.} Nh5 15. Bd6 Rd8 16. Bc5 Qc7 17. f3 e3 18. b5 ({Black is also better after} 18. Nb3 b6 19. b5 Ne5 $1 {a nice small tactic} 20. Bb4 (20. Ba3 Nc4) 20... Nc4 {transposes to the line above} 21. Qd3 f5 $17 {Black has great space advantage well-controlled by stable pieces.}) 18... b6 ({I think the simple move} 18... Na5 {also works, but Eljanov was probably concerned about White complicating things with} 19. b6 $5 (19. Nb3 b6 20. Bb4 Nc4 {transposes to the line above}) 19... Qc6 20. Nb3 {and now Black has to be careful} (20. Ba4 Qe6 21. Nb3 Nc4 $17) 20... Nc4 $1 (20... axb6 $2 21. Nxa5 bxa5 22. Rb6 Qc7 23. Qd3 {and White is suddenly better!}) 21. bxa7 Nf4 {and Black is still in control of the advantage.}) 19. bxc6 bxc5 20. Nb3 c4 21. Nc5 Nf4 22. Re1 Bf8 $1 { planning to remove White's most active piece while avoiding any counterplay.} ( {Taking the pawn right away, gives White chances to equalize after} 22... Qxc6 23. Qc1 $1 Qe8 (23... Re8 $4 24. Ba4 $18) 24. Ng3 {and the e-pawn is falling.}) 23. Ba4 ({Now the previous idea doesn't work due to} 23. Qc1 Re8 $17 {and things are under control.} 24. Ba4 $2 Nd3 $1 $19) 23... Bxc5 24. dxc5 $5 { White is faced with a tough choice in a worse situation, in which Andreikin makes a decision on practical grounds-- to be an exchange down with chances of counterplay in an oddly complex position rather than be a pawn down in a simpler position.} (24. Nxf4 gxf4 25. dxc5 Qa5 {this is the simple position that Andreikin rejected playing which anyone will most likely lose against a player of Eljanov's sytle and calibre.}) 24... Nd3 25. Nd4 Nxe1 26. Qxe1 Re8 27. h4 $5 {White will not go down without a fight! Instead of waiting for his doom, Andreikin makes sure that the Black king will also be exposed, even slightly, when his king gets attacked in the future!} Re7 28. hxg5 hxg5 29. Rb7 {a logical follow-up to his White's idea} Bxb7 30. cxb7 Rb8 {A good practical choice. Eljanov only had 16 min left to make time-control and chooses to avoid hazy positions that requires too much calculations.} ({Here's a few sample lines of how tricky and hairy things can get:} 30... Qxb7 31. Bc6 Qb8 32. Bxd5 $1 {and Black will have more problems ahead of him to solve.} (32. Bxa8 $5 { is also not that easy for Black to face otb with little time on the clock} Qxa8 33. Qg3 {and here Black has to reject the temptation to push the passed pawn to win:} f6 (33... e2 $2 34. Qxg5+ Kf8 35. Qh6+ Ke8 36. Nxe2 $1 $13 (36. Qh8+ { I know you were hoping for this!} Kd7 37. Qxa8 e1=Q+ 38. Kh2 Qh4+ 39. Kg1 Re1#) ) 34. Nf5 Re5 $1 $19 (34... Re6 $2 35. Qc7)) 32... e2 $2 33. Nc6 $16) 31. c6 Rbe8 32. Ne2 f6 ({Another good attacking move and probably better is} 32... Kg7 $1 33. Qd1 Rh8 34. Qd4+ (34. Qxd5 Qh2+ 35. Kf1 Qh1+ 36. Ng1 e2+ 37. Kf2 e1=Q#) 34... f6 35. g3 {and there are many ways to win from here e.g.} Qe5 $19) 33. Qd1 $1 {With 7 minutes left on his clock, Andreikin finds the most problematic moves. Eljanov either missed or underestimated this as it took him longer to play his next move compared to the previous ones.} Rh7 $1 {the right direction to the "puzzle solution"} 34. Qxd5+ Kg7 35. g3 {[#] With 4 minutes on the clock, which will you choose a) Rd8 then Rdh8, or b) immediate Rdh8?****************} Rd8 {After using most of his remaining time, Eljanov chose the more logical move--to force the White queen to lose control of h1 before doubling rooks. As we will see in the game, Black unfortunately has no concrete way to gain the advantage in this direction.} ({The correct solution is:} 35... Reh8 $1 36. f4 Qf7 $3 {an important move to foresee in one's analysis} 37. Qxf7+ Kxf7 38. Kg2 (38. g4 Ke6 $19 {and the passed pawns are stopped.}) 38... g4 $19 {with mate coming next. What a position! If Eljanov had more time, I have a good feeling Eljanov would have been able to figure it out.}) 36. Qe6 Rdh8 37. f4 Rh1+ 38. Kg2 R1h2+ (38... R8h2+ {is risky as one of the rooks could end up being misplaced and come late to stop the White passes pawns later.} 39. Kf3 Rf1+ 40. Kg4 {could lead to a force draw} (40. Ke4 $2 Rxe2 41. Qd7+ Qxd7 42. cxd7 Rd2 $3 43. b8=Q e2 $19) 40... Rh4+ (40... Rxe2 { Now this doesn't work anymore} 41. Qd7+ Qxd7+ 42. cxd7 Rd2 43. b8=Q e2 44. d8=Q Rxd8 45. Qc7+ $1 Kh6 46. Qxd8 e1=Q 47. Qf8+ Kg6 48. Bc2+ $18) 41. gxh4 Rxf4+ 42. Nxf4 (42. Kh3 Rxh4+ 43. Kg2 Qh2+ 44. Kf3 Qf2#) 42... Qxf4+ 43. Kh3 Qf3+ 44. Kh2 Qf2+ $11) 39. Kf3 {The beginning of another episode of the king marching towards the center! (We saw it earlier in Rapport-Wei Yi)} Rf2+ 40. Kxe3 Rhh2 { Fortunately for Andreikin, his critical moment arose after he makes the time-control! Seeing that Eljanov has lost control of the situation, Andreikin now uses all of his resources to keep himself out of trouble from here on.} 41. Bd1 $1 {best defense.} ({All other moves lose:} 41. Nd4 gxf4+ 42. Ke4 Re2+ 43. Kd5 Qa5+ 44. Kd6 Rxe6+ 45. Nxe6+ Kf7 46. b8=Q Qe5+ $19) (41. Qd7+ Qxd7 42. cxd7 Rxe2+ 43. Kf3 g4+ 44. Kxg4 Rh8 $19) 41... gxf4+ 42. Nxf4 Qb6+ {After a few commercial breaks, we now resume the king's marching show!} 43. Ke4 Qb1+ $11 { but they play on!} 44. Kd5 $1 {In this unclear complex stage, both players still display great fighting spirits!} ({The game could end in a draw now with } 44. Ke3 Qb6+ 45. Ke4 Qb1+ $11 {but they play on!}) 44... Qxd1+ 45. Kc5 Rxf4 46. Qe7+ {After trying and finding no way to play for more, Eljanov finally settles for a perpetual.} ({Another way for the game to continue was} 46. gxf4 Qg1+ (46... Rh5+ $2 {This only misplaces the rook and loses coordination with the queen.} 47. f5 Qd8 (47... Rh8 48. Qe7+ Kh6 49. Qxf6+ Kh7 50. Qxh8+ $18) 48. Qd7+ Qxd7 49. cxd7 Rh8 50. Kd6 Kf7 51. Kc7 $18) 47. Kxc4 (47. Kd6 $2 Rd2+ 48. Ke7 Qc5+ 49. Ke8 Qf8#) 47... Qf1+ 48. Kc5 {will most likely end in a perpetual too.}) (46. b8=Q $4 Rh5+ $19 {and White is forced to give up both queens!}) 46... Kg6 47. Qe8+ Kg7 {Andreikin, likewise, cannot find a way to escape checks that's favorable for him. Thus, the game logically ends in a peace treaty.} (47... Kf5 48. b8=Q $18 {now Black doesn't have a check along the 5th rank!}) 48. Qe7+ Kh6 49. Qf8+ Kh7 50. Qf7+ Kh6 51. Qf8+ Kh7 52. Qf7+ Kh6 53. Qf8+ Kh7 54. Qf7+ {This is a game with rich opening ideas, a tense middlegame struggle in which White fights to keep control of his advantage against Black's desperate attempts to create counterplay and break from the shackles of passivity, and a nerves-testing time trouble situation that gave Eljanov problems and allowed Andreikin to come back. Subsequently after time-control, Andreikin even showed ambition to win with his queening pawns by bravely walking his majesty to the middle of the board! In the end, Eljanov minimizes the damage and successfully stops Andreikin's ambitions by creating mating threats, forcing Andreikin to engage in an inescapable repetition of checks. A truly epic battle! 1/2-1/2 (54) Andreikin,D (2736)-Eljanov,P (2755) 79th Tata Steel Chess-Masters 2017 [Sadorra, Julio]} 1/2-1/2
Game of the day: Andreikin v Eljanov
Giri was unable to put any real pressure on Rapport and drew. The game between Nepomniachtchi was definitely crazy. An exchange sacrifice left the Indian's king in dire straights, but Nepo missed the finishing blow, perhaps you can find it?
This game was crazy from move seven until the very end
Wesley's move nineteen novelty against Aronian in a complicated Vienna was insufficient for a real advantage. The game simplified into a compltely drawn rook endgame quite early.
Never doubt Aronian's book
An easy draw to keep the lead, why not?
Wei Yi was the one that came very close to shaking things up in the leaderboard. Trailing So by only half a point, he had a golden opportunity to tie for first. To say that his opponent, Adhiban, was lost out of the opening, would not be an exaggeration. The Chinese's decision to simplify into a pawn-up endgame was questionable at best, and gave his opponent realistic drawing chances. The fight continued for hours and until move 85, at which point Wei Yi had to concede that there was no breaking through Adhiban's defenses.
Sometimes your job is to just sit there and grovel for six hours
Last and kind of least, Wojtaszek simply found nothing against Karjakin and the game was drawn after a repetition on move 33.
Somtimes you try, but that doesn't mean Karjakin is going to give you an inch to work with
How to not be happy with these games?
Current Masters standings
Challengers tournament
The Challengers section became even more exciting! Young Jeffery Xiong took down Gawain Jones to tie for third, only half a point of Ragger and now Ilia Smirin, who took down van Foreest!
Xiong's game was winning from the opening, but his technique was not the best. In an endgame that should have caused no troubles, he allowed his opponent to come back and even have a drawing resource:
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Challengers"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.24"] [Round "9"] [White "Xiong, Jeffery"] [Black "Jones, Gawain C B"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A62"] [WhiteElo "2667"] [BlackElo "2665"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1r6/8/P7/7R/5P1p/4PK1k/8 b - - 0 48"] [PlyCount "14"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] {[#]} 48... Rb1 49. Ra4 $4 (49. a6 Ra1 50. Rh6 {and just pushing the f-pawn wins.} Ra4 51. Rb6 Kh1 (51... Ra3 52. f4 Ra4 53. e3 Ra2+ 54. Kf3 $18) 52. Kg3) 49... Kh1 $4 (49... Rg1 $1 50. a6 Ra1 $1 {A nice stalemate trick.} 51. Rd4 Rxa6 52. f4 Rg6 {and in this line Black can extract his king from h2 and draw.}) ( 49... Ra1 50. Rd4 Rxa5 (50... Rg1 $1 51. a6 Rg2+ 52. Ke3 Rg6 53. Ra4 Kg3 54. a7 h2 55. a8=Q h1=Q {with a likely draw as White can't use his extra tempo.}) 51. f4 {also makes White's life more complicated, but should be winning.}) 50. a6 h2 51. a7 Rf1+ 52. Ke3 Kg2 53. Rg4+ Kh1 54. a8=Q Rxf3+ 55. Qxf3# 1-0
A great day for Jeffery Xiong, as not only did he win his game, but it was announced that he was chosen as the 2017 Samford Fellow! This prestigious fellowship allows young grandmasters and aspiring grandmasters to pursue their chess career without financial concern. It is designed to foster future American World Champions. You can read what that's about in this link. Let's just say, it's a big deal.
Smirin's win was quite precise, and very cold-blooded:
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Challengers"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.24"] [Round "9"] [White "Van Foreest, Jorden"] [Black "Smirin, Ilia"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "2612"] [BlackElo "2667"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r4rk1/4p1b1/p1ppq1p1/5b1n/2pP4/P1N1BN2/1PP3Q1/2K3RR w - - 0 21"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] {[#]} 21. Bd2 {It seems that White has excellent winning chances: He is down two pawns, but the threats on the kingside seem to be insurmountable. Smirin turns that on its head.} Be4 $1 22. Nxe4 Qxe4 23. Rxh5 Rxf3 24. Rg5 Raf8 $1 { It was mandatory to have found this move before embarking on Be4. It seems that Rxg6 is decisive, but Black has an ace up his sleeve.} 25. Rxg6 (25. Re1 { was better, but hindsight is 20/20.}) 25... Rf1+ $1 {The point.} 26. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 27. Qxf1 Qxg6 28. Qxc4+ d5 $1 {And this is the real key. Any other move and the position is about equal, but now White has to be careful of his back rank as well as of the pawn on d4. He cannot do both.} 29. Qf1 $6 (29. Qe2 Qg1+ 30. Be1 Bxd4 $15) 29... Bxd4 30. Bc3 Qg1 31. Qxg1+ Bxg1 {And black went on to win.} 32. Kd2 Kf7 33. Kd3 Ke6 34. Bb4 Kf6 35. a4 e5 36. Bf8 e4+ 37. Ke2 d4 38. Bd6 Be3 39. c3 Bc1 40. cxd4 Bxb2 41. Ke3 Ke6 42. Bc5 Kd5 43. Bb6 Bc1+ 44. Ke2 Kc4 45. a5 e3 46. Ba7 Bd2 47. Bb6 Kb5 48. d5 cxd5 49. Kd3 Bxa5 50. Bxe3 Bb6 51. Bc1 a5 52. Bb2 a4 53. Kc3 d4+ 54. Kd3 Kb4 55. Bc1 Kb3 {Kxd4} 0-1
An excited fan gets Dobrov's autograph
The amateur section going on strong
And what would be chess without analysis and an appropiate beverage to accompany it?
Hansen made quick work of Dobrov's French, keeping up the pressure through the entire game and winning without any questions asked.
This game was also rather one sided, as White's pressure remained from the opening to the endgame and l'Ami beat Guramashvili
Bok drew his game in a relatively solid performance
The games are being 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 14 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.
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