1/29/2017 – It is a 56 non-losing streak. It is his second super-tournament victory in two months. He is the new #2 player in the World. Wesley So has rocked the chess world, and he finished Tata Steel on a brilliant note. His rival, Ian Nepomniachtchi, threw the kitchen sink against him, but the American crushed his opponent and won the tournament. In the Challengers Gawain Jones emerges winner.
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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 from the official website. Games annotated by GM Georg Meier and Alejandro Ramirez.
Masters tournament
Round 13 - Sunday, January 29
Andreikin, D.
1-0
Aronian, L.
Wei, Y.
0-1
Wojtaszek, R.
Nepomniachtchi, I.
0-1
So, W.
Carlsen, M.
½-½
Karjakin, S.
Giri, A.
½-½
Eljanov, P.
Rapport, R.
0-1
Adhiban, B.
Van Wely, L.
1-0
Harikrishna, P.
What an exciting conclusion to Wijk aan Zee! The traditional Tata Steel tournament has a certain magic to it, in all the years I've had the pleasure of covering this event, or playing in it once, it simply does not seem that there was a single dull edition! Even today, the last day of the event, was marked with fighting and aggressive chess.
Quick review of round 13
Quick impressions of the last round
A legend stopped by today, Anatoly Karpov not only visited, but joined Yasser Seirawan in the commentary booth!
We start the day with the quickest game, and quite honestly, a bit of a letdown as it determined the winner of the 2017 Tata Steel too early. Ian Nepomniachtchi went all-in, but Wesley So just tore him to pieces, as Georg Meier shows us:
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.29"] [Round "13"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D00"] [WhiteElo "2767"] [BlackElo "2808"] [Annotator "ChessBase"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] {After such a long event, I believe that the last round can be fraught with emotions, especially for the players who feel like they suffered through their tournament. I suspect that Nepo brought quite a bit of frustration to the board and desperately wanted to redeem himself.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. dxc5 e6 5. e4 h6 6. Bh4 dxe4 7. Qe2 Qa5 8. O-O-O $6 {19th-century-style} ({ After} 8. c3 Nbd7 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Qxc5 11. Nf3 Be7 {it is about to look like a Rubinstein-French - my pet opening. Black would be close to equality and certainly Ian was in no mood for this.}) 8... Qxa2 9. Qb5+ $4 {The queen goes to no-man´s-land, and I just can´t see any point to it. I guess Ian gave in to another impulse.} ({Of course White should eliminate the knight and recapture on e4, but after} 9. Bxf6 Qa1+ 10. Nb1 gxf6 11. Qxe4 a6 $1 {stopping Bb5, Black has no reason to worry - the bishop pair is an asset and White has no initiative.} 12. Nf3 Nd7) 9... Nbd7 10. c6 (10. Bxf6 a6 $1 {just kills White´s clumsy coordination}) 10... bxc6 11. Qxc6 Bb7 $1 12. Qxb7 Qa1+ 13. Nb1 Rb8 {And that´s it - game over!} 14. Qxb8+ Nxb8 15. Bb5+ Nfd7 16. Ne2 Be7 17. Bxe7 Kxe7 18. Nd4 Nc5 19. h4 Rd8 20. Rh3 Nd3+ 21. Bxd3 Rxd4 22. Be2 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Qa5 24. Nd2 f5 25. Rg3 Qe5 26. Ra3 Nc6 27. g3 Qd4 28. Re3 Nb4 0-1
Danny King analyzes the game of the day
Nepo wielded his Rapier without any Aegis, and his king was the one that was demolished
Wesley So, as gracious a winner as one can imagine
Georg Meier with the full insight:
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.29"] [Round "13"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C54"] [WhiteElo "2840"] [BlackElo "2785"] [Annotator "ChessBase"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. Bg5 {Magnus is exploring these positions from all possible angles. In the recent match against Sergey he tried this line with the B on b5.} d6 (6... h6 7. Bh4 Be7 {is a frequent reaction, defusing any worries about the pin and anticipating a welcome exchange of dark-squared bishops.}) 7. Nbd2 h6 8. Bh4 g5 $2 {According to Karjakin´s tweet "Loran" Fressinet told him Nxg5 never works in the Italian. I am quite sure that Magnus´s on- and off-second informed his boss about the exceptions!} 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Kg7 11. Qf3 Be6 {Armed with engines, many wrote Karjakin off already. But in the meantime, Wesley So was running away with tournament victory as Nepomniachtchi had already(!) self-destructed. I am sure this unsettled Magnus...} 12. b4 $2 (12. Bd5 $1 {This creates a terrible bind, since Black is at pains to defuse the pin. Nb8-d7 is the only maneover left to do so, but drops the exchange.} Nb8 (12... a5 13. O-O-O Nb8 14. Qg3 Nbd7 15. d4 exd4 16. cxd4 Bxd4 17. Nf3 Bc5 18. Bxf6+ Kxf6 19. Qg5#) 13. Qxf6+ Qxf6 14. Bxf6+ Kxf6 15. Bxb7 Nd7 16. Bxa8 Rxa8 17. b4 Bb6 18. Ke2 {With 3 pawns and a rook for 2 pieces, White of course has a significant edge, but some difficulties remain, as the White rooks won´t be active for a long time.} ) (12. O-O-O $2 {Allows a main defensive idea:} Bxc4 13. Nxc4 Qe7 {And the queen gets to e6 - consolidating.}) 12... Bb6 13. Bd5 a5 $1 {Given a second lease on life Karjakin is going to play very well from here on. A main reason for him being dubbed "World Defense Champion" by colleague Giri and others must be that he seems so unaffected by his mistakes. He can commit the most despicable errors and then show world-class toughness from the next second!} 14. b5 Nb8 {Not only will the rook not drop, but Black has secured squares on the queenside forever. Stable squares are very significant in all types of positions with light against heavy pieces.} 15. Bxb7 Ra7 (15... Nbd7 16. Bc6 Rb8 17. Nc4) 16. Bd5 $2 {Allowing Black to overprotect f6.} (16. Bc6 $1 { Was definitely stronger, and may give great winning chances, but Black´s position is still full of eye-popping resources.} Nxc6 17. bxc6 Ra8 18. h4 Rh8 19. d4 $1 (19. Nc4 {Slow play is not enough, after} Bc5 20. h5 Rh6 21. Ne3 Bxe3 22. Qxe3 Qh8 23. Bxh6+ Qxh6 24. Qxh6+ Kxh6 {Black is very well coordinated.}) 19... exd4 $1 (19... Rh6 20. d5 Bc8 21. Nc4 Bc5 22. Bxh6+ Kxh6 23. Ne3 { looks hopeless for Black.}) 20. e5 dxe5 21. Ne4 Nxe4 22. Bxd8 f5 {Here we have a complete mess and direct attempts appear to run into powerful counterplay.} 23. Be7 $1 {The sane approach, just sticking to the material.} (23. g4 { Opening literally all the gates, but Black can respond in kind!} d3 $1 24. Bxc7 d2+ 25. Kd1 Bxc7 26. gxf5 Bd5 27. Rg1+ Kf7 28. Rg6 {Looks like Black ran out of steam?} Rab8 {Reinforcements!} 29. c4 (29. Kc2 Rb5 {calmly doubling on the b-file!}) 29... Rb2 30. cxd5 Rxh4 31. Rh6 $1 Rg4 $1 (31... Rxh6 $4 32. Qxe4 $18 ) 32. Rh7+ Kf6 33. Rh1 Rf4 34. Rh6+ Kg7 35. Rh7+ Kxh7 36. Qh5+ $11) (23. Bg5 Nxg5 24. Qg3 $1 {Neat, but not quite enough.} Kf7 25. Qxg5 Rag8 26. Qd2 dxc3 27. Qe2 {Black only has 2 bishops for the queen, but wonderful coordination after} Rg4 $1 28. O-O-O Re4 {and White is obliged to part with an important pawn or go:} 29. Qc2 (29. Qb5 Bxf2) 29... Bc5 30. Rd7+ Kf6 31. h5 Ba3+ 32. Kd1 Bb4 33. a3 Bxd7 34. cxd7 Rd4+ 35. Ke1 Rd2 36. Qc1 c2 37. axb4 Rd1+ 38. Qxd1 cxd1=Q+ 39. Kxd1 axb4 $11) 23... Kf7 24. Ba3 d3 25. O-O-O $1 (25. Rf1 d2+ 26. Kd1 Rad8) 25... Nxf2 26. g4 $1 Nxg4 (26... Rad8 27. c4 $1) 27. Qxd3 Kf6 28. h5 {sees White consolidating without having to give up much material yet. Whenever neccesary, an exchange will be sacrificed to extinguish the counterplay.}) 16... Nbd7 17. Nc4 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qe8 {Black has consolidated and will be able to untangle gradually.} 19. Ne3 Rg8 20. O-O Nh7 21. Nf5+ Kh8 { Relative safety, finally.} 22. Bh4 Ra8 23. Rae1 f6 {It´s hard to formulate a plan for White here, while Black will just keep on improving his position, until opportunities come up.} 24. Re4 Nc5 {Karjakin felt its time to invite a repetition.} (24... Qf7 $5 25. Nh6 Qg6 26. Nxg8 Rxg8 {and again, Black´s position seems easier to play, at the very least.}) 25. Re3 Nd7 26. d4 $5 { I don´t think White holds an advantage at this point, but as everybody knows, Magnus wants to fight it out!} Qg6 $1 {I like the concept of giving up a rook for the very strong Nf5. After that Black´s position becomes very solid.} 27. Ne7 Qg4 28. Nxg8 Rxg8 29. Qxg4 Rxg4 30. g3 exd4 $2 {Opening files should be done with great care only, when opposing the rooks. And here Black could just regroup to go after the stranded - but nagging - Bh4 first.} (30... Nhf8 31. h3 (31. Rd1 exd4 32. cxd4 Ng6) 31... exd4 32. Re8 Rg8 33. cxd4 Ng6) 31. cxd4 Bxd4 32. Re8+ {Of course White infiltrates immediately} Rg8 33. Re7 {Mysterious - Exchanging Black´s rook would greatly weaken the defense.} (33. Rxg8+ $142 Kxg8 34. Kg2 Nhf8 35. g4 Ng6 36. Bg3 $14) 33... Rg7 34. Re4 Ne5 35. Kg2 Bb6 36. f4 Ng6 37. Kh3 $2 {Here Carlsen passed up on his last chance to force the favourable rook-exchange.} (37. Re8+ Rg8 38. Rxg8+ Kxg8 39. f5 (39. Kh3) 39... Ne7 40. g4 Nxd5 41. Bf2 Bxf2 42. Kxf2 Ng5 43. Re1 Kf8 44. h4 Nf7 {Black may hold, but he has to suffer without counterplay.}) 37... Kg8 38. Rfe1 Kf7 { It´s hard to play constructively as White here, which usually means that the opponent will in a practical game make progress one way or another.} 39. Re6 Rg8 40. R1e4 f5 41. Re2 Rh8 {Black is step by step improving his position and would eventually shatter White´s pawn structure and try to go after the weak pawns one by one.} 42. a4 Kg7 43. Rxg6+ $1 {A very very important decision! Carlsen used his last chance to disturb Black´s regroupment, and secures activity for his remaining pieces.} (43. Re7+ $1 Nxe7 44. Rxe7+ {is the same}) ({while} 43. Re8 $2 Nhf8 {would leave White helpless already.}) 43... Kxg6 44. Re6+ Kf7 45. Re7+ Kg8 (45... Kg6 $5 46. Re6+ Kh5 {looks awkward, as the Black king is not that far from a mating net, but some calculation shows that Black is in time to regroup after} 47. Be7 Bd4 48. Kg2 Re8 49. Kf3 {(h3-g4 would be a big threat...)} Nf6 50. Bxf6 Rxe6 51. dxe6 Bxf6 {and clearly only Black would have winning chances.} {Still, White survives with perfect play:} 52. h3 Kg6 53. Ke3 Bb2 54. g4 fxg4 55. hxg4 Kf6 56. f5 d5 57. g5+ Ke7 58. g6 $11) 46. Kg2 Nf8 47. Bg5 Rh7 48. Re8 Kf7 49. Rd8 {Black has no space to regroup now.} Kg8 50. Re8 Rf7 51. Bh6 Rf6 52. Bg5 ({Even} 52. Rxf8+ Rxf8 53. Bxf8 Kxf8 { is a fortress for White.}) 52... Rf7 53. Bh6 {What a full-blooded struggle, after the game seemed to be almost over early on! Karjakin´s self-composure is admirable time and again.} 1/2-1/2
This left other important games in the mix fighting for second place. The most highly anticipated game before the tournament was likely the Carlsen-Karjakin rematch from the World Championship, and it was quite a sharp affair. The World Champion essayed an early piece sacrifice, and through the material imbalance chaos was created on the board. White pushed a bit too hard, turning a slightly better position into clearly worse, and Sergey Karjakin found himself with some winning chances, but was unable to convert.
These guys used to play each other back in the 80s! Now they are enjoying some top level chess by the new generation.
This game got a bit more attention than the other boards. Even Jeffery is watching!
Down the list on the people fighting for second, Levon Aronian suffered a very big setback as he was soundly outplayed by Dmitri Andreikin. I especially enjoyed the final winning maneuver:
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.29"] [Round "13"] [White "Andreikin, Dmitry"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "2736"] [BlackElo "2780"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/2R5/1n2r1pk/4Pp2/1P1P3p/n7/5PK1/2R5 w - - 0 42"] [PlyCount "17"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] {[#]} 42. R7c5 $1 {A brilliant waiting move! It also heavily restricts the a3 knight.} (42. R7c6 Rxc6 43. Rxc6 Nd5 44. Rc5 Nxb4 45. e6 Kg7 {is extremely murky, and it's likely White isn't even better any more.}) 42... Kh5 43. Rc6 $1 {This is the point! The endgame is now winning easily.} Rxc6 44. Rxc6 Nd5 45. Rc5 Nf4+ (45... Nxb4 46. e6 {and no one is catching the e-pawn.}) 46. Kh1 g5 47. b5 {The knights are powerless against the pawns.} Nxb5 48. Rxb5 g4 49. d5 h3 50. e6 1-0
Every player here is dangerous!
Meanwhile Wei Yi committed total suicide against Radoslaw Wojtaszek. The young Chinese refused a three-fold repetition when he had the chance, trying to play for the win. Then it was the Polish player's turn to refuse another three-fold some moves later, and this chaotic position arose:
A grueling fight to the bitter end
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.29"] [Round "13"] [White "Wei, Yi"] [Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C88"] [WhiteElo "2706"] [BlackElo "2750"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "5k2/5qp1/p4pRp/P3pP2/3rP3/3pB2P/1P2nQPK/8 w - - 0 60"] [PlyCount "22"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] {[#]} 60. Qe1 $2 (60. Bxd4 exd4 61. e5 Qc7 (61... fxe5 62. Rxa6 $5 (62. Qf3 { gives White at least enough counterplay here.})) 62. Qf3 $1 Qxe5+ 63. g3 { and the threat of the perpetual cannot be avoided.}) 60... Rxe4 61. Qd2 Rxe3 ( 61... Qd5 {was cleaner, but who is counting?}) 62. Qxe3 Qd7 {Now White has no perpetual possibilities and the pawn on d3 is a monster. The rook on g6, without the possibilities of breaks on f6, seems completely stuck and out of place.} 63. Qb6 Nf4 64. Rg3 d2 65. Qb8+ Kf7 66. Qb3+ Qd5 67. Qd1 e4 68. Qg4 g5 69. fxg6+ Kg7 70. Rc3 Qd6 {Black queens next move.} 0-1
With just these results, Carlsen secured second place in the tournament, a full point behind So. Tied for third were Aronian and Wei Yi, also joined by another winner today, Adhiban Baskaran. To put that game in a nutshell, Rapport played a Rapport opening, got a horrible position, and lost with little fight.
Adhiban Baskaran won 29 points and shared third in Wijk aan Zee. Not bad for a qualifier from the Challengers!
The game between Anish Giri and Pavel Eljanov was relatively balanced all throughout. True, Giri enjoyed a small advantage the entire game, but it's hard to say he had a clear winning idea at any point. Last, but not least, Loek Van Wely scored his first win of the tournament by completely blowing Pentala Harikrishna off the board. A bad opening by the Indian player landed him in hot water very quickly, and the Dutch player mopped up with good technique.
Anna Rudolf, the press officer, with her good friend Sopiko Guramashvili
Welsey So's family has been a huge influence in his meteoric recent rise
Some young ones snuck in to catch a glimpse! Or to attract the camera's attention...
There is no doubt that Wesley So has exhibited the best chess out of anyone in the World the past couple of months. His clean victories in London and Wijk aan Zee have catapulted his rating to new heights. He won another 14 rating points in Tata Steel, which would still put him behind Fabiano Caruana, but since his compatriot is having a terrible Gibraltar Open (losing to Nigel Short today and dropping 10 rating points) it is now the Filipino-American that sits as the number two player in the World in the live rating list.
Current Masters standings
Challengers tournament
Round 13 - Sunday, January 29
van Foreest, J.
½-½
Grandelius, N.
l'Ami, E.
½-½
Ragger, M.
Xiong, J.
½-½
Bok, B.
Tingjie, L.
0-1
Tari, A.
Hansen, E.
1-0
Smirin, I
Dobrov, V.
1-0
Guramishvili, S.
Lu, S.
½-½
Jones, G.
The Challengers had a thrilling end. With several players still trying to win the tournament and qualifying for next year's Masters (be next year's Adhiban!), the pressure was on. It truly came down to a bit of luck for everyone, especially considering the strange tiebreak situations that could arise.
Lu Shanglei was winning against Gawain Jones. He wasn't winning once or twice, but basically most of the game, and it was out of some combination of sheer luck and magic that Jones was able to save the game. With this result, Jones moved to 9.0/13.
A bit of luck never hurt anyone. Gawain had very bad luck losing to Swiercz at the end of the 2016 Millionaire. Some kind of chess Karma?!
Ragger had a solid draw against l'Ami, a game in which nothing much happened except massive trades. With this result, Ragger also moved to 9.0/13. Now for the interesting part.
This kid's live rating is 2673. He is 16 years old.
Ragger needed Smirin or Xiong to win to shake up the tiebreaks
If Jeffery Xiong or Ilia Smirin won their games, they also would have reached 9.0/13. Smirin was simply annihilated by Canada's Eric Hansen, and there was never a question that Smirin was going down. That left the complicated game between Jeffery Xiong and Benjamin Bok. The players fought it out, but White was simply never better, and the game ended in a draw. Had Jeffery won, we would've had a mess in our hands, but with these results, the tiebreak was clear: direct encounter. Jones defeated Ragger in the tournament and he qualifies for the 2018 Masters!
l'Ami was solid with 7.0/13
Sopiko Guramashvili went 13 games without winning one. The author of this article also knows exactly how that feels like (2005 Wijk aan Zee) and thus, sympathizes heavily.
And, the qualifier to the Challengers is van Foreest. No, not Jorden, but his brother, Lucas!
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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