1/16/2017 – After a lukewarm opening round, the action picked up with no fewer than three wins in the Masters. The first and foremost was Carlsen, who repeated Karjakin's offbeat 6.a3!? from round one to beat Wojtaszek, but not to be outdone, Pavel Eljanov notched a second straight win, beating Loek Van Wely for a perfect 2.0/2. The Indians dueled with Pentala Harikrishna taking the full point. In the Challengers, Markus Ragger has 100%. Full report with analyses by GM Alex Yermolinsky.
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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 Serget 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 2 - Sunday, January 15
Aronian, L.
½-½
Wei, Y.
Nepomniachtchi, I.
½-½
Andreikin, D.
Carlsen, M.
1-0
Wojtaszek, R.
Giri, A.
½-½
So, W.
Rapport, R.
½-½
Karjakin, S.
Van Wely, L.
0-1
Eljanov, P.
Harikrishna, P.
1-0
Adhiban, B.
One minute of video impressions of round two
The second round of Tata Steel was certainly a step in the right direction as far as the fans were concerned. After a very tepid opening round, round two saw things heat up with not only three decisive games, but a lot more fight to be seen in the boards. There were also a number of intriguing moments to be seen, notably in openings play.
Daniel King gives a quick recap of the Masters
There is little doubt that once again the center of attention was board one with world number one, Magnus Carlsen. He faced Polish GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek with whom he shares a bit of history, notably at Wijk aan Zee. Back in the 2015 edition, Carlsen lost to the Polish player after a difficult Dutch defense saw him lose a piece after 29 moves. Though he did avenge himself later that year in a brilliant win during the Tromso Olympiad, Wojtaszek had to be wondering whether he could repeat his success this time.
Magnus caught Radoslaw off-guard with his opening play, and never let his opponent recover his balance
It seemed like it would be a ‘normal’ game when the Polish player played 5…a6 to initiate a Najdorf, but it is quite impossible for him to have predicted Magnus Carlsen would repeat Sergey Karjakin’s odd experiment from round one.
The only reason why I played 6.a3 against @anishgiri is that I forgot adaptor for my laptop and I urgently had to create a new ideas😆😆😆
Sergey Karjakin himself denied it was the product of any special preparation, with this tongue-in-cheek Tweet
GM Alex Yermolinsky analyzes Carlsen-Karjakin
[Event "79th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2017.01.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Wojtaszek, R."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2840"] [BlackElo "2750"] [Annotator "Alex Yermolinsky"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2017.01.13"] {Some experts believe that Rado must be a tough opponent for Magnus. Part of it is Wojtaszek's experience as Vishy Anand's primary opening theory specialist during his preparation for the World Championship matches, which we assume included their going over every game Carlsen ever played. There's also a memorable upset win Radoslaw scored two years ago on the same stage at the 2015 Tata Steel tournament.} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3 $5 {Just like that Carlsen goes off the theoretical path as early as on Move 6, repeating Karjakin's experiment from round one. We can safely assume Wojtaszek was not prepared to face it.} e5 {It is largely a matter of taste. Rado goes the Najdorf way,} ({while some of us would prefer the Scheveningen Variation after} 6... e6 7. f4 Nc6 8. Nf3) 7. Nf5 ({Much more common is} 7. Nf3 {if the word "common" can be applied to the 6.a3 line at all. Russian GM Dvoyris played it a couple of times, and there also was a recent blitz game Harikrishna-Giri. All in all, the white pawn on a3 does not look out of place, and a tempo spend on that move is the same tempo White often loses by stopping over on e3 with his DSB on its way to g5.}) 7... d5 8. Bg5 d4 9. Bxf6 Qxf6 $2 {I ablosutely loathe this move. In the name of preserving his pawn structure intact Black invites another White knight to come up to the center of the board.} (9... gxf6 10. Ne2 Qb6 ({or} 10... Qa5+ 11. Qd2 Qxd2+ 12. Kxd2 Be6) 11. Rb1 (11. b4 a5 $132) 11... Be6 12. Qc1 Nd7 {has to be absolutely fine for Black.}) 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. Qg4 $1 {Carlsen immediately hits on the right idea.} Bxf5 ({The point was to answer} 11... g6 {with} 12. Qg3 Nc6 13. Nxd4 $1) 12. Qxf5 {Already here it became painfully clear that White will win this game. Magnus always wins when he can get his pieces to safe squares, and the opponent doesn't have any dynamic possibilities.} Bd6 13. h4 $5 Nc6 14. Bc4 b5 15. Bb3 Ne7 16. Qg4 O-O 17. Rh3 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Ra7 19. Rg3 Qf6 20. a4 { This move indicates Magnus's desire to open a second front. He must have felt his K-side intiative alone wouldn't be enough.} Bb4+ $2 {And Wojtaszek just plays along!} (20... b4 {had to be the right move simply because it does not accommodate the opponent's intentions.}) 21. Kf1 bxa4 22. Rxa4 a5 23. Ra1 Rc7 24. Bb3 Ra8 25. Kg1 Bf8 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qg4 Ra6 28. h5 Qf4 29. Qe2 Qf6 30. Qb5 Qc6 $4 ({I don't see anything wrong with.} 30... Rc5) 31. Qxe5 Re7 32. Qf4 a4 33. Bd5 Qc7 34. Qd2 Qb6 35. Ra2 Rc7 36. Rf3 Qb4 37. Qe2 Rb6 38. hxg6 hxg6 39. g3 Kg7 40. Kg2 Rd7 41. Qd1 Rf6 42. Rxf6 Kxf6 43. c3 dxc3 44. Rxa4 {We have seen enough games like this. What are these guys thinking playing passively against Magnus Carlsen?} 1-0
GM Alex Yermolinsky was hardly the only player fascinated by this struggle, and GM Daniel King also weighed in on the struggle that took place.
GM Daniel King analyzes Carlsen-Wojtaszek
The players stroll around in a coordinated pas-de-trois
Needless to say, the ultimate expert from whom one hopes to gain insight from is of course the player himself. Here Magnus Carlsen shares some quick notes with Anna Rudolf on his victory in round two.
Pavel Eljanov brought back memories of his incredible start at the Baku World Cup a couple of years ago, when he started with 6 wins against 2700 average rated players. He notched his second win in round two, outclassing Loek Van Wely. Pavel Eljanov is now the sole leader with 2.0/2.
GM Alex Yermolinsky analyzes Loek Van Wely - Pavel Eljanov
[Event "79th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2017.01.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Van Wely, L."] [Black "Eljanov, P."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2695"] [BlackElo "2755"] [Annotator "Alex Yermolinsky"] [PlyCount "88"] [EventDate "2017.01.13"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. Bg2 c6 { This line is popularized by GM Tiviakov.} 8. O-O d5 9. Bf4 {Loek must have considered this option in his home prep.} (9. Qb3 O-O 10. Rfd1 Nbd7 11. Rac1 { was Ding Liren-Eljanov, Tata Steel 2016}) 9... dxc4 10. Ne5 Nd5 11. Nxc4 Nxf4 12. gxf4 {White got his pawn back and keeps a better center. Nonetheless his position is compromised by the gxf4 recapture.} Nd7 13. e3 O-O 14. Rc1 Rc8 15. Qb3 Rc7 16. Rfd1 Nf6 17. Ne5 Nd5 18. Ne4 f6 {Eljanov begins to evict White's knights, but his real intention is to play g7-g5!} 19. Nd3 f5 20. Nd2 ({ I'd prefer a safer approach with} 20. Nc3 Bd6 21. Ne5 g5 22. Nxd5 cxd5 (22... exd5 23. Nxc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6) 23. Rxc7 Bxc7 {At least White gets to trade some pieces.}) 20... Kh8 (20... g5 21. fxg5 Bxg5 22. Nf3 Kh8 23. Kh1 Rg8 24. Rg1 Bf6 25. Nfe5 c5 {It seems to be the black king is relatively safe on h8, while his white counterpart is nervously anticipating hard times after Rxg2! With careful play White may be able to avoid the worst:} 26. dxc5 bxc5 27. Bf3) 21. Kh1 c5 22. dxc5 Bxc5 23. Nf3 Qa8 24. Nde5 Nf6 25. Kg1 (25. Qxe6 {loses on the spot to} Ng4 26. Kg1 Nxe5) 25... Bd5 26. Qa4 Bd6 27. Rxc7 Bxc7 28. Ne1 Bxe5 29. fxe5 Ne4 30. Rd4 {This appears artificial.} (30. Rc1 Qb7 31. Qc2 Ng5 32. f4 $15 ) 30... Rc8 31. Nd3 h6 32. h4 {White needed to create luft for his king in order to prepare his intended Nd3-f4, but the price of weakening the K-side is too steep.} Kh7 33. Nf4 $2 (33. Qd7 {This opportunity was always there, but Loek neglected it even when he needed it the most. I can't believe he was concerned with} Bxa2 $6 {We don't care for such nonsense:} 34. Bxe4 fxe4 35. Nf4 {etc.}) 33... Rc1+ 34. Kh2 Qd8 35. Nh3 (35. Kh3 {was the only try, but who wants to give a pawn with check?}) 35... Qxh4 36. Qe8 Rc4 37. Rxd5 exd5 38. Qf7 Qg4 39. e6 Ng5 40. Nxg5+ Qxg5 41. Bh3 Rh4 42. f3 f4 43. exf4 Rxf4 44. Qc7 Rc4 { Pavel is at 2/2 at the start!} 0-1
Although both were team mates on the strong Indian team at the Olympiad in Baku, there was no holding back punches here as Pentala Harikrishna, world no. 12, overcame his compatriot Adhiban.
IM Sagar Shah analyzes Pentala Harikrishna - Baskaran Adhiban
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Black "Adhiban, Baskaran"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [BlackElo "2653"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 1. e4 {0} e5 {5} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {4} 3. Bb5 {6 This time Harikrishna chooses the Ruy Lopez over Guioco Piano. The latter he used successfully to beat Sergey Karjakin at the Olympiad.} a6 {5} 4. Ba4 {6} Nf6 {4} 5. O-O {29} b5 {8} 6. Bb3 {9} Bc5 $5 {1 The Arkhangelsk Variation of the Ruy Lopez which is much more active than the closed Ruy Lopez, but also riskier.} 7. c3 {326} d6 {5} 8. d4 {21} Bb6 {6} 9. Be3 {236} O-O {9} (9... Nxe4 10. Bd5 $18) 10. h3 {86} (10. Nbd2 {is more common.}) 10... exd4 {666 Adhiban has already played this before against Kuzubov in 2011, but he thought for 11 minutes which means that he wasn't expecting this line.} 11. cxd4 {23} Nxe4 {11 Seeing that nothing is wrong with grabbing the pawn, Adhiban goes ahead.} 12. Bd5 {618 Harikrishna also thought for 10 minutes recollecting his lines.} Qe8 $1 {5} 13. Qc2 {28} Nb4 {19} 14. Qxe4 {12} Qxe4 {3} 15. Bxe4 {10} d5 {2 And the bishop is trapped in a very novel manner.} 16. Bxh7+ {122} Kxh7 {2 Overall it would seem that the central e4 pawn is much more important than the h7 pawn. And this is true. Black has a very comfortable position. But it's a complex middlegame, so both sides have to play accurately.} 17. Nc3 {175} c6 {1426 23 minutes for the move c6. Adhiban would have surely been looking at ...Nc2 options. Finally he didn't like them and continued with this little pawn move.} (17... Nc2 18. Rac1 Nxe3 19. fxe3 Bb7 20. Ne5 {Somehow I feel that the bishops are a tad too passive.}) 18. Rad1 {1329} a5 {1273} 19. a3 {576} Nc2 {345} 20. Rd2 {386} Nxe3 {353} 21. fxe3 {10 The computers like Black's position because of the bishop pair. Objectively the position is equal. But with all these imbalances, the situation is rich and the better player has chances to outplay his opponent.} f6 {188} 22. Rc1 {26} Bd7 {53} 23. Kf2 {117 Hari just makes normal, natural moves, not worrying about what he is trying to achieve in the position. If his pieces are on good squares something will turn up. That being said Adhiban has nothing to worry. His position is at least equal, maybe even slightly better.} Rae8 {24} 24. Ne2 {230} Re7 {116} (24... g5 $5 $15) 25. Nf4 {45} Rfe8 {291} ( 25... g5 26. Nd3 Kg7 27. Nc5 Bf5 $15) 26. Re2 {159} g5 {27} 27. Nd3 {25} Kg7 { 134} 28. Nc5 {601} Bf5 {22} 29. Ree1 {459} Kg6 {335} (29... Rh8 $1 {Makes sense in order to prevent g4.} 30. g4 Bc8 {The h3 pawn is weak.} 31. Rh1 Bxc5 $1 32. dxc5 (32. Rxc5 Bxg4 $15) 32... Kg6 33. Nd4 Bd7 $11 {Black doesn't have any reali problems.}) 30. Nd2 {128} (30. g4 Bc8 31. h4 $5 Bxg4 32. hxg5 Bxf3 33. gxf6 Rh7 34. Kxf3 $11) 30... Kg7 {75} 31. Nf3 {98} Kg6 {165 Adhiban must have felt that Hari would be fine with a draw. After all it's not so easy to make progress. But Harikrishna fights on.} 32. g4 {180} Bc8 {32} 33. Nd3 {6} Bd7 {285} (33... Rc7 $5 {makes sense in order to take on g4 when h4 is played.} ) 34. h4 $1 {84 Very alert.} gxh4 {279} 35. Nxh4+ {249} Kg5 {204 The king has to move in. But as we already know, the knight are tricky creatures. Hence, Black must remain careful.} (35... Kh7 36. Nf5 Bxf5 37. gxf5 Rc7 38. Rh1+ Kg7 39. Rcg1+ $19) 36. Nf3+ {101} Kxg4 {157 Good or bad, this pawn had to taken.} ( 36... Kg6 37. g5 $1 fxg5 38. Nde5+ Kf5 39. Rg1 $16) 37. Rh1 $1 {230 The black king is beginning to feel uncomfortable. Two knights and two rooks are trying to trap it.} Kf5 {225 Adhiban's king makes a dash.} 38. Rh5+ {46} Ke6 {31} ( 38... Kg6 39. Nf4+ Kf7 40. Rg1 $16) 39. Rh6 {299} Kf5 $2 {250} (39... Kf7 40. Nf4 (40. Rg1 Bf5 $19) 40... Rg8 41. Nh5 Rg6 42. Rh7+ Kf8 43. Rh8+ Kf7 $11) 40. Nh4+ {0} Kg5 {138} (40... Ke4 41. Rc3 $1 {The threat now is to take on f6.} ( 41. Ke2 $5 Bxd4 $1 42. Nf2+ Ke5 43. Nf3+ Kd6 44. Nxd4 Rxe3+ 45. Kd2 $16) 41... Rf7 42. Rh5 {Nf3-d2 looks deadly.} Bg4 43. Kf1 $1 Kxe3 44. Nf2+ Kd2 45. Nxg4 $18) (40... Ke6 41. Nf4+ Kd6 42. Rxf6+ Kc7 43. Nxd5+ $18) 41. Rg6+ {84} Kxh4 { 29} 42. Rh1+ {9} Bh3 {4} 43. Rg3 {10 Not often do you see the Lawnmower's mate at such a high level! A very interesting game where Harikrishna showed that practically he is a stronger player.} 1-0
Many thanks to IM Sagar Shah from ChessBase India for sharing his analysis with ChessBase.com readers.
A delighted Harikrishna tweeted, "Got my first win in #tatachessmasters. Beat Adhiban in a tight game. 11 more to go in this elite championship..."
Pentala Harikrishna gives a quick interview after his win
Anish Giri's ultra-prophylaxy led him to exchange queens on move ten, and the rest was drawstory. This opened him up to gentle, but pointed jibes, such as Nigel Short tweeting, "You've got to love Anish Giri - he is like a turbo-charged Peter Leko."
Levon Aronian got nowhere against the 17-year-old Wei Yi who neutralized any ambitions the Armenian might have
Richard Rapport is anything but dull in chess, and though he drew against Sergey Karjakin, it was not without interest as the two players struggled to make things happen. Here he discusses his game and his playing style.
A small phrase of the day from Fernando Arribal, "All chess players are artists"
Round two games of Masters
(Some of the games contain tweets posted by interesting and interested parties, during or immediately after the round)
Current Masters standings
Challengers tournament
Round 2 - Sunday, January 15
Grandelius, N.
½-½
l'Ami, E.
Xiong, J.
1-0
van Foreest, J.
Tingjie, L.
0-1
Ragger, M.
Hansen, E.
½-½
Bok, B.
Dobrov, V.
½-½
Tari, A.
Lu, S.
0-1
Smirin, I
Jones, G.
1-0
Guramishvili, S.
The Challengers tournament also saw more blood and action in the second day of competition, even if its three decisive games from the opening day were hardly the objects of complaints. There was a much awaited duel between the two very talented juniors Jorden Van Foreest, who had won his first game against L’Ami, and Jeffery Xiong who rocketed to the Top 100 in 2016 and swept through the World under-21 at age 15. The game was fairly balanced with a nagging edge for White in the later stages, but the Dutch player, defending with black, was unable to hold and Xiong outplayed him to return to 50%.
Markus Ragger, the top seed, also showed his class as he defeated his Chinese rival Lei Tingjie after a marathon 84 moves. That said, this also perched him at the top with a perfect 2.0/2.
Lei Tingjie - Markus Ragger
Though it would take him nearly 40 more moves, the Austrian GM eventually ground down his opponent and took home the full point.
Gawain Jones is another top contender, and though he did not win himself any fans by defeating the recent mother, Sopiko Guramishvili, at least he won with a nice dose of style.
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.
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.
Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik discovered a unique way to combat the Nimzo-Indian through an alternative move order: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3/Qb3
Most of the material on which the Sicilian Paulsen Powerbook 2024 is based comes from the engine room: 439,000 games. An impressive number to which 51,000 games from correspondence chess and the Mega were added.
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