1/21/2017 – What a round, and what a feast for the fans. After defeating Karjakin with the French, Indian player Adhiban decided to face the man-in-form Wesley So with the King's Gambit! Though he got a great position, it was not enough to win. Anish Giri also celebrated his first win by beating Nepomniachtchi. Still, the biggest surprise was in the Challengers where all three leaders lost. Annotating Hansen's fine win over Xiong, Tiger Hillarp-Persson gives a wonderful class on the bishop pair.
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This video course includes GM Anish Giri's deep insights and IM Sagar Shah's pertinent questions to the super GM. In Vol.1 all the openings after 1.e4 are covered.
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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 6 - Friday, January 20
Aronian, L.
½-½
Carlsen, M.
Giri, A.
1-0
Nepomniachtchi, I.
Rapport, R.
0-1
Wei, Y.
Van Wely, L.
½-½
Andreikin, D.
Harikrishna, P.
½-½
Wojtaszek, R.
Adhiban, B.
½-½
So, W.
Eljanov, P.
½-½
Karjakin, S.
Quick recap of round 6
Game of the day: Rapport v Wei Yi
One minute of video impressions of round six
The large playing area with all the events housed together (click on image for high-res)
Once more a fascinating round, and fans can only be grateful that they are being treated to so much entertaining chess. The Masters was of course the main focus, and there were more than the fair share of surprises. The first and foremost was easily that of the previous round’s surprise winner, Baskaran Adhiban. Faced with the task of playing Wesley So, the man in form, if ever such a term applied to anyone, he was left with the question of what to play with White. Based on his success with his opening surprise against Sergey Karjakin, what did he choose? The King’s Gambit!
Giri: "Great job on your surprising opening choice yesterday"; Adhiban: "You ain't seen nothing"
IM Sagar Shah analyzes Adhiban vs So
[Event "79th Tata Steel Chess 2017-Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2017.01.20"] [Round "6"] [White "Adhiban, Baskaran"] [Black "So, Wesley"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C33"] [WhiteElo "2653"] [BlackElo "2808"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 1. e4 {0} e5 {11} 2. f4 $5 {0 When was the last time someone played the King's Gambit against Wesley So?! Well, the databases reveal that this was the first time! Adhiban has seriously made some very interesting choices at this event. Rather than going deep into some line, he has just changed the battlefield in order to make it more even.} exf4 {44} 3. Bc4 {0} (3. Nf3 {is by far the most popular move in the position.}) 3... d5 {405 Played after seven minutes of thought. Wesley would have definitely prepared something against the King's Gambit but to remember all the analysis on the spot is not an easy task.} (3... Qh4+ 4. Kf1 {The tempo that you will gain with Nf3 is worth losing your castling rights!}) 4. Bxd5 {0} Nf6 {8} 5. Nc3 {0} Nxd5 {566} 6. Nxd5 {0} Bd6 {8 } (6... g5 {is another possible move, but Wesley likes to go for simple developing moves rather than clinging on to pawns with moves like g5.}) 7. Nf3 {0} O-O {17} 8. d4 {0 Adhiban was still blitzing his moves.} Re8 {905 15 minutes of thought! The opening is already a success for the Indian player.} 9. e5 {4} c6 {7} (9... f6 10. Bxf4 $14) 10. Nxf4 {54 White has not only recovered his pawn, but is a pawn up and has a clearly preferable position. Getting such a position against Wesley after 10 moves in any major well-known opening line might be almost impossible.} f6 {38} 11. Nd3 {712 The first move where Adhiban had to think. 12 minutes for 11.Nd3.} (11. O-O $5 fxe5 12. dxe5 Bc5+ 13. Kh1 Qxd1 14. Rxd1 Bf5 $44) (11. Qd3 $5 fxe5 12. dxe5 Bc7 13. Qb3+ Kh8 14. O-O $16) 11... fxe5 {1654} 12. dxe5 {2} Qb6 {249} 13. Qe2 {901} Bf5 {12} 14. Be3 {197} Qa5+ {25} 15. c3 {497} Bc7 {901} 16. O-O {196} Qa6 {14 White is a pawn up, but Black's bishop pair and the pretty weak e5 pawn gives Black decent compensation.} (16... Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Bxe5 18. Ng5 $1 g6 19. Qc4+ Qd5 20. Qh4 $18 ) 17. Rad1 {244} Nd7 {7} (17... Qxa2 18. Ng5 Bg6 19. Nf4 $18) 18. Bd4 {1568 Adhiban played after 26 minutes, but this move lets Black equalize with ease.} (18. b3 $5 Bxd3 19. Rxd3 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Bxe5 21. c4 $14) 18... c5 $1 {100} 19. Bf2 {23} Nxe5 {177} 20. Nfxe5 {23} Bxe5 {284} 21. Qf3 {18} Be4 {27} 22. Qh3 {35 } Bxd3 {166} 23. Qxd3 {115 The position is just even now.} Qxa2 {43} 24. Bxc5 { 621} Qxb2 {40} 25. Bxa7 $1 {239} Bxc3 {357} (25... Rxa7 26. Qd5+ Kh8 27. Qxe5 $11) 26. Bf2 {525} Be5 {251} 27. Rb1 {86} Qa2 {5} 28. Rxb7 {9 The pawns are exchanged and the game ends in a draw.} Rf8 {33} 29. Qb3+ {173} Qxb3 {47} 30. Rxb3 {4} Ra2 {3} 31. Rf3 {184} Rxf3 {6} 32. gxf3 {5} Kf7 {4} 33. Bg3 {45} Bd4+ {5} 34. Kh1 {14} Rd2 {30} 35. Bf4 {43} Re2 {4} 36. Rd1 {8} Bc3 {39} 37. Rd3 {11 } Bb4 {32} 38. Rd4 {135} Bc5 {11} 39. Rd2 {3} 1/2-1/2
Granted it had no small portion of surprise value in it, but Adhiban got a very nice position too
Feel inspired to play the King's Gambit? After all, if a top player is not afraid to unleash it against a 2800 player in the biggest tournament of his life, what could you possibly fear? GM Simon Williams produced a veritable labor of love and produced two gorgeous DVDs on the King's Gambit. Highly recommended!
King's Gambit Vol.1
by Simon Williams
Languages: English ISBN: 978-3-86681-427-1 Delivery: Download, Post Level: Tournament player, Professional €29.90 or €25.13 without VAT (for Customers outside the EU) $28.39 (without VAT)
This DVD concentrates on the King’s Gambit accepted with 3 Bc4. Bronstein once said about this move, ‘You want to play the King’s Gambit? Well, Black can draw after 3. Nf3. Play 3. Bc4 if you want to win !’ Of course things have developed a lot since Bronstein’s times, and this DVD aims to bring people up to speed with all the latest developments and new ideas that are playable, with both colours in this fascinating variation. I have included a lot of novelties and interesting attacking variations that should wet the lips of any attacking player, looking for an interesting way of meeting 1...e5! With the Berlin opening now leading to dull equal positions, it may well be time to start taking a look at the King’s Gambit in more detail. The opening leads to crazy interesting positions, where Black is placed under pressure from move two.
• Video running time: 5h42 min (English) • With interactive training including video feedback • Exclusive training database with 50 selected games • Including CB 12 Reader
You want fireworks? This was the board to watch, with both players daring each other to be crazier than themselves. In the end, Rapport won the dare, but lost the game...
Richard Rapport - Wei Yi
Adhiban wasn't the only Indian player to display enterprising chess...
... and attracted more than his portion of curious onlookers.
IM Sagar Shah annotates Pentala Harikrishna vs Radoslaw Wojtaszek
Another big game of the day was between Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, but not much in terms of sparks flew, and they drew
Speaking of draws or rather not draws... Anish Giri converted his huge advantage against Ian Nepomniachtchi for his first win of the tournament. In spite of the flak he often gets, it should be noted that he was winning and close to it in the previous two rounds, and it does show that the potential for a big result is waiting to be unfurled. Seven rounds to go!
Always with grace and wit, Anish Giri comments on his first win at Wijk
In fact, another happy result, though barely, was Loek Van Wely, who drew against Dmitri Andreikin. The affable Dutchman knew he was a heavy underdog going into it, but this year has been especially brutal.
Van Wely - Andreikin
Unfortunately, like it or not, this is pretty much the way the Dutchman's remaining opponents look like. When a player, any player, shows signs of particularly bad form or results, this is a a swan song for the other players who view him (or her) as shark bait. Loek knows this as well as any, and can already hear the music: dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum....
Current Masters standings
Challengers tournament
Round 6 - Friday, January 20
Grandelius, N.
1-0
Tingjie, L.
Hansen, E.
1-0
Xiong, J.
Dobrov, V.
½-½
l'Ami, E.
Lu, S.
1-0
van Foreest, J.
Jones, G.
1-0
Ragger, M.
Guramishvili, S.
0-1
Bok, B.
Smirin, I
0-1
Tari, A.
The Challengers tournament was as thrilling as ever, and once more, six of the seven games ended in a decisive result. The curious thing was that instead of being a feeding frenzy for the leaders as they preyed on their opponents, it was precisely the leaders, all three, who fell.
Markus Ragger had been supreme as he went after his 100% score and a place in next years Masters, but fell to...
... Gawain Jones, who took advantage to make his own bid for glory and is now tied for first with Ragger with 4.5/6. There are seven rounds to go, and now the field is wide open once more.
Lu Shanglei was certainly a happy camper when his opponent decided the best way to defend his king was to remove the pieces around it
Lu Shanglei - Jorden Van Foreest
Benjamin Bok had a good day, and won in 22 moves. However, he missed a win as early as move 14...
Sopiko Guramishvili - Benjamin Bok
Jeffery Xiong was another player on the rise, closing in on the leaders, and was in third place, just waiting for them to slip. They did, but they were not alone, and the American junior fell victim to...
... Canadian GM Eric Hansen.
Our guest commentator Tiger Hillarp-Persson chose this game, which he explains was extremely instructive in the way Hansen used the bishop pair in an advantageous pawn structure. What follows is a wonderful lesson, told with clarity and verve. Enjoy!
GM Tiger Hillarp-Persson annotates Eric Hansen vs Jeffery Xiong
Today also marked the start of some of the strong amateur events. Indian prodigy IM R. Praggnanandhaa is playing in the Amateur category. If he wins the section, then he gets the direct qualification for Wijk Aan Zee B category next year. He is the second seed and has good chances of succeeding.
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.
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King's Gambit Vol.1
