Magnus Carlsen dominates day one of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid 2019

by Sagar Shah
11/23/2019 – The strongest ever tournament on Indian, in fact Asian soil, kicked off on the 22nd of November 2019. Three rounds of rapid chess were played on day one. Six years ago, on this very day Magnus Carlsen had become the World Champion by beating Anand in Chennai. Carlsen continued from where he left and now leads the tournament with 5.0/6. He is followed by Nakamura on 4.0/6. We bring to you the game analysis of all six decisive games of day one and also pictorial impressions and videos from the venue. Not to be missed is Anand's win against Wesley So, Vidit's Houdini like escape against Ding Liren and Nakamura's positional squeeze against Giri.

Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.

Carlsen is back in India

22nd of November is a special day in Magnus Carlsen's life. Is it because he ended day one of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid 2019 with 2½/3 and as the sole leader? Not really! Six years ago in 2013, this happened

23-year-old Magnus Carlsen shouts out in jubilation inside a swimming pool after beating Vishy Anand 6½:3½ in the World Championship Match

Magnus is just 29 years old (will be 29 on November 30th) and he has already been the World Champion for six years! Quite amazing isn't it! Seeing him in action, fans of the game often exclaim, "It's an honour to be born in the same era as Magnus!" Celebrating this day Magnus wrote on Instagram,

Good times so far in #Grandchesstour! Exactly six years ago I became world champion by making a draw in the Bb5+ Sicilian, today I won with it, using some preparation from the match.

Six years ago in Chennai, now in Kolkata! Nothing much has changed! He is still the best! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The playing hall at the Bhasha Bhavan (Language Hall) at the National Library | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The hall has a seating capacity of around 550 people and day one witnessed around 300 spectators | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

The rush will grow on day 2 and day 3 as they are weekends!

What was really amazing to see was how the crowd erupted into cheer and applause when Magnus Carlsen arrived on the stage! It just goes to show what a great chess culture, the city of Kolkata has.

Round 1

The opening move was made on Vishy Anand's board | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The first round of the event saw only one decisive result. On board four Anish Giri defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi with the black pieces while the remaining encounters fizzled out into draws. Anish played quite an enterprising game out of the opening, he sacrificed a pawn and managed to completely box in Nepo's dark-squared bishop. Things did turn a bit tricky around move 25 but the Dutchman had it all under control and when his opponent suffered a lapse, he pounced on his chance.

Anish had played an excellent rapid event at the Superbet GCT, and he continued his form in India as well | Photo: Amruta Mokal

 
Nepomniachtchi - Giri, round 1
Position after 28...Qe6

At this point Anish's 28...♛e6! came over as pretty decisive. Now e4-e3 was unavoidable and this could be followed up by even more powerful threats like ♛e4! 

 
Position after 29...e3

Suddenly White was completely lost as the threats after ♛e4 or e3-e2 were impossible to counter. Nepo gave up his d2 knight to ease the position up and played on for 52 moves before calling it a day.

 
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1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Qc2 c5 7.dxc5 Qa5+ 8.Nbd2 E06: Closed Catalan: Early deviations 8.Nc3 dxc4 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Bg5 Qxc5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Rfd1 f5 13.e4 Bf6 14.Rab1 Nb4 15.Qe2 Nd3 16.Ne1 Nxe1 17.Rxe1 1/2-1/2 (40) Matlakov,M (2683)-Bacrot,E (2678) Bastia 2018 8...Qxc5 9.a3 b5 10.b4 The position is equal. Qc7! 11.c5 a5N Predecessor: 11...Nc6 12.Bb2 e5 13.Nb3 Be6 14.0-0 Ne4 15.e3 Rad8 1/2-1/2 (29) Stigar,P (2573)-Mason,I (2168) ICCF email 2008 12.Bb2 Nc6 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 e5 15.Bb2 axb4 16.axb4 Rxa1+ 17.Bxa1 d4! 18.0-0 Be6 19.Qd3 Nd5 20.Bxd5 Bxd5 21.e3 Qc6 22.exd4 e4 White is under pressure. 23.Qe3 f5 24.f4 Ra8 25.Bc3 Ra2
25...Bf6= 26.Ra1 26.Rf2!± 26...Qa6 27.Qe1 27.Rxa2 Qxa2 28.Nf1 Kf7 29.Qc1 Ke6 30.Ne3 27...Rxa1 28.Qxa1??
28.Bxa1 is the one way to stay ahead. g5 29.Nf1 28...Qe6!-+ 29.Qf1 e3 ...e2 is the strong threat. 30.Qxb5 And now Qe8+ would win. 30.Nb1 30...Kf7 31.Qd3? 31.Qe2 exd2 32.Kf2 31...exd2 32.Bxd2 Bf6 33.Bc3 Be4 34.Qd2 Qc4 35.Kf2 Bc6 36.Ke1 Bb5 37.Kd1 Ba4+ 38.Ke1 Qe6+ 39.Kf2 White hopes to continue with d5. Bc6 40.b5? 40.d5 Bxd5 41.Bxf6 gxf6 42.Qe2 40...Bxb5 41.d5 Qe4 ( -> ...Bxc3) 42.Bxf6 gxf6 43.c6 Qc4 44.Qd1 Qc5+ 45.Kg2 Bc4 46.Kh3 Qxd5 Black mates. 47.Qh5+ Kg7 48.Qe8
48...Qf3! 49.Qd7+ Kg6 50.Qe8+ Bf7 51.Qd7 Qf1+ 52.Kh4 Qg2 Accuracy: White = 41%, Black = 88%.
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2773Giri,A27760–12019E06Tata Steel GCT Rapid 20191.5

Round 2

In round two Vishy Anand registered an emphatic win against Wesley So to emerge as one of the leaders along with Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. Vishy had the White pieces and out of a Spanish managed to secure quite a promising position in the middlegame with excellent play on the queenside but failing to take the ideal continuation landed him in a drawish bishop-knight ending. The Madras Tiger however kept pushing on and got his chance once again on move 57 when his opponent blundered. 

A game where experience triumphed over youth! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

 
Anand - So, round 2
Position after 25...h4

White was pushing quite well on the queenside around move 25 and in the above position played the move ♕c6, which looks logical at first glance but actually gives away the initiative. Can you find an improvement here? 

The problem with 26.♕c6 is that after 26...♛xc6 27.dxc6 ♜fc8 28.♖ea1 even though White has more active pieces but Black has everything well defended and there is no straightforward way to make progress. A better move would have been 26.♘b3! which comes with the very interesting ♘c5 threat. Notice that Black actually can't capture dxc5 as that allows the devastating ♕g6+ followed by ♖xe5. In the game Vishy lost most of his advantage after 28.ea1 and ended up in an equal bishop versus knight ending where he had an extra pawn. 

 
Position after 57.Bg7

In the above position after 57.♗g7 all Wesley had to do was play 57...♞c6 keeping everything defended but he erred with 57...♞e6 which at once turned the tables.
The game continued 58.xe5 xh6 59.c2 g6 60.b3 and White brought his king to c4 to win the d4 pawn as well. With two extra pawns the rest was easy.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a3 0-0 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Ba2 Be6 11.b4 Bxa2 12.Rxa2 Nc6 13.Bg5 Ng4 14.Bd2 Nf6 15.Re1 Qd7 16.Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 Nd8 18.a4 Rb8 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ra7 f5 21.Qa1 Nf7 22.c4 g5 23.Bc3 g4 24.Nd2 h5 25.Qa6 h4 26.Qc6 Qxc6 27.dxc6 Rfc8 28.Rea1 bxc4 29.Nxc4 d5 30.Ne3 d4 31.Nxf5 Bg5 32.Be1 Kh7 33.f3 gxf3 34.gxf3 Kg6 35.Nxh4+ Bxh4 36.Bxh4 Rxb4 37.Rb7 Rxb7 38.cxb7 Rb8 39.Rb1 Nd6 40.Bd8 Rxb7 41.Rxb7 Nxb7 42.Bxc7 Kf5 43.Bb6 Nd6 44.Kf2 Ne8 45.Ba5 Ng7 46.Bd2 Ne6 47.Ke2 Nc5 48.Be1 Ne6 49.Bg3 Nc5 50.Kd2 Na6 51.h4 Nb4 52.h5 Nc6 53.Bh4 Nb4 54.h6 Kg6 55.Be7 Nc6 56.Bf8 Nd8 57.Bg7 Ne6 58.Bxe5 Kxh6 59.Kc2 Kg6 60.Kb3 Kf5 61.Bd6 Ng5 62.f4 Nf3 63.Kc4 Ke6 64.Bb8 Kf6 65.Kd5 Kf5 66.Be5 Ne1 67.Kxd4 Ng2 68.Kc5 Ne3 69.Bb2 Nd1 70.Be5 Ne3 71.Bb8 Nd1 72.d4 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2757So,W27601–02019C77Tata Steel GCT Rapid 20192.2

Vishy Anand vs Wesley So, the entire game captured in this video

It's never easy to stop force Magnus| Photo: Amruta Mokal

The World Champion got things going when he won his second round game against Ian Nepomniachtchi 

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ As Carlsen mentioned after the game, he used some of his preparation from the 2013 match for this game! Nd7 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 a6 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.0-0 e5 8.Qe3 Nc5 9.Nfd2 b5?! 9...Be7 was the more conservative but solid approach. 10.c4! bxc4 11.Nc3 Bb7 12.Bxc4 Be7 13.b4 Ne6 14.Nb3 Rc8 15.Na5 White is completely better. Qd7 16.Qd3 0-0 17.Be3 Bd8 18.Nxb7 Qxb7 19.Nd5 19.Bxa6 Rxc3 19...Nc7 20.Nxf6+ Bxf6 21.Rab1 Rfd8 22.Rfd1 h6 23.f3 Qc6 24.Qb3 Qe8 25.a4 Rb8 26.b5 axb5 27.axb5 Ne6 28.b6 Bg5 29.Bf2 Nd4 30.Bxd4 exd4 31.Rxd4 White has won a pawn and went on to win the game with ease. A flawless performance by Magnus. Rdc8 32.b7 Rc5 33.Bd5 Qe7 34.Rc4 Qc7 35.Rxc5 dxc5 36.g3 Bf6 37.Kg2 Qe7 38.Qb6 Be5 39.Qc6 Kh7 40.f4 Bd4 41.Qc8 Qd6 42.Qf5+ Kh8 43.Kh3 Qa6 44.e5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2870Nepomniachtchi,I27731–02019B51Tata Steel India Rapid2

Carlsen vs Nepomniachtchi - full game

Round 3 results

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TBPerf.
1
2870
2.5
3
2.50
3041
2
2741
2.0
3
2.75
2882
3
2722
1.5
3
2.50
2758
4
2801
1.5
3
2.25
2737
5
2731
1.5
3
2.00
2761
6
2757
1.5
3
1.75
2778
7
2776
1.5
3
1.50
2762
8
2760
1.0
3
2.00
2661
9
2772
1.0
3
1.75
2671
10
2773
1.0
3
1.50
2676
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

A loss in round one to Giri, second loss to Carlsen, and yet he is in good spirits for his third round game against Anand | Photo: Amruta Mokal

 
Nepomniachtchi - Anand, round 3
Position after 14.e3

Black is doing fine here. Yes, he is under some pressure, but Anand made things works by taking on c3. After 15.bxc3, White has two more things going his way - the open b-file and the bishop developing on a3. 

 
Position after 17...Rfe8

White to play and finish off the game in style!

Nepomniachtchi could have just retreated his knight to e3 and it is not possible to keep things under control. However, the Russian GM found the killer blow - 18.♘h6+! ♚h8 was followed by 19.♖xf6! The kingside was ripped open and after 19...gxf6 20.♕f3 it was all over. The f6 pawn is hanging and there is a threat of exd5 winning back material. Vishy resigned.

 
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1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nepo doesn't develop his knight on c3 because he knows Vishy's preference towards the Bb4 lines. Bc5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Nf3 e4 A move like e4 is always very concrete because now White will have weaknesses to attack. If he is unsuccessful, then Black's space advantage will definitely mean something! 6.Nh4! 6.Ng5 d5 seems completely fine for Black. 6...d5 7.d4 Now that's a new idea. 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.d3 was the famous game from the Grand Swiss between Anton Guijarro and Alexander Grischuk. Ng4 9.0-0 g5 10.d4 Be7 11.h3 Nxf2 12.Rxf2 gxh4 13.Qb3 hxg3 14.Rf4 Nc6 15.Qxd5 f5 16.Bxe4 fxe4 17.Qh5+ Kd7 18.Be3 Qg8 19.d5 Nd8 20.Nxe4 Qg6 21.Qe5 Nf7 22.Rxf7 Qxf7 23.Rc1 Rf8 24.Bg5 1-0 (24) Anton Guijarro,D (2674)-Grischuk,A (2759) Douglas 2019 7...Be7 7...Bb4 was also possible, but now Vishy doesn't want to give up his bishop pair. 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.0-0 0-0 10.f3 The logical idea to break the centre. exf3 11.Rxf3 Nc6 12.Nf5 Ne4 Anand tries to play combatively. 12...Bxf5! Usually Vishy is quite pragmatic in such situations and would have gone for this. 13.Rxf5 Qd7 14.Rf1 Rad8= Black seems to be doing fine. 13.Rf1 Bf6 14.e3 Nxc3?! 14...Re8 looks sensible, but it is already beginning to feel like White can take over the initiative after 15.Qh5 Objectively this is still equal. 15.bxc3 White has two extra trumps - the open b-file and the ability to play Ba3 at the right moment. Be6 16.Rb1 Qd7 17.e4 Rfe8? A simple move like Ne3 already gives White a clear advantage, but Nepo has a better move up his sleeve. 17...Bxf5 18.Rxf5 dxe4 19.Rxf6! gxf6 20.Qh5± 18.Nh6+! Kh8 18...gxh6 19.Rxf6+- 19.Rxf6 gxf6 20.Qf3 Kg7 21.exd5 Bxd5 22.Nf5+ 22.Nf5+ Kh8 23.Qxd5 Qxd5 24.Bxd5 White is completely dominating and Anand decided to call it quits. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2773Anand,V27571–02019A20Tata Steel India Rapid3

Nepo vs Anand - full match

To resign or not?

 
Ding - Vidit, round 3
Position after 61.Ra4

Ding Liren has just retreated his rook to a4. Vidit can resign here with a safe conscience. But he decided to continue playing! "I did it out of inertia", says Vidit. A few moves later we reached this position

 
Position after 78...Kb8

79.b6 was expected from Ding Liren in this position. But instead he played the huge blunder 79.a7?? Vidit simply played 79...♚a8 and now his king is stalemated in the corner. This means that his rook is free to check and sacrifice itself to draw the game!

 
Position after 80.b6

Vidit instantly seized the opportunity with 80...♜f5+ and kamikazed his rook with 81.♔a6 ♜a5+!

It's a good time to ask as to how a player of Ding Liren's stature can make a mistake like this. Well, time pressure is an obvious defence. But let's assume that instead of this endgame, if Ding Liren had to mate with a bishop and knight. No matter how low you are on time you would expect him to checkmate his opponent. In the same way, this is also a well-known theoretical position. A player like Ding Liren should not be missing such a win. With that being said, such mistakes will keep happening from even the best, every now and then, because chess is a tough game!

Vidit missed a very promising position against Nakamura in round two, but was compensated for the same when he drew a completely lost endgame against Ding Liren | Photo: Amruta Mokal

IM Sagar Shah records this video inside the playing hall and speaks about the question of "when is it a right time to resign?"

Defending champion Nakamura started off with two draws, but got going when he won his third round game against Giri | Photo: Amruta Mokal

 
Nakamura - Giri, round 3
Position after 26.Kf1

After a fine opening, Nakamura managed to get a small edge in the position as can be seen above. The knight on c4 sits pretty and cannot be disturbed. The white rook is nicely perched on a5 and actively placed. It's time for the king to join in. Yes, the position is only slightly better for White, but as Nakamura pointed out after the game, such positions are extremely difficult to defend in a rapid game when you are running short of time. Very soon the white king made its way up from f1 to e2 to d3 to e4, all the way to d5 and Anish had to eventually throw in the towel.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.Ba4 Ngf6 5.0-0 e6 6.Re1 a6 7.c3 b5 8.Bc2 c4 9.a4 Bb7 10.d4 cxd3 11.Qxd3 Nc5 12.Qe2 bxa4 12...Nfxe4 13.b4+- 12...Ncxe4 13.axb5± 13.Be3! Bxe4 13...Nfd7 13...Ncxe4 14.Nbd2 White is two pawns down. But the a4 one will fall soon, and along with it also the a6 pawn would be weak. 14.Bxc5 Bxc2 15.Qxc2 dxc5 16.Qxa4+ Qd7 17.Ne5 Qxa4 18.Rxa4 Bd6 19.Nc4 Bc7 20.Nbd2 Ke7 21.Rea1 a5 22.Nb3 Nd7 23.Nbxa5 Bxa5 23...Ra6 24.Rxa5 Rxa5 25.Rxa5 Although the material left on the board is quite less, White is clearly pushing because of the c5 weakness and also the knight standing on c4 so well. e5 26.Kf1 h5 27.h4 Rb8 28.Ke2 Rb7 28...f5 29.Kd3 f6?! The light squares are too weak now but it is not so easy to suggest an improvement. 29...f5 30.Kc2 Black is somehow completely tied up. 30.Ke4 Rc7 31.Kd5 f5 32.Ra6 e4 33.Ne3 Nf6+ 34.Ke5 Rd7 35.Nxf5+ Kf7 36.Nd6+ Ke7 37.Nxe4 Nxe4 38.Kxe4 Rd2 39.Ke3 Rxb2 40.Rg6 Kf7 41.Rg5 c4 42.Rc5 White will be two pawns up and Giri thought it would be the right time to throw in the towel. Also Nakamura had a lot of time on his clock, so something like Ding vs Vidit was not going to happen here! 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nakamura,H2741Giri,A27761–02019B51Tata Steel India Rapid3

No Sveshnikov, it was the Najdorf that helped Carlsen beat Aronian in round three | Photo: Amruta Mokal

 
Aronian - Carlsen, round 3
Position after 34.Nc6

Magnus was extremely alert here and found the move 34...xg5. The point is that after 35.♕xg5 ♛f1+ 36.♔c2, Black has the powerful 36...♝xc4 when the rook on d3 has to be given up. Levon brought back his queen to e3 and after the exchanges on d3 we reached the following position.

 
Position after 39...h5

Black has two pawns and rook for the two minor pieces, but more importantly, the h-pawn is extremely strong. It seemed as if Carlsen would smoothly win this endgame, when...

 
Position after 48...Rg7

...he blundered! 48...g7 by Carlsen was a big mistake. Can you find out why?

49.♘f4+ is possible and the h5 pawn is lost. Aronian missed this chance and the game ended in a win for Magnus.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6!? No Sveshnikov here! 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.Be3 Nbd7 9.g4 Be7 10.Qd2 0-0 11.0-0-0 b5 12.g5 Nh5 13.Kb1 Nb6 14.Na5 Rc8 15.a3 g6 16.h4 Ng3 17.Rg1 17.Rh2 is the main move here but Black is holding his own after Nxf1 18.Rxf1 Na4 19.Nxa4 bxa4 20.Rd1 Qd7 Black is doing fine here. 17...Nxf1 18.Rgxf1 Na4 19.Nxa4 bxa4 20.h5 20.Rh1 h5 is a typical motif. 20...Qd7 Magnus is not very worried about the pressure down the h-file. 21.Rh1 Rfe8 22.Qh2 Bf8 Black is in time now to defend h7. Whenever White takes on g6, he will recapture with the f-pawn. 23.Bd2 Levon makes the logical choice of rerouting his bishop to b4. Rc7 24.Bb4 Rb8 25.Rd3 Qb5 26.Rc3 26.c4 was very strong. Bxc4 26...Qb6 27.Rhd1± 27.Nxc4 Rxc4 27...Qxc4 28.Rc3+- 28.hxg6+- 26...Rbc8 27.Rxc7 Rxc7 28.Rd1 Rd7 Black is fine now. The attack on h-file didn't get through. Yes, the pawn on d6 is weak, but the knight on a5 is misplaced. 29.Rd3 Be7 30.hxg6 fxg6 31.Qd2 Qb6 32.Qc1 Bd8! A nice idea to relocate the bishop. 33.c4 Qf2 34.Nc6 Bxg5! 35.Qxg5 Qf1+ 36.Kc2 Bxc4! Fantastic play by Magnus. 37.Qe3 37.Rd2 Bb3+ 38.Kc3 Qc4# 37...Bxd3+ 38.Qxd3 Qxd3+ 39.Kxd3 h5 40.Ke3 Kf7 41.Bc3 Ke6 42.Nb4 g5 43.Kf2 Rf7 44.Kg2 g4 45.fxg4 Rg7 46.Nd5 Rxg4+ 47.Kf3 Rg1! 48.Kf2 Rg7? 48...Rg8 Black is completely winning. 49.Kf3 49.Nf4+! This shows that one has to be alert at all times. Ke7 50.Nxh5= 49...h4-+ Now things are back on track. 50.Be1 h3 51.Bg3 Rb7 52.Nb4 a5 53.Nd3 Rb3 54.Ke2 Kf6 55.Bh2 Kg5 56.Bg3 Kg4 57.Bh2 Rxd3 58.Kxd3 Kf3 59.Kd2 Kxe4 60.Ke2 d5 61.Bg3 d4 62.Bh2 Kd5 63.Kd2 e4 64.Ke2 Kc4 65.Be5 Kb3 66.Kd2 d3 67.Kd1 e3 68.Kc1 Kc4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Aronian,L2772Carlsen,M28700–12019B90Tata Steel India Rapid3

Standings after round 3

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TBPerf.
1
2870
7.5
9
31.75
3032
2
2741
5.5
9
22.50
2854
3
2760
4.5
9
19.00
2771
4
2772
4.5
9
18.00
2770
5
2776
4.5
9
17.50
2770
6
2757
4.0
9
17.25
2729
7
2731
4.0
9
17.25
2732
8
2801
4.0
9
16.25
2724
9
2773
3.5
9
14.25
2690
10
2722
3.0
9
14.75
2651
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

VIPs! Anish Giri's second Erwin l'Ami, Tata Steel Chess India tournament director Jeroen van den Berg, important members of the Gameplan team Guru Ramabadhran and Jeet Banerjee | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Will Vishy Anand manage to repeat his success of 2018 where he had won the Tata Steel Chess India blitz | Photo: Amruta Mokal

This young fan deserved the selfie by Vidit for making such a wonderful portrait | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The well talkers — Tania Sachdev is the only official Grand Chess Tour commentator at the venue along with Anish Giri | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

With such an amazing tournament taking place in India, Kolkata is the place to bee! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

With such an amazing tournament taking place in India, Kolkata is the place to bee! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

The live stream of Day 1

Humility of the greats

The players at the event are some of the greatest chess players in the world. But after their games, they are making sure to interact with the crowd, to give them autographs, take selfies and in general quench the chess craze of Indian youngsters!

Grand Chess Tour

The Grand Chess Tour is into its fifth year. It is series of events for the best players in the world. Although it is not related to the World Championship cycle, all the top players of the world take part in it because of the hefty prize fund. This year, in 2019, the Grand Chess Tour has extended itself to eight events and twelve participants. There are also wild cards added at different events to compete with the best players. The events are a mixture of classical chess as well as rapid and blitz. The Tata Steel Chess India is the seventh and the penultimate event in the Grand Chess Tour 2019. This is how the standings look till now

Magnus Carlsen is in the lead with 54.5 points. As MVL and Sergey Karjakin have played all their five tour events, their score of 36.8 and 36.5 is final. Vishy Anand on 32 points has an excellent chance of overtaking them! This is how the points are allocated. Basically Anand has to finish sixth or above to make it to the finals.

The top four finishers after the Tata Steel Chess India in terms of cumulative points will proceed to the super finals that will be held in London from 2nd to the 8th of December 2019. The London finals has an excellent prize fund of US$ 3,50,000. While Aronian's qualification looks almost certain, Vishy has to score five more points to finish fourth and make it to the finals.

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Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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