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The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament takes place from 10 to 26 January 2014. The top players will compete in two groups (previously there were three), with twelve players in each, instead of fourteen. The structure of the amateur tournaments remains unchanged. Both groups start on January 11th 2014, with all rounds starting at 13:30h (1:30 p.m.) local time, except for the last round on January 26th, which begins at 12:00h. Two rounds will be played in Amsterdam and Eindhoven and will start at 14:00. The time controls are 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.
Today was Karjakin's birthday!
Harikrishna was not as nice as the organizers, however, and held birthday-boy to a draw
Group A: Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 12 | |
Anish Giri - Arkadij Naiditsch |
1-0
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Wesley So - Hikaru Nakamura |
½-½
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Boris Gelfand - Richard Rapport |
0-1
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Levon Aronian - Fabiano Caruana |
1-0
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Sergey Karjakin - Pentala Harikrishna |
½-½
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Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely |
½-½
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Giri played an exciting game and, though it was not the most exact game ever played,
did manage to mate his opponent's king on f4!
Giri, Anish 1-0 Naiditsch, Arkadij
The Dutch player chose a topical line against the Bogo-Indian. White does not worry so much about development as much as he worries about launching a quick kingside attack to weaken his opponent's structure. This paid off as even though Naiditsch was able to halt his opponent's attack by exchanging queens, his structure was ruined and White's knight and rooks still applied strong pressure to the enemy king. In a difficult position Naiditsch exposed his king too much, and it was mated in the middle of the board.
Daniel King analyses Giri vs Naiditsch
Nakamura sits comfortably at 1.5/2
So, Wesley ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Nakamura's solid choice of opening left him battling against his opponent's pair of bishops. However So was never able to find a good plan and even though he might have tried to push his pair of bishop advantage a little further, even in the last position, Nakamura was clearly never in any danger and a draw is a solid result for both players.
So is also at 1.5/2, not bad for someone that flew from America hours before the event started
Gelfand has started the event with two losses
Gelfand, Boris 0-1 Rapport, Richard
Gelfand certainly does not begin this event as he had planned to. Rapport exploited some of the weaknesses of Gelfand's play and his idea to take him out of book as early as possible paid of handsomely.
[Event "76th Tata Steel Chess"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2014.01.12"] [Round "2"] [White "Gelfand, Boris"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A52"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez, Alejandro"] [WhiteElo "2777"] [BlackElo "2691"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 {Not one to shy away from unusual openings, and one not dismayed by his unsucessful 1.b3 yesterday against So, Rapport decides to spice things up with a Budapest Gambit - a gambit that is not all that bad, but certainly does not enjoy top-tier reputation.} 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nf3 (4. Bf4 { is sharper and scores better} g5 5. Bg3 Bg7 6. Nf3 Nc6 {with a very complex game, though White does score significantly better than Black.}) 4... Bc5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Be2 Ngxe5 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. O-O a5 {This move was supposed to be inexact.} (9... Re8 {is the usual preference of the Budapest's main exhibitor - Mamedyarov. The move is useful and it gives the bishop a nice retreat on f8.}) 10. Kh1 $6 {A hard move to explain. White will follow up with f4, its the only idea of Kh1, but that is not necessarily good as it will leave the e-pawn as a permanent weakness.} (10. Na4 $1 {Is supposed to be the correct response. The point of 9...a5 is to sometimes swing the rook from a8 to a6 and then to the kingside, creating threats on that flank. This move poses the question to the bishop on where it wants to go - a question that is not so easily answered as it is rather awkward on e7.}) 10... d6 11. f4 Nc6 12. b3 Re8 13. Rf3 Bf5 {White's position is already slightly uncomfortable. His weakness on e3 ties him down - he cannot play Bb2 as he would like to.} 14. Rg3 Re6 $1 {Swinging the rook to the kingside allows Black to stop any shenanigans on that side, not to mention that it allows for the possibility of doubling on the e-file and improving the pressure on the e-pawn.} 15. Bd3 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Nb4 17. Qd2 Qe7 18. e4 Qh4 $1 {With a nasty threat.} 19. Rf3 $6 (19. Bb2 $4 Qxg3 $1 ) (19. f5 $1 Qxg3 20. hxg3 Rh6+ 21. Qxh6 gxh6 22. Bxh6 Bd4 23. Bd2 a4 {And Black's activity and threats outweigh White's extra pawn - but White should be ok with good defense.}) 19... Nc2 (19... f5 $1 {Was even stronger, also taking advantage of the weak back rank but now putting pressure on e4. Rapport's sequence is good enough for a slight edge.}) 20. Rb1 Qe1+ 21. Qxe1 Nxe1 22. Rg3 $6 (22. Rh3 {was better, the trade of rooks does not favor White as the rook on h3 is currently preventing the Black knight from reaching d3.}) 22... Rg6 23. Nd5 $6 (23. Rxg6 hxg6 24. Bd2 Nd3 25. g3 {was not too bad for White.}) 23... Rxg3 24. hxg3 c6 $1 25. Be3 (25. Nc3 Nd3 {is now difficult for White as the king cannot quickly go to f3, therefore the e4 pawn is running out of defenders.}) 25... Nd3 26. Bxc5 cxd5 27. Bxd6 dxe4 {Black's powerful knight on d3 and his passed pawn on e4 guarantee him an advantage. White must be careful so as to not lose immediately.} 28. Kg1 f5 29. Kf1 Ra6 30. Bc7 Kf7 31. g4 Rc6 $1 32. Bxa5 Ra6 $1 {A nice maneuver trying to activate the rook.} 33. Bc3 $2 { Letting the rook into the game is suicide.} (33. b4 b6 34. gxf5 bxa5 35. b5 { Gave White hope to retain a half point thanks to his counterplay with the pawns.}) 33... Rxa2 34. gxf5 e3 35. g3 Rc2 36. Be1 Kf6 {White is simply too passive. Black is threatening to waddle his king all the way to f3 and claim the victory. Gelfand stops this, but only temporarily.} 37. g4 h5 38. Bh4+ Kf7 39. gxh5 Rh2 $2 {Missing a much easier win.} (39... e2+ $1 40. Kg1 Rd2 {And White loses a full rook.}) 40. Be1 Kf6 41. Kg1 Re2 42. Bc3+ Kxf5 43. Bxg7 Kxf4 44. Bh6+ Kg3 {Black is still winning.} 45. Bxe3 Rxe3 {If White can eliminate the b7 pawn he should hold the draw, but with his king being so weak and his rook being so passive this is nothing but a dream. Rapport finishes off with good technique.} 46. Kf1 Kf4 47. Ra1 Rf3+ 48. Kg1 Rg3+ 49. Kf1 Rf3+ 50. Kg1 Kg4 51. h6 Nf4 52. h7 Rh3 53. Kf2 Kf5 54. b4 Nd3+ 55. Ke2 Ke4 56. Ra8 Rh2+ 57. Kd1 Rxh7 58. Kd2 Nxb4 {The extra pawn has been stabilized and Gelfand has nothing left but to resign.} 59. Kc3 Nc6 60. Re8+ Re7 {A nice bounce-back from the Hungarian prodigy.} 0-1
Jobava and Fressinet (right, Rapport's second) figure out how many ways the young Hungarian could have finished his game faster
Dinner was delayed a bit, but a full point is a full point!
Aronian played a very clean game today
Aronian, Levon 1-0 Caruana, Fabiano
Aronian played a technically fantastic game. He converted his slight structural advantage into a slight initiative, which netted him an extra pawn that was rather weak. He slowly but surely made his pawn stronger and stronger until he forced the exchange of his isolated pawn on the d-file for an a-pawn, granting him a passed pawn on that flank. He then secured his kingside gainst any onslaught and won a very clean game.
Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Harikrishna, Pentala
This game was clearlyr headed for a draw when the position became completely symmetrical and Karjakin's only advantage was that his bishop was technically better than his opponent's. However this was a far cry from putting his opponent in any danger and the game was eventually drawn.
Two young spectators happily look at the masters play, while a worried wife
(WIM Lorena Zepeda) tries to figure out what her husband, Van Wely, is doing.
Dominguez Perez, Leinier ½-½ Van Wely, Loek
Van Wely's hyper-accelerated dragon was a good choice today as Dominguez didn't really exploit it in the best way. Van Wely's position was acceptable after thet opening and the game was drawn in a strange way.
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Group B: Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 12 | |
Zhao Xue - Sabino Brunello |
½-½
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Benjamin Bok - Yu Yangyi |
1-0
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Jan Timman - Ivan Saric |
½-½
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Dimitri Reinderman - Anna Muzychuk |
½-½
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Kayden Troff - Radek Wojtaszek |
½-½
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Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Merijn van Delft |
1-0
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Etienne Goudriaan - Baadur Jobava |
0-1
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Some spectators have an easier time watching the games than others
The young Polish player, Duda, is in the big pack of leaders with 1.5/2
Bok, who recently got his third but not final grandmaster norm, simply demolished Yu Yangyi's Kan Sicilian. The game is worthy of study and it exemplifies how quick action on the kingside can be dangerous for Black even in the lines where White plays an early c4.
Predicting what Jobava will play in the opening is never easy
Jobava, true to his style, played a very bizarre opening against Goudriaan. However this was ok as the young player with the White pieces was unable to creat any threats and slowly but surely he saw himself outplayed by Jobava.
Kayden Troff (right), the American fifteen year old, somehow messed up the opening against Wojtaszek, but he was able to salvage a draw by exploiting some inaccuracies from the Polish player.
Zhao Xue, from China, starts with a good 1.5/2
Yu Yangyi, from China, starts with a not so good 0.0/2
Select games from the dropdown menu above the board
Photos by Alina l'Ami
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Wednesday, Jan. 15 – Free day
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Monday, Jan. 20 – Free day
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Thursday, Jan. 23 – Free day
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Day | Date | Round | English | German |
Monday | January 13 | Round 3 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
Tuesday | January 14 | Free | ||
Wednesday | January 15 | Round 4 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
Thursday | January 16 | Free | ||
Friday | January 17 | Round 5 | Simon Williams | Oliver Reeh |
Saturday | January 18 | Round 6 | Yasser Seirawan | Klaus Bischoff |
Sunday | January 19 | Round 7 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
Monday | January 20 | Free | ||
Tuesday | January 21 | Round 8 | Lawrence Trent | Klaus Bischoff |
Wednesday | January 22 | Free | ||
Thursday | January 23 | Round 9 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
Friday | January 24 | Free | ||
Saturday | January 25 | Round 10 | Simon Williams | Klaus Bischoff |
Sunday | January 26 | Round 11 | Daniel King | Klaus Bischoff |
LinksThe games will be 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 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |