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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.
The Master section has a rest day today
Group B: Round 4 - Tuesday Jan. 14 | |
Zhao Xue - Benjamin Bok |
1-0
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Jan Timman - Sabino Brunello |
1-0
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Dimitri Reinderman - Yu Yangyi |
1-0
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Kayden Troff - Ivan Saric |
0-1
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Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Anna Muzychuk |
0-1
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Etienne Goudriaan - Radek Wojtaszek |
0-1
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Baadur Jobava - Merijn van Delft |
1-0
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Duda was a little too greedy today
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof 0-1 Muzychuk, Anna
Muzychuk peaked at 2606 in the middle of 2012, but has since dropped a few points. However she seems to be back in form and starts Wijk Aan Zee very successfully. Today she baited Duda who was too happy to pawn-grab, only to see his king get checkmated by his opponent's queen and rook. A lesson that when only major pieces remain, there is nothing more important than king safety.
Muzychuk's new hair style, straight instead of curly, seems to be helping her.
At 3.0/4 she is only half a point away from Jobava.
Zhao Xue 1-0 Bok, Benjamin
Bok was slowly outplaying the Chinese grandmaster until a mistake was very beautifully exploited:
[Event "76th Tata Steel Challengers"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2014.01.14"] [Round "4"] [White "Zhao, Xue"] [Black "Bok, Benjamin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D83"] [WhiteElo "2567"] [BlackElo "2560"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "q1b5/4pkbp/2p2pp1/2Pp4/3P1PP1/rrN2N1P/3Q1PK1/2R1R3 w - - 0 25"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] 25. Re3 {Black certainy has a more pleasant position. He has the a and b files and althuogh his pair of bishops dont have any scope yet, they might in the future.} Qa5 $2 {Careless!} (25... Qb7 {and slow maneuvering was preferable.}) 26. Nxd5 $1 {A very pretty shot} Rxe3 (26... Qxd2 27. Rxe7+ Kf8 28. Nxd2 cxd5 29. Rce1 {and suddenly Black cannot defend his king, his bishops and his rook on b3 at the same time.}) 27. Qxa5 Rxa5 28. Nxe3 {White not only emerges up a pawn, but she has managed to relief the pressure from the queenside. That being said, Black's pair of bishops still give Bok good chances to draw, but little more than that.} Ba6 29. Kg3 e6 $6 {weakening d6 was certainly unnecessary.} (29... Bd3 30. d5 cxd5 31. Nxd5 Be4 {and the passed pawn seems more dangerous than it actually is.}) 30. Nc4 Ra4 31. Nd6+ Ke7 32. Rb1 Ra3 33. Kg2 Be2 34. Rb7+ Kf8 35. Ng1 {Black's bishop on g7 is a big target and Black is running out of threats.} Bd1 36. Rb8+ Ke7 37. Re8+ Kd7 38. Rg8 $1 {A good way to finish the game off.} Bh6 39. g5 fxg5 40. Rh8 $1 {Suddenly the bishop is trapped! Well played by Zhao Xue.} Bb3 41. Rxh7+ Kd8 42. Rxh6 Bd5+ 43. f3 Ra2+ 44. Kf1 {A quick turn of events, but that is chess - one mistake and the hard work from many moves evaporates.} 1-0
Zhao Xue might have been positionally outplayed,
but a tactical mistake by Bok allowed her to get back in the game
Timman, Jan 1-0 Brunello, Sabino
Brunello seemed to be on his way to another victory. His opening and middlegame play were certailny superior to Timman's and he obtained a pleasant, though small, advantage. However he underestimated the blockading powers of White's knight, and he sacrificed too much to push his passed d-pawn forward. After Timman contained this pawn the game was over as Brunello was unable to justify his material losses.
Wojtaszek sported the Dutch colors today
Goudriaan, Etienne 0-1 Wojtaszek, Radek
Goudriaan loses for the fourth time in a row, and he really will need to pick himself up. Todays' game was rather bad on his behalf and Wojtaszek had to do nothing but logical moves to wipe him off the board.
Jobava, Baadur 1-0 Van Delft, Merijn
The game was an interesting Moscow variation of the Queen's Gambit, but Van Delft's strange decision to play 22...Rxd4? cost him an exchange. Whether on purpose or a mistkae, the fact is that an extra exchange was too much and Jobava cleanly converted.
Jobava followed his first round draw with a hat trick and is the sole leader
Reinderman, Dimitri 1-0 Yu Yangyi
This game was surely headed for a draw. The opposite colored bishops didn't allow either side realistic chances of winning, even though Yu Yangyi kept pressing since he has a very slightly safer king. However a horrible hallucination allowed Reinderman to simply attack a defenseless f7 pawn, which was holding his entire position together, and forced the Chinese player to give up a full rook. Black continued to play for many moves after that on intertia, but the game had been decided.
Yu Yangyi pushed too hard and blundered. His 1.0/4 is way below expectation.
Saric was not worried about any kingside attacks.
His defenses held and he beat back White's attack.
Troff, Kayden 0-1 Saric, Ivan
Troff's original but somewhat strange plan in the Slav to allow his pawns on the kingisde to be doubled so as to castle queenside and initiate a kingside attack did not pay off. His pair of bishops and doubled rooks had no chance of penetrating Black's solid pawn formation on the kingside, and slowly Saric improved his position on the kingside to the point of launching a strong counter attack. White was completely defenseless against this onslaught.
No rest for the commentary team either!
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 |
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. |