Tata 04 (Group B): Bloodbath continues

by Alejandro Ramirez
1/14/2014 – While the Master section had a rest day today, the Challenger's section was in full force and they did not slow down. Not a single draw was seen today in the tournament as the players continue to play sharp and interesting chess. Jobava is the solo lead with his third win in a row, but he is followed closely by Muzychuk who beat Duda. Report of today's stars.

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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

Round Four - Challengers

Group B: Round 4 - Tuesday Jan. 14
Zhao Xue - Benjamin Bok
1-0
Jan Timman - Sabino Brunello
1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Yu Yangyi
1-0
Kayden Troff - Ivan Saric
0-1
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Anna Muzychuk
0-1
Etienne Goudriaan - Radek Wojtaszek
0-1
Baadur Jobava - Merijn van Delft
1-0

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!

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Photos by Alina l'Ami

Schedule and results

Group A: Round 1 - Saturday Jan. 11
Leinier Dominguez - Anish Giri
½-½
Loek van Wely - Sergey Karjakin
0-1
Pentala Harikrishna - Levon Aronian
½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Boris Gelfand
1-0
Richard Rapport - Wesley So
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura - Arkadij Naiditsch
1-0
Group A: Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 12
Anish Giri - Arkadij Naiditsch
1-0
Wesley So - Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Boris Gelfand - Richard Rapport
0-1
Levon Aronian - Fabiano Caruana
1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Pentala Harikrishna
½-½
Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely
½-½
Group A: Round 3 - Monday Jan. 13
Loek van Wely - Anish Giri
½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Leinier Dominguez
1-0
Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Karjakin
1-0
Richard Rapport - Levon Aronian
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Boris Gelfand
½-½
Arkadij Naiditsch - Wesley So
½-½
Group A: Round 4 - Wednesday Jan. 15
Anish Giri - Wesley So  
Boris Gelfand - Arkadij Naiditsch  
Levon Aronian - Hikaru Nakamura  
Sergey Karjakin - Richard Rapport  
Leinier Dominguez - Fabiano Caruana  
Loek van Wely - Pentala Harikrishna  
Group A: Round 5 - Friday Jan. 17
Pentala Harikrishna - Anish Giri  
Fabiano Caruana - Loek van Wely  
Richard Rapport - Leinier Dominguez  
Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin  
Arkadij Naiditsch - Levon Aronian  
Wesley So - Boris Gelfand  
Group A: Round 6 - Saturday Jan. 18
Anish Giri - Boris Gelfand  
Levon Aronian - Wesley So  
Sergey Karjakin - Arkadij Naiditsch  
Leinier Dominguez - Hikaru Nakamura  
Loek van Wely - Richard Rapport  
Pentala Harikrishna - Fabiano Caruana  
Group A: Round 7 - Sunday Jan. 19
Fabiano Caruana - Anish Giri  
Richard Rapport - Pentala Harikrishna  
Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely  
Arkadij Naiditsch - Leinier Dominguez  
Wesley So - Sergey Karjakin  
Boris Gelfand - Levon Aronian  
Group A: Round 8 - Tuesday Jan. 21
Anish Giri - Levon Aronian  
Sergey Karjakin - Boris Gelfand  
Leinier Dominguez - Wesley So  
Loek van Wely - Arkadij Naiditsch  
Pentala Harikrishna - Hikaru Nakamura  
Fabiano Caruana - Richard Rapport  
Group A: Round 9 - Thursday Jan. 23
Richard Rapport - Anish Giri  
Hikaru Nakamura - Fabiano Caruana  
Arkadij Naiditsch - Pentala Harikrishna  
Boris Gelfand - Leinier Dominguez  
Wesley So - Loek van Wely  
Levon Aronian - Sergey Karjakin  
Group A: Round 10 - Saturday Jan. 25
Anish Giri - Sergey Karjakin  
Leinier Dominguez - Levon Aronian  
Loek van Wely - Boris Gelfand  
Pentala Harikrishna - Wesley So  
Fabiano Caruana - Arkadij Naiditsch  
Richard Rapport - Hikaru Nakamura  
Group A: Round 11 - Sunday Jan. 26
Hikaru Nakamura - Anish Giri  
Arkadij Naiditsch - Richard Rapport  
Wesley So - Fabiano Caruana  
Boris Gelfand - Pentala Harikrishna  
Levon Aronian - Loek van Wely  
Sergey Karjakin - Leinier Dominguez  

Grandmaster Group B

Group B: Round 1 - Saturday Jan. 11
Etienne Goudriaan - Zhao Xue
0-1
Baadur Jobava - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
½-½
Merijn van Delft - Kayden Troff
0-1
Radek Wojtaszek - Dimitri Reinderman
0-1
Anna Muzychuk - Jan Timman
½-½
Ivan Saric - Benjamin Bok
½-½
Yu Yangyi - Sabino Brunello
0-1
Group B: Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 12
Zhao Xue - Sabino Brunello
½-½
Benjamin Bok - Yu Yangyi
1-0
Jan Timman - Ivan Saric
½-½
Dimitri Reinderman - Anna Muzychuk
½-½
Kayden Troff - Radek Wojtaszek
½-½
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Merijn van Delft
1-0
Etienne Goudriaan - Baadur Jobava
0-1
Group B: Round 3 - Monday Jan. 13
Baadur Jobava - Zhao Xue
1-0
Merijn van Delft - Etienne Goudriaan
1-0
Radek Wojtaszek - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
½-½
Anna Muzychuk - Kayden Troff
1-0
Ivan Saric - Dimitri Reinderman
1-0
Yu Yangyi - Jan Timman
1-0
Sabino Brunello - Benjamin Bok
0-1
Group B: Round 4 - Tuesday Jan. 14
Zhao Xue - Benjamin Bok
1-0
Jan Timman - Sabino Brunello
1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Yu Yangyi
1-0
Kayden Troff - Ivan Saric
0-1
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Anna Muzychuk
0-1
Etienne Goudriaan - Radek Wojtaszek
0-1
Baadur Jobava - Merijn van Delft
1-0
Wednesday, Jan. 15 – Free day
Group B: Round 5 - Thursday Jan. 16
Merijn van Delft - Zhao Xue  
Radek Wojtaszek - Baadur Jobava  
Anna Muzychuk - Etienne Goudriaan  
Ivan Saric - Jan-Krzysztof Duda  
Yu Yangyi - Kayden Troff  
Sabino Brunello - Dimitri Reinderman  
Benjamin Bok - Jan Timman  
Group B: Round 6 - Friday Jan. 17
Zhao Xue - Jan Timman  
Dimitri Reinderman - Benjamin Bok  
Kayden Troff - Sabino Brunello  
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Yu Yangyi  
Etienne Goudriaan - Ivan Saric  
Baadur Jobava - Anna Muzychuk  
Merijn van Delft - Radek Wojtaszek  
Group B: Round 7 - Saturday Jan. 18
Radek Wojtaszek - Zhao Xue  
Anna Muzychuk - Merijn van Delft  
Ivan Saric - Baadur Jobava  
Yu Yangyi - Etienne Goudriaan  
Sabino Brunello - Jan-Krzysztof Duda  
Benjamin Bok - Kayden Troff  
Jan Timman - Dimitri Reinderman  
Group B: Round 8 - Sunday Jan. 19
Zhao Xue - Dimitri Reinderman  
Kayden Troff - Jan Timman  
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Benjamin Bok  
Etienne Goudriaan - Sabino Brunello  
Baadur Jobava - Yu Yangyi  
Merijn van Delft - Ivan Saric  
Radek Wojtaszek - Anna Muzychuk  
Monday, Jan. 20 – Free day
Group B: Round 9 - Tuesday Jan. 21
Anna Muzychuk - Zhao Xue  
Ivan Saric - Radek Wojtaszek  
Yu Yangyi - Merijn van Delft  
Sabino Brunello - Baadur Jobava  
Benjamin Bok - Etienne Goudriaan  
Jan Timman - Jan-Krzysztof Duda  
Dimitri Reinderman - Kayden Troff  
Group B: Round 10 - Wednesday Jan. 22
Zhao Xue - Kayden Troff  
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Dimitri Reinderman  
Etienne Goudriaan - Jan Timman  
Baadur Jobava - Benjamin Bok  
Merijn van Delft - Sabino Brunello  
Radek Wojtaszek - Yu Yangyi  
Anna Muzychuk - Ivan Saric  
Thursday, Jan. 23 – Free day
Group B: Round 11 - Friday Jan. 24
Ivan Saric - Zhao Xue  
Yu Yangyi - Anna Muzychuk  
Sabino Brunello - Radek Wojtaszek  
Benjamin Bok - Merijn van Delft  
Jan Timman - Baadur Jobava  
Dimitri Reinderman - Etienne Goudriaan  
Kayden Troff - Jan-Krzysztof Duda  
Group B: Round 12 - Saturday Jan. 25
Zhao Xue - Jan-Krzysztof Duda  
Etienne Goudriaan - Kayden Troff  
Baadur Jobava - Dimitri Reinderman  
Merijn van Delft - Jan Timman  
Radek Wojtaszek - Benjamin Bok  
Anna Muzychuk - Sabino Brunello  
Ivan Saric - Yu Yangyi  
Group B: Round 13 - Sunday Jan. 26
Yu Yangyi - Zhao Xue  
Sabino Brunello - Ivan Saric  
Benjamin Bok - Anna Muzychuk  
Jan Timman - Radek Wojtaszek  
Dimitri Reinderman - Merijn van Delft  
Kayden Troff - Baadur Jobava  
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Etienne Goudriaan  

Commentary schedule on Playchess

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

Links

The 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.


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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