Tata 04: Rijksmuseum!

by Alejandro Ramirez
1/15/2014 – Today's games were played in the famous Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam, which has a collection of over a million objects going back to the thirteenth century. The round had three White wins, especially important is the victory by Aronian against Nakamura as this propels the Armenian to clear first. Beautiful pictorial report from Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

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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's round was played in the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam and in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam is about a half an hour drive from Wijk aan Zee

The Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam, though originally the Museum opened in 1800 in The Hague

The I amsterdam sign with the museum in the background

Aronian and Gelfand dicussing some of the pieces seen at the musem

Karjakin and his girlfriend Galiya Kamalova

Dominguez and his wife Yanelys

More chess couples...

Anish Giri and his girlfriend Sopiko Guramashvili

as well as Loek Van Wely and his wife Lorena Zepeda

The players posing in front of one of the Rijksmuseum's most famous pieces: Rembrandt's The Night Watch

The piece can also be referred to by its proper name, which is not used anymore: The Company of captain Frans Banning Cocq and lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch preparing to march out. It's a mystery why the artwork was renamed.

Round Four

Group A: Round 4 - Wednesday Jan. 15
Anish Giri - Wesley So
½-½
Boris Gelfand - Arkadij Naiditsch
½-½
Levon Aronian - Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Richard Rapport
1-0
Leinier Dominguez - Fabiano Caruana
1-0
Loek van Wely - Pentala Harikrishna
½-½

Daniel King shows Aronian vs Nakamura and Karjakin vs Rapport

So was able to hold a draw against Giri after being slightly, slightly worse the entire game

Giri, Anish ½-½ So, Wesley
Giri's Catalan was no surprise for So, who came well prepared. The symmetrical position did not promise White too many chances to play for the victory, but he held on to whatever he could and managed to obtain an extra pawn. However So was never in any real danger - by this point the bishops were of opposite color in an endgame and White's pawn was doubled and blockaded.

Naiditsch started with two losses but has stabilized with two draws in rounds three and four

Gelfand, Boris ½-½ Naiditsch, Arkadij
An interesting King's Indian were Black kept relying on his initiative to create counterplay. If it evaporated for some rason White's sounder pawn structure would have given him the victory. Gelfand was able to beat Black's pieces back, but unfortunately for him this cam at the cost of massive simplification and a weak d-pawn, which was enough for the German player to hold on to a draw.

Nakamura was close to a draw today, but a big mistake lost him the game

Aronian, Levon 1-0 Nakamura, Hikaru
Our friend, Georgian grandmaster Giorgi Margvelashvili is the guest annotator of the day:

[Event "76th Tata Steel Masters"] [Site "Amsterdam"] [Date "2014.01.15"] [Round "4"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E92"] [WhiteElo "2812"] [BlackElo "2789"] [Annotator "George Margvelashvili"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceDate "2014.01.04"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O {Nakamura chose the King's Indian Defense, one of the most aggressive set-ups against 1.d4} 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 {Aronian hasn't been playing this line lately, so it could have been a minor suprise for Nakamura.} Ng4 (7... c6 {is another main line. The following game is an absolute masterpiece by Kramnik.} 8. O-O exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. f3 d5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Rc1 a5 14. Qb3 a4 15. Qxd5 Qxd5 16. exd5 a3 17. b3 Nc6 18. Nc2 Rxe3 19. Nxe3 Nb4 20. Rc4 Nxa2 21. Ra4 Rxa4 22. bxa4 Bd4 23. Kf2 Nb4 24. Rc1 a2 25. Rxc8+ Kg7 26. Rc1 Nxd5 27. Rd1 Nxe3 {0-1 Gustafsson,J (2629) -Kramnik,V (2799)/Dortmund 2012/CBM 150}) 8. Bg5 f6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh6 11. c5 {This line has been played many times before.} g4 12. Nh4 Nc6 13. cxd6 cxd6 14. dxe5 dxe5 (14... fxe5 {is also possible, which leads to more dynamic positions.}) 15. Bc4+ Kh8 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. O-O Nd4 18. Rad1 Be6 19. Bxe6 Nxe6 {So far both players were developing their pieces and playing logical moves. This endgame looks slightly better for white due to a bad bishop on g7, but with precise play black's position should definitely be holdable.} 20. f3 gxf3 21. gxf3 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Rd8 23. Rxd8+ Nxd8 24. Bf2 a6 {All rooks have been exchanged, so time to centralize the kings.} 25. Kf1 Kg8 26. Ke2 Kf7 27. Be3 Ke6 28. Na4 Bf8 (28... Kd7 {was more precise, transfering the king to c6.} 29. Bxh6 Bxh6 30. Nc5+ Kc6 $11) 29. Bxh6 $1 {Now white knight can occupy f5 square. } Bxh6 30. Nc5+ Kf7 {This is the only move.} (30... Kd6 $2 31. Nxb7+ $1 Nxb7 32. Nf5+ Ke6 33. Nxh6 {with a winning knight endgame for white.}) 31. Kd3 Bf4 ( 31... Bf8 {Nakamura would like to exchange his bishop for c5 knight, but in this case Aronian's king becomes too active, which would decide the game in his favor.} 32. Kc4 Bxc5 33. Kxc5 Kg7 34. Kb6 Kh6 35. Ng2 $18) 32. h3 Bg5 33. Nf5 Ne6 34. Nxe6 $2 {Aronian's only mistake in this game. Probably he thought that the following endgame was winning for him anyways, and saw no need in calculating 34.Nb7} (34. Nxb7 $1 {was a lot stronger. For example:} Nf4+ 35. Kc4 Nxh3 36. b4 Nf4 37. a4 h5 38. b5 axb5+ 39. axb5 Ne6 40. Nbd6+ Kg8 41. b6 $18) 34... Kxe6 35. Kc4 b6 36. a4 Bd2 37. b3 h5 {trying to create a counterplay on the king's side.} 38. b4 (38. Ng7+ Kf7 39. Nxh5 $4 Be1 $1 {with the following Kg6 and black wins a knight.}) 38... a5 39. bxa5 bxa5 40. Kb5 Kd7 $2 {A decisive mistake on 40th move.} (40... Kf7 $1 {would have been more consistent with h5. Black's king wants to enter the game from g5 and attack f3 and h3 pawns. I don't see how Aronian could win this position. For example:} 41. Kc6 (41. Nd6+ Kg6 42. Nc4 Be1 43. Nxa5 Kg5 44. Nc6 Kh4 {is just bad for white}) 41... Kg6 42. h4 Kf7 43. Kd6 Bc3 44. Kd5 Be1 $11) 41. Ng7 $1 {forcing black to play h4.} h4 42. Nf5 Be1 43. Ne3 Ke6 44. Nc4 {Black loses a5 pawn and has no counterplay. Therefore, Nakamura has resigned in this position.} 1-0

George Marvelashvili

George is an active grandmaster representing Georgia. He was born in 1990 and completed his title in 2010. He is currently a student at the University of Texas at Dallas finishing his Master's degree in Finance.

For the standings, this was the key game of the round

Karjakin, Sergey 1-0 Rapport, Richard
An intense game! Rapoprt used an unusual idea in thet Winawer French and it seemed to destabilize the usually well prepared Russian player. After Rapport's 7...f6 Karjakin spent fifteen minutes on his eighth move! The young Hungarian sacrificed a pawn and obtained plentiful compensation for it, but slowly he started to lose it. White's position became stronger and stronger until it was he who held the initiative, and with the material plus as well as board control Karjakin was able to convert an important win.

Rapport's opening experiment paid off, but he couldn't follow it up properly

Dominguez Perez, Leinier 1-0 Caruana, Fabiano
The Cuban grandmaster made an excellent show of how to convert minimal advantages. He started off by sacrificing the integrity of his structure for some activity on the queenside, which netted him a pawn. However this pawn was still a very crippled one as he had four sets of doubled, isolated pawns! He trated into a bishop endgame, still up a pawn, and he masterfully converted it.

Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna

Van Wely ½-½ Harikrishna, Pentala
The game of the day in which nothing really happened. A Catalan turned into a closed position with both players having opposite colored bishops and no targets.

Photographer, WGM and globetrotter Alina l'Ami

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Photos by Alina l'Ami and Nadja Wittman

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
½-½
Boris Gelfand - Arkadij Naiditsch
½-½
Levon Aronian - Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Richard Rapport
1-0
Leinier Dominguez - Fabiano Caruana
1-0
Loek van Wely - Pentala Harikrishna
½-½
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  
Jan Timman - Sabino Brunello  
Dimitri Reinderman - Yu Yangyi  
Kayden Troff - Ivan Saric  
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Anna Muzychuk  
Etienne Goudriaan - Radek Wojtaszek  
Baadur Jobava - Merijn van Delft  
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
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

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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