Tata 07: Exchange Sacrifice, anyone?

by Alejandro Ramirez
1/19/2014 – As if the spirit of Petrosian had possessed the playing hall, today's round in the Master's section of Tata Steel saw no less than five boards in which one side had an extra exchange! Interestingly, only in one of games was the exchange converted into a win (Rapport 1-0 Harikrishna) while one was lost (Nakamura 0-1 Van Wely) and three games finished in interesting positional draws.

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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.

Round seven - Masters

Group A: Round 7 - Sunday Jan. 19
Fabiano Caruana - Anish Giri
½-½
Richard Rapport - Pentala Harikrishna
1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely
0-1
Arkadij Naiditsch - Leinier Dominguez
½-½
Wesley So - Sergey Karjakin
½-½
Boris Gelfand - Levon Aronian
½-½

Summary by GM Daniel King

Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Giri, Anish
Both of Chuchelov's star students played a weird Bishop's opening in which neither side was in any danger. The pieces came off the board and the draw was agreed.

It's not easy choosing an opening when you have the same coach as your opponent

Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1 Van Wely, Loek

Without a doubt the game of the day

[Event "76th Tata Steel Chess Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2014.01.19"] [Round "7"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Van Wely, Loek"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B54"] [WhiteElo "2786"] [BlackElo "2678"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 d6 {This specific move-order of the Scheveningen set up with d6 and e6 is desgined to take some of the sting of the Keres attack, which involves 6.g4. Since there is no knight on f6 yet there are not as many problems for Black... but that doesn't mean that Nakamura won't play it anyways!} 6. g4 Nge7 (6... a6 7. Be3 Nge7 8. Nb3 {is the more common variation. Notice that here White has played Be3 instead of h4. }) (6... h6 $5 {has become trendy recently}) 7. Nb3 a6 8. h4 (8. Be3 b5 9. f4 Bb7 10. Qe2 {has been seen a few times in grandmaster games. The game played by Nakamura is a novelty, but it's questionable how good it is to launch the pawns forward with so little preparation.}) 8... b5 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. g5 Rc8 11. Qe2 h5 {Locking in the kingside, but this is not always necessary.} 12. a4 $6 { I don't like this idea. Normal development seemed more prudent. Now White will have a target on the queenside but he will fall dangerously behind in development.} b4 13. Na2 g6 14. Bf4 Bg7 15. Rd1 Ne5 $5 {Van Wely's set up is interesting. True, b4 is hanging, but Black is relying on counterplay with his pieces to compensate for this.} 16. Nxb4 Nc4 17. Nd3 Qb6 {Black has compensation for the pawn, of that there is no doubt. However there is still no specific danger for White and he can hope to retain his extra material.} 18. O-O O-O 19. Nd2 Rfd8 20. Nxc4 Rxc4 21. Ne5 $6 {White starts getting in problems after this move. More prudent was} (21. b3 Rcc8 22. c4 $1 {Using tactics to solidify the structure} Ba8 (22... Qxb3 $4 23. Rb1 $18) 23. Nc1 { Black has some compensation, but not more than that.}) 21... dxe5 22. Be3 (22. Qxc4 Rxd1 23. Rxd1 exf4 24. Rd7 Bc6 $1 25. Rxe7 Bd4 {gives Black enough counterplay to probably force a perpetual against White's weakened king.}) 22... Rcd4 23. c3 {Nakamura wins an echange with this sequence, but his position is passive and his pawns become weak. More than this, the passed d-pawn Black receives as compensation will become quite strong.} Bc6 24. b3 $2 {It's hard to understand why White gave away this pawn.} (24. Qc2 $1 Rc8 { Gives Black strong compensation but not more than that.} (24... Bxa4 $2 25. Qxa4 Rxa4 26. Bxb6 $14 {leaves White in a slightly better position. True, Black is not down material, but White holds the pair of bishops and a superior pawn structure.})) 24... Qxb3 25. cxd4 exd4 26. Bf4 Qxa4 (26... d3 27. Qd2 Bxa4 {was more direct, but Black's position is good regardless}) 27. Qf3 Bb5 28. Ra1 Qb4 29. Rfd1 d3 {With two pawns for the exchange, one of them being the passed pawn on d3, it is obvious that it is not White that is playing for the advantage.} 30. Rab1 Qa3 31. Bf1 Nc6 32. Qg3 Qa2 33. Rbc1 {It was hard to suggest a move for White, but this allows a finishing blow.} d2 $1 {Excellent calculation by the Dutch player!} 34. Rxd2 Rxd2 35. Bxb5 axb5 36. Bxd2 Nd4 $1 { This is the point of the combination. White cannot hold on to his bishop on d2 because of the multiple forks.} (36... Qxd2 $2 37. Rxc6 Qe1+ 38. Kg2 Qxe4+ 39. Qf3 Qxh4 {is better for Black but not by much.}) 37. Rc8+ Kh7 38. Qc7 (38. Qd3 Qxd2 {loses the bishop and the game anyways because of the fork on f3.}) 38... Qb1+ $1 {Precise calculation! Black's attack is decisive.} (38... Qxd2 39. Qxf7 {forces Black to give a perpetual becuase of the unstoppable Qg8 threat.}) 39. Bc1 Nf3+ 40. Kg2 Nxh4+ (40... Qxe4 {also wins}) 41. Kh3 (41. Kf1 Qd3+ {speeds up White's demise.}) 41... Qxe4 42. Qf4 Qh1+ 43. Qh2 Qb7 44. Rd8 Be5 45. f4 ( 45. Qxe5 Qg2+ 46. Kxh4 Qg4#) 45... Qf3+ 46. Qg3 Qh1+ 47. Qh2 Qf3+ 48. Qg3 Qh1+ 49. Qh2 Qxc1 50. fxe5 Qxg5 51. Qf4 Qxd8 (51... Qg2+ 52. Kxh4 g5+ {was most precise, but obviously the move in the game wins as well.}) (51... Qxf4 $4 52. Rh8+ Kg7 53. Rg8+ {was Nakamura's last trap, with a stalemate trick.}) 52. Qxf7+ Kh6 {Definitely a spectacular and precise game from Van Wely. To be honest, if I had seen the game without being told who was White and who was Black I would have guessed that the players had the colors reversed!} 0-1

The winner of the 2011 edition has not been able to perform up to his rating

Rapport, Ricahrd 1-0 Harikrishna, Pentala
Rapport used a side variation (surprise!) of the Caro-Kann, but it gave good results today as he obtained a slight advantage against Harikrishna. The Hungarian played an excellent game and kept pushing the Indian's position, which soon saw itself in a surprising mating attack. Black shed some material to relieve the pressure but with an extra exchange Rapport was able to win the game.

The Indian grandmaster's performance is close to 2700, but thats just within expectations

Rapport moves to -1 and has exactly the same performance as his rating!

So, Wesley ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
Karjakin (maybe unnecessarily) sacrificed an exchange to retain some light square control and for two powerful knights. So wasn't able to make progress with his passive position so he gave the exchange back, resulting in a drawn rook endgame.

Gelfand, Boris ½-½ Aronian, Levon
Aronian certainly surprised Gelfand from the opening with a pawn sacrifice in a Ragozin/Vienna variation of the QGD. However Gelfand decided to play it relatively safe, gave back an exchange to solidify his position and he was never in any danger of losing.

Naiditsch, Arkadij ½-½ Dominguez Perez, Leinier
Naidtisch's superior pawn structure did not grant him an advantage as Black's passed a-pawn was certainly not a weakness but a strength. This ended up costing the German player an exchange, in yet another game in which one side was down an exchange. It's difficult to say where Dominguez went wrong, or if he went wrong at all, but he was unable to convert a very difficult technical endgame.

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Standings after seven rounds

Round eight - Challengers

Group B: Round 8 - Sunday Jan. 19
Zhao Xue - Dimitri Reinderman
0-1
Kayden Troff - Jan Timman
½-½
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Benjamin Bok
½-½
Etienne Goudriaan - Sabino Brunello
½-½
Baadur Jobava - Yu Yangyi
1-0
Merijn van Delft - Ivan Saric
½-½
Radek Wojtaszek - Anna Muzychuk
½-½

Jobava's unusual opening repertoire keeps giving him dividends

The big result of today was definitely Jobava's victory over Yu Yangyi. He used his trademarked 1.b3, and as usual he got no opening advantage but did get an interesting position. Actually shortly after the opening Yu Yangyi erred and allowed White a better pawn structure and serious pressure on the long diagonal. White took advantage of this and won a pawn and then converted a simple knight endgame.

The Chinese player, Yu Yangyi, simply didn't find his groove in Wijk Aan Zee

Yes, her position at some point was that bad

Duda and Bok finished in a perpetual check after the Polish grandmaster decided that things weren't exactly going his way. Troff's White repertoire simply does not seem as sharp as his Black repertoire and Timman easily equalized against his Catalan using a Bogo-Indian set up. Van Delft's better pawn structure didn't promise him any real advantage against Saric's piece activity and that game also ended in a draw.

A strange perpetual check finished this game

In the most important blunder of the day Wojtaszek missed a winning move against Muzychuk during time pressure. 38.Rff4! would have won material because of the unusual but strong mating attack against Black's king. Instead the Slovenian player escaped with a draw. Reinderman's dutch set ups finally payed off and he was ble to outplay Zhao Xue, although maybe his win wasn't exactly due to the opening. On another happy note, Goudriaan finally obtained his first half point of the event in a strange game against Brunello.

Anne Hast, one of the best Dutch players, paid a short visit

Experience sometimes prevails in the amateur section!

"Sopiko Guramishvili - what can I do, if she is so photogenic?!" - our photographer, Alina l'Ami

Players eat the famous Dutch erwtensoup - a good idea for extra energy

Some spectators found vantage points to follow the games

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Standings after eight rounds

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
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
0-1
Fabiano Caruana - Loek van Wely
1-0
Richard Rapport - Leinier Dominguez
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin
½-½
Arkadij Naiditsch - Levon Aronian
0-1
Wesley So - Boris Gelfand
1-0
Group A: Round 6 - Saturday Jan. 18
Anish Giri - Boris Gelfand
½-½
Levon Aronian - Wesley So
1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Arkadij Naiditsch
1-0
Leinier Dominguez - Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Loek van Wely - Richard Rapport
½-½
Pentala Harikrishna - Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Group A: Round 7 - Sunday Jan. 19
Fabiano Caruana - Anish Giri
½-½
Richard Rapport - Pentala Harikrishna
1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely
0-1
Arkadij Naiditsch - Leinier Dominguez
½-½
Wesley So - Sergey Karjakin
½-½
Boris Gelfand - Levon Aronian
½-½
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
½-½
Radek Wojtaszek - Baadur Jobava
0-1
Anna Muzychuk - Etienne Goudriaan
1-0
Ivan Saric - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
1-0
Yu Yangyi - Kayden Troff
½-½
Sabino Brunello - Dimitri Reinderman
1-0
Benjamin Bok - Jan Timman
½-½
Group B: Round 6 - Friday Jan. 17
Zhao Xue - Jan Timman
0-1
Dimitri Reinderman - Benjamin Bok
½-½
Kayden Troff - Sabino Brunello
½-½
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Yu Yangyi
0-1
Etienne Goudriaan - Ivan Saric
0-1
Baadur Jobava - Anna Muzychuk
½-½
Merijn van Delft - Radek Wojtaszek
0-1
Group B: Round 7 - Saturday Jan. 18
Radek Wojtaszek - Zhao Xue
1-0
Anna Muzychuk - Merijn van Delft
½-½
Ivan Saric - Baadur Jobava
½-½
Yu Yangyi - Etienne Goudriaan
1-0
Sabino Brunello - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
0-1
Benjamin Bok - Kayden Troff
½-½
Jan Timman - Dimitri Reinderman
1-0
Group B: Round 8 - Sunday Jan. 19
Zhao Xue - Dimitri Reinderman
0-1
Kayden Troff - Jan Timman
½-½
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Benjamin Bok
½-½
Etienne Goudriaan - Sabino Brunello
½-½
Baadur Jobava - Yu Yangyi
1-0
Merijn van Delft - Ivan Saric
½-½
Radek Wojtaszek - Anna Muzychuk
½-½
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
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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