Tata 11 (Group B): Timman forgives!

by Alejandro Ramirez
1/24/2014 – Timman has been showing that his flame for chess is far from extinguished and he has been playing excellent chess in Tata Steel, Challenger's group. Today he had an opportunity to crown his performance by beating Jobava, but a blunder late in the game - move 74 - cost him a crucial half a point. Saric remains half a point ahead of the Georgian with only two rounds to spare.

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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 eleven - Challengers

Group B: Round 11 - Friday Jan. 24
Ivan Saric - Zhao Xue
1-0
Yu Yangyi - Anna Muzychuk
1-0
Sabino Brunello - Radek Wojtaszek
0-1
Benjamin Bok - Merijn van Delft
1-0
Jan Timman - Baadur Jobava
½-½
Dimitri Reinderman - Etienne Goudriaan
1-0
Kayden Troff - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
0-1

A dramatic day in Wijk Aan Zee Challenger's group as Jan Timman, the veteran and legendary chess player, had a clear chance to upset Jobava and win the game. A costly and strange blunder, surely due to fatigue, didn't allow him to convert his three passed pawns in the two rooks vs. a rook and two minor pieces endgame. The result allows Jobava to still fight for first place, and he has to consider himself lucky.

This paved the way for Saric, who beat Zhao Xue, to take the lead again with two rounds to go. A few mistakes by the Chinese player turned a position that was about even into a positionally hopeless situation. This happens often in the Italian/Spanish style of games when you are not careful with the positioning of your pieces.

Yu Yangyi lashed out against Muzychuk who exposed her king too much in a complex position. Because of this loss the Slovenian can hardly hope to win the tournament and qualify for the Master's group next year.

Brunello obtained sufficient compensation for his exchange against Wojtaszek, but little more than that, the Polish grandmaster patiently released his pieces from their confinement and won a technical endgame. Bok employed a well known attack against Van Delft's Scheveningen set-up but without too much success. He won a pawn that could easily have been recovered, but for some reason Black didn't do that and he ended up losing because of the missing material.

Goudriaan tried to refute his opponent's quick f3 Sicilian without any success, as Reinderman's bishops dominated the board and Black had only illusory threats. Troff's Catalan continues to not promise him any advantage and today he was simply outplayed by Duda.

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literally all kinds

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Standings after eleven rounds

Photos by Joachim Schulze

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
½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Boris Gelfand
1-0
Leinier Dominguez - Wesley So
1-0
Loek van Wely - Arkadij Naiditsch
1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
Fabiano Caruana - Richard Rapport
1-0
Group A: Round 9 - Thursday Jan. 23
Richard Rapport - Anish Giri
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura - Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Arkadij Naiditsch - Pentala Harikrishna
0-1
Boris Gelfand - Leinier Dominguez
½-½
Wesley So - Loek van Wely
1-0
Levon Aronian - Sergey Karjakin
1-0
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
½-½
Ivan Saric - Radek Wojtaszek
1-0
Yu Yangyi - Merijn van Delft
1-0
Sabino Brunello - Baadur Jobava
1-0
Benjamin Bok - Etienne Goudriaan
½-½
Jan Timman - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
1-0
Dimitri Reinderman - Kayden Troff
1-0
Group B: Round 10 - Wednesday Jan. 22
Zhao Xue - Kayden Troff
½-½
Jan-Krzysztof Duda - D. Reinderman
1-0
Etienne Goudriaan - Jan Timman
0-1
Baadur Jobava - Benjamin Bok
1-0
Merijn van Delft - Sabino Brunello
0-1
Radek Wojtaszek - Yu Yangyi
½-½
Anna Muzychuk - Ivan Saric
½-½
Thursday, Jan. 23 – Free day
Group B: Round 11 - Friday Jan. 24
Ivan Saric - Zhao Xue
1-0
Yu Yangyi - Anna Muzychuk
1-0
Sabino Brunello - Radek Wojtaszek
0-1
Benjamin Bok - Merijn van Delft
1-0
Jan Timman - Baadur Jobava
½-½
Dimitri Reinderman - Etienne Goudriaan
1-0
Kayden Troff - Jan-Krzysztof Duda
0-1
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
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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