1/20/2013 – In a marathon 92-move game against Sergey Karjakin, Magnus Carlsen (as so often) managed to "squeeze blood out of a stone", as a GM colleague put it, and win an essentially drawn position. This put the Norwegian number one in the world back in the sole lead in Tata Steel. Caruana and Aronian also scored, against L'Ami and Hou Yifan respectively. Full report with videos and GM commentary.
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January 2013
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75. Tata Steel Chess Tournament
This event is taking place from January 12-27. The venue is as usual the traditional
De Moriaan Center in the Dutch sea resort of Wijk aan Zee. The tournament has
three Grandmaster Groups, which have 14 players and are held as full round robins
(each competitor plays against every other). The rate of play for all three
groups is 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and finally
15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30 seconds/move increment starting
with the first move of the game.
Round eight report
By GM Alejandro Ramirez
If one word describes today’s round, it would be perseverance. The player’s
tried their hardest, sometimes in hopelessly lost positions, sometimes in seemingly
drawn, to achieve that extra half point. Some with success, some without...
Group A: Round 8 - Sunday January 20
Loek van Wely - Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Anish Giri - Wang Hao
½-½
Fabiano Caruana - Erwin L'Ami
1-0
Levon Aronian - Hou Yifan
1-0
Magnus Carlsen - Sergey Karjakin
1-0
Pentala Harikrishna - Peter Leko
½-½
Vishy Anand - Ivan Sokolov
½-½
Giri played yet another ultra-solid game against Wang Hao. The setup he chose
gives White the pair of bishops, but not too much room to use their power. The
game was drawn after multiple exchanges left Black with just enough to give
a perpetual check on the kingside before Giri’s passed c-pawn became a
problem.
Anand’s treatment of the Schliemann Ruy Lopez was poor to say the least.
Sokolov simplified into a drawn position but it would have been interesting
if he kept on playing some other way. Harikrishna-Leko saw the very sharp Najdorf
fizzle out into a drawn endgame in which neither side had a serious chance of
winning.
Van Wely-Nakamura was a show of resilience by the American. He was pinned against
the ropes the entire time, and just as it seemed that Van Wely was winning,
a timely exchange sacrifice forced all the pawns off the board and the draw
was agreed. Loek cannot be happy with the result as it is certain that he could
have pushed for a win at some point.
Hou Yifan played an intrepid game by quickly sacrificing a pawn against Aronian
for the better structure and a slight initiative. This seemed to be going well
until she inexplicably played 24… Ra6?! and 25… Rxa2+? instead of
accepting the return sacrifice. This maneuver cost her a piece, and Aronian
doesn’t forgive such a material advantage. Hou Yifan tried and tried but
to no avail.
L’Ami’s trusty Caro-Kann put him in a world of suffering this time.
Fabiano Caruana pressed very hard with his space advantage, and it worked wonders.
The resulting endgame is known to be very unpleasant for Black, since the kingside
pawn storm is still quite strong. L’Ami collapsed under pressure and Caruana
finished with a nice flourish: the exchange sacrifice on c3.
Carlsen-Karjakin was simply amazing. The sheer willpower that Carlsen has to
win games is outstanding. Any lesser player (which is everyone) would’ve
agreed to a draw at some point during the game. Gawain Jones commented on Facebook
that Carlsen “squeezed blood out of a stone” in this position, and
I think this rather British analogy makes sense here. The opposite colored bishop
endgame, with rooks, seemed dead, but somehow after opening up the kingside
Karjakin started facing problems. His reluctance to sacrifice his bishop for
two passed pawns – which would’ve drawn – saddled him in a
dangerous position where White’s pawns were clearly an issue. Even the
opposite colored bishop endgame at the end seemed drawn, but actually with very
precise play Carlsen proved that it was winning. The world number one scores
another important point and regains his solo lead in Tata Steel.
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Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,185,960
54%
2421
---
1.d4
960,101
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,728
56%
2440
---
1.c4
184,987
56%
2443
---
1.g3
19,897
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,604
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,958
48%
2376
---
1.Nc3
3,917
50%
2383
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,250
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
Carlsen-Karjakin was simply amazing. The sheer willpower that Carlsen has to
win games is outstanding. Any lesser player (which is everyone) would've
agreed to a draw at some point during the game. Gawain Jones commented on
Facebook that Carlsen "squeezed blood out of a stone", and I think this rather
British analogy makes sense here.1.Nf3Nf62.g3d53.Bg2c64.0-0Bg45.c4e66.d3Nbd77.cxd5exd58.Qc2Be79.Nc3Bxf310.Bxf3d411.Ne40-012.Nxf6+Nxf613.Bd2a514.a3Nd515.Rab1Qd716.Rfc1Rfe817.Qc4Nc718.h4a419.Bb4Nb520.Kg2h621.Bc5g622.Qb4Bf623.Qd2Kg724.Rc4Ra625.Qd1b626.Bb4c527.Bd2Nc728.Rcc1Nd529.Qh1Be730.Kg1Rd831.Rc2Qe632.Qg2Ra733.Re1Rad734.Kh2Rc835.Qh3Qxh3+36.Kxh3h537.Rb1Ra838.Kg2Ra639.b3axb340.Rxb3Bf641.Rc4Rd642.Kf1Kf843.a4Nc344.Bf4Re645.e3Nxa446.Bd5Re747.Bd6b548.Bxe7+Bxe749.Rxb5Nb650.e4Nxc451.Rb8+Kg752.Bxc4Ra753.f4Bd654.Re8Rb755.Ra8Be756.Kg2Rb157.e5Re158.Kf2Rb159.Re8Bf860.Rc8Be761.Ra8Rb2+62.Kf3Rb163.Bd5Re164.Kf2Rd165.Re8Bf866.Bc4Rb167.g4hxg468.h5Rh169.hxg6fxg670.Re6
The opposite colored bishop endgame, with rooks, seemed dead, but somehow
after opening up the kingside Karjakin started facing problems. His reluctance
to sacrifice his bishop for two passed pawns - which would've drawn - saddled
him in a dangerous position where White's pawns were clearly an issue.Kh671.Bd5Rh2+72.Kg3Rh3+73.Kxg4Rxd374.f5Re375.Rxg6+Kh776.Bg8+Kh877.Kf4Rc378.f6d379.Ke3c480.Be6Kh781.Bf5Rc282.Rg2+Kh683.Rxc2dxc2Even the opposite colored bishop endgame at the end seemed drawn, but
actually with very precise play Carlsen proved that it was winning.84.Bxc2Kg585.Kd4Ba386.Kxc4Bb287.Kd5Kf488.f7Ba389.e6Kg590.Kc6Kf691.Kd7Kg792.e71–0
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