Tata Steel Chess: "A hallucination of some sort"
1/26/2019 – A completely unexpected resignation from Sam Shankland allowed Anish Giri to catch up with Magnus Carlsen in the standings. A half point behind, the only chaser is Ian Nepomniachtchi, who grabbed an important win over Vladimir Fedoseev. In other news, Vladimir Kramnik got his first victory this year, while Vladislav Kovalev won the only decisive game of the Challengers and joined Maksim Chigaev at the top of the standings. Full report by ALEX YERMOLINKSY. | Photos: Alina l'Ami / Official site
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Strange endings
The story of the day was Sam Shakland's incredible brain-freeze, as he resigned in a drawn position to Anish Giri.
My Black Secrets in the Modern Italian
The Italian Game is considered a sound but quiet opening without early trades, giving rise to rich positions where plans are more important than forced variations. So shows black's plans on this DVD.
It was a baffling resignation by Sam | Photo: Alina l'Ami
I don't have any inside scoop on what happened there, but I do recall a similar ending from Nakamura's first victorious US Championship
If you want to become a strong player you have to study the endgame. That's just the way it is. Andrew Martin's DVD 'First Steps in Endgames' offers a superb introduction for players rated below 1600.
More importantly, this win put Anish level with Magnus, with their head-to-head coming up in the last round. One cannot wish for more drama.
In the post-game interview, Giri talked a bit about what went on in the game. The Dutchman described what happened to Sam as "a hallucination of some sort", and then explained:
It is quite funny because the only way to lose is to resign, because if he wouldn't have resigned I wouldn't have been able to break through. Maybe Magnus Carlsen would, but I wouldn't be able to...
The full interview with Fiona Steil-Antoni:
Don't count Nepo out just yet. Ian shook off a disappointing loss in the previous round to Van Foreest to play a consistent game against his compatriot and fellow madcap, Vladimir Fedoseev.
Fighting against the Caro-Kann with the Advance Variation
The Caro-Kann Defence is one of the most solid replies for Black after 1.e4. Bologan's choice of the Advance Variation for White is because of the complex strategical play in which White has a long-term space advantage.
Both players still need to learn to control their ambition. Nepo had no business entering a standard Najdorf against the youngster on Wednesday. Kids these days learn how to demolish Sicilian structures before they are old enough to drive. For Fedo, he remains my main man. He has an incredible will to win — nobody could win a game like he did against Teimour. However, the next day he played out of position against Giri.
Carlsen and Kovalev strolling during round eleven | Photo: Alina l'Ami
Another young player who seems to be on the rebound is Vidit Santosh Gujrathi. Today he followed his excellent win over Kramnik with a great effort against another rating favourite, the Azeri Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: A Repertoire for Black
In this DVD Sam Collins presents a repertoire for Black based on the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4. Rather than get involved in the heavy theory of the Classical Main Line, the lynchpin of the repertoire is the active development of the queen’s bishop. The resulting positions have close similarities to the Nimzo Indian and Slav Defences, and Collins explains the way for Black to approach the middlegame with confidence based on a blockade and light square strategy. The resulting repertoire is solid, reliable, and suitable as either a main weapon or an occasional surprise choice. Video running time: 3 hours 30 min
After this game, Shakhriyar is out of the '2800 club' and down to number five in the live ratings list, behind Giri. He is on 4/11 in the tournament, sharing second to last place with Van Foreest...but still half a point above Kramnik. The race for escaping the cellar is heating up.
It has not been a good run for Shak | Photo: Alina l'Ami
After a long string of disasters, Vladimir Kramnik finally notched his first win.
Standings after Round 11 - Masters
Round 11 round-up
GM Yannick Pelletier recapped the action from round eleven
All games - Masters
One decisive result in the Challengers
The Challenger Group saw only one decisive result, but an important one. Vladislav Kovalev defeated Parham Maghsoodloo to get level with the leader Maksim Chigaev, with the youngster Esipenko hot on their heels.
Strike first with the Scandinavian
The Scandinavian is a rarely employed opening on the hightest level und guides your opponent on much less familiar terrain than for example the Sicilian, French or any 1.e4 e5 system. After 1.e4 d5 Black fights for the initiative from move one.
Kovalev and Chigaev will fight fiercely to get a spot in next year's Masters event | Photo: Alina l'Ami
Standings after Round 11 - Challengers
All games - Challengers
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