Tata Steel Chess: Magnus keeps on drawing

Twenty-one draws

Usually a long streak of draws has something to do with a player showing a conservative and pragmatic style in order to maintain a stable performance against strong opposition. Magnus Carlsen — who has drawn his last twenty-one classical games — is known for choosing positions that lead to clear setups that allow him to prove his technical prowess. However, he is also praised for his seemingly indestructible fighting spirit. Such a long streak of half points is certainly not something we would expect of the Norwegian.

Certainly the most hotly anticipated match-up of the day | Photo: Alina l'Ami

In his last game, he faced an under-the-weather (chess-wise) Vladimir Kramnik — the Russian, who used to be a difficult rival for Magnus, came from having a lousy start in the tournament. Vlad showed he was up for the task, though, and kept the balance throughout the game despite having the black pieces. Shortly before the time control, Kramnik even gave up a pawn to go into a balanced endgame:

Tactic Toolbox Ruy Lopez / Spanish Opening

Starting with Black's alternatives on move 3 and working through until the main lines of the Closed Lopez and the Marshall and Anti-Marshall, the viewer will find his knowledge of the opening developing in tandem with an improvement in his tactical ability.

Black could have continued 36...Ne5 37.c4 Nd3 in order to keep the material balance, but Kramnik considered that after 36...Nb6 37.Bxc6 Nxc6 38.Nxc6 Nc4 he had enough compensation for the pawn — and he was right. The game continued until move 56, when the draw was finally signed.

Vladimir gave his first interview in this year's edition and mentioned how he is well aware of the fact that he is perhaps taking too many risks:

I'm an old man, I just want to enjoy chess. [...] I know that I'm risking too much, but that is the way I want to play, and in such a strong tournament it's something that maybe doesn't pay, but at least I have interesting games.

Magnus, on the other hand, is still slowly losing rating points with these draws — Caruana is now exactly three points below him in the live ratings list. Nonetheless, he will play Jorden van Foreest in the next round, a player that has not drawn once in Wijk aan Zee this year.

My Path to the Top

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov.

Big Vlad is never afraid | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Two friends join the chasing pack

In last year's Olympiad, we saw how Vidit Gujrathi has established very good relations with the Dutch team. The same can be said about Twitter, where he and Anish Giri have gone back and forth joking around more than once in the past. Coincidentally, both players won their games on Tuesday and now share second place with Anand and Ding Liren.

Giri lost in round one against Nepomniachtchi, but has bounced back to contention with two victories. His latest win, against Richard Rapport, was achieved with the black pieces, after the Hungarian used an opening system that showed little ambition. When asked about how he prepared to face someone as unpredictable as Richard, Giri explained that it was useful to look at the games of other eccentric players:

I recall looking at the system once when I played Baadur [Jobava], and Richard and Baadur…I don't know if they work together, but certainly they look at each other's games.

Rapport's critical mistake came on move 21, in a position that Giri considered to be completely equal:

Tricks & Traps Vol. 2 - 1.d4 Openings

On this DVD Davies presents a variety of tricks and traps that can arise after 1.d4 by White, breaking them down into a number of different categories. The examples are designed to appeal to players of every level and feature a wide variety of systems. Besides coverage of some of the classics, Davies reveals some little known ploys and explains how likely these traps are to succeed. Accordingly the viewer should gain some psychological insights into the art of trapping and this should help his game as a whole. Video runnig time: 4 hours.

The Hungarian played the small combination 21.Nxb6 Qxb6 22.a4, getting back the piece but allowing Black to get an outside passed pawn on the queenside. From this moment on — and especially after the weakening 23.g4 — Giri had the upper hand on both sides of the board. The Dutchman showed good technique and got the point by move 40.

The number one player in the Netherlands | Photo: Alina l'Ami

For Vidit, on the other hand, the win was not as straightforward. The Indian confessed that he felt he was playing against a computer in the opening, as Jorden van Foreest spent less than three minutes on each of his first 31 moves! Clearly, the youngster was expecting to get the opposite-coloured bishop endgame that presented itself on the board, but then he was not able to assess it was necessary to calculate a bit to secure the draw:

Chess Endgames 14 - The golden guidelines of endgame play

Rules of thumb are the key to everything when you are having to set the correct course in a complex endgame. In this final DVD of his series on the endgame, our endgame specialist introduces you to the most important of these rules of thumb.

The procedure needed to draw the game required Black to keep his bishop on d1, in order to force White's king to stay close defending the e2-pawn or go to the kingside at the expense of his small material advantage. Jorden's 36...Ba4, therefore, was the critical mistake, as Vidit activated his monarch on the kingside and went on to win the game after 51 moves.

Vidit did not think he would win this game | Photo: Alina l'Ami

The rest of the games were drawn, with Teimour Radjabov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Sam Shankland — besides Magnus — adding a fourth half point to their tallies. For Shankland, it has been a good run, given the strength of his opponents, but he certainly could have gotten at least a win, especially when he obtained a favourable position against Rapport. The current U.S. champion talked about his performance so far:

Daily round-up show

GM Daniel King analysed the games from round four

Standings after Round 4 - Masters

All games - Masters

Kovalev wins in the Challengers

Six out of seven games finished drawn in the Challengers, although it could have easily been a round with no decisive games. Like his older brother in the Masters, Lucas van Foreest was not able to keep the balance in a theoretically drawn endgame against Vladislav Kovalev. Lucas needed to give up a pawn to get enough counterplay in a tricky rook ending:

Power Play 16 - Test Your Rook Endgames

The aim of this DVD is to provide you with the practical skills and knowledge that you will need to play a rook and pawn endgame. Based on his own playing experience, Grandmaster Daniel King reveals what is essential knowledge, saving you time in your studies. The Power Play series is suitable for anyone looking to improve their chess, but also provides ready-made lessons and exercises for a trainer.
Running time: 5 hours

Van Foreest defended his b5-pawn with 68...Kc6?, when 68...h4 was a necessary pawn sacrifice according to the computers. The problem for Black is that White's f-pawn is now too fast, and there is no way for the black king to get the b4-pawn after the black rook sacrifices itself on f8. Kovalev got the point after 79 moves.

13-year-old against 14-year-old — Pragg versus Keymer | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Standings after Round 4 - Challengers

All games - Challengers 

Links

• Official site
• Tata Steel Chess starts tomorrow
• Strong fields set for Tata Steel 2019
• Round 1: Anand and Nepo win, Kramnik escapes
• Round 2: Giri and Van Foreest bounce back
• Round 3: Nepomniachtchi grabs the lead