Tata Steel Chess: Amazing turnaround leaves Caruana in the lead

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/20/2020 – Fabiano Caruana caught up with Alireza Firouzja atop the standings table of the Tata Steel Masters after beating Vishy Anand from a clearly lost position. In the meantime, Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladislav Kovalev grabbed their first wins of the event. In the Challengers, Nils Grandelius and David Anton joined the four-player chasing pack that stands a half point behind sole leader Pavel Eljanov. Do not miss the thorough analyses provided by GMs DANIEL FERNANDEZ and YANNICK PELLETIER. | Photo: Alina l'Ami
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"This was a miracle"

The 82nd edition of the chess festival in Wijk aan Zee takes place from January 11th to 26th. The Masters and the Challengers are both 14-player single round robins. Rounds start at 12:30 UTC, except January 16th in Eindhoven, when it starts 30 minutes later.

World number two Fabiano Caruana started this year's edition of the Tata Steel Masters slowly, but after scoring back-to-back wins during the weekend he is now sharing the lead with Alireza Firouzja on 5½ out of 8. The American's path to the top was not without difficulty though. In round five, he failed to convert a winning advantage; the next day, he held Magnus Carlsen to a draw with the black pieces; on Saturday, he outplayed Daniil Dubov; and finally, he beat Vishy Anand after surviving a completely lost position. In fact, Caruana described his win over Anand as "a miracle".

Despite having positioned himself as the second strongest player in the world — or third at worst, after Ding Liren's amazing 2019 — for quite a while now, Caruana has yet to win the "A group" in Wijk aan Zee. In 2008/09, he won the C and B groups in consecutive years, but his best performance so far on the main stage was a shared second in 2016, when, coincidentally, he tied with Ding Liren a full point behind Carlsen. 

Caruana will play co-leader Firouzja in round ten, a day after the youngster faces the tough task of sitting opposite a hungry-for-victories Magnus Carlsen.  

Fabiano Caruana

Will Fabiano Caruana finally win the Masters? | Photo: Alina l'Ami

In round eight, Caruana had the white pieces and faced an ambitious Vishy Anand — the Indian agreed to gain an exchange while allowing his opponent to get a strong initiative. Caruana successfully upped the pressure, but Anand kept finding effective defensive manoeuvres. When the time control was approaching, White faltered, offering a queen trade that led to a clearly inferior endgame:

 
Caruana vs. Anand
Position after 36...f5

There followed 37.♕f6+ ♛xf6 38.exf6+ ♚h7 (perhaps the move that Caruana missed) 39.♘e5 ♜d6 (the only move that keeps the edge) 40.f7 ♚g7. The American later noted that he had panicked while low on time, correctly pointing out that 37.♘f6 was "significantly better". What had been a favourable position throughout now became an uphill struggle.

What happened from this point on was nicely described by grandmaster Daniel Fernandez (see full annotations below): "This is the one time in a hundred when an elite game erupts into unexpected and unnecessary drama". Anand knew he was winning, but more than once failed to find a clean path to convert his advantage. For example:

 
Position after 43.Be6

The former world champion played the computer's first suggestion here, 43...♜d8, but from a human point of view it would have been better to go for 43...♜xe6 44.♘xe6+ ♚xf7, when the annoying passer has been eliminated and Black has a technically winning knight endgame — the kind Anand would convert nine out of ten times.

As it happened, Anand not only failed to get the full point but ended up allowing White's king to infiltrate, prompting Caruana to get an unexpected 61-move win. Certainly a painful loss for the Tiger of Madras. 

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 5.Bg5 continues to be the main move against the Ragozin. 5...exd5 6.Bf4 0-0 7.e3 Bf5 The two brothers Van Foreest drew a game in this line recently: 7...c5 This is probably better than the game move, after which I haven't found convincing equality. 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.Nd2 Bxc3 10.bxc3 Qxc5 11.Rc1 b6 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Be2 Nbd7 14.0-0 Qe7 15.Rfd1 Rfc8 16.h3 h6 17.Bf1 Nc5 18.Qa3 Nfe4 19.c4 Most likely an unintentional sacrifice. Nxf2! Van Foreest,J-Van Foreest,L Amsterdam 2019 8.Qb3 Nc6 9.Bg5 This might seem like a waste of a tempo, but the c6-knight would prefer to be on d7 in case White plays this pin, so it's fair game. a5 This was the precedent game White might have been aiming for with this idea of Bg5xf6 and Qxd5. 9...Re8 10.Be2 h6 10...Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Ne4 12.Bxd8 Nxc3 13.Bxc7 Nxe2 14.Kxe2 Rac8 15.Bd6 Na5 White has very slim winning chances indeed since the only way to counteract the ideas of ...Rc2 and ...Nc4 is to play with doubled a-pawns. 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Qxd5 Be4 13.Qh5 g6 14.Qh3 h5 15.0-0 Bf5 16.Qg3 Bd6 17.Qh4 Qg7 18.Nd5 Kf8 19.Qf6± Lupulescu,C-Bida,M Calimanesti Caciulata 2016 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.a3 11.Qxd5 a4 surely transposes as White has no other sensible means of preventing ...a3. None of Kd2, 0-0-0 and Qc4 is at all appealing. 11...a4 12.Qxd5 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Na5 14.Qe5 Apparently, despite the feeling that Black has compensation, the details after 14.Qa2 don't work out and White gets to consolidate. 14...Qc6 15.c4 Nb3 16.Qxf5 Nxa1 17.Bd3 g6 18.Qf4 Nb3 19.0-0 The opening phase is finally over. The position is dynamically equal, but with a decisive result being much more likely than a draw. White benefits from an overall better structure and co-ordination; Black hopes to soak up the pressure and maybe create a passed pawn on the queenside in the distant future. Qd6 20.Qh6 Qf6 21.c5 While it's difficult to make any opening points after this juncture (or any analytical ones beyond 'look at this with an engine'), I think this move is a little bit rushed. It makes Black's future task of creating a queenside passed pawn that bit easier. 21.h4 was interesting, not being afraid of ...c5. 21...b6 22.cxb6 cxb6 23.Ne5 Rfc8 24.f4 Rc1 25.Rxc1 Nxc1 26.Bc4 Ra7 Both sides are playing well, and White has improved his pieces almost to the maximum while Black has improved his co-ordination just enough to keep playing for the win. 27.Ng4 Qd6 28.Qg5 Qe7 29.Qb5 Kg7 30.f5 f6 31.Qd5 Qf8 32.fxg6 hxg6 33.e4?! Finally, time pressure becomes a factor and White starts rushing; while Black just goes passive. 33.h4!∞ was called for, both giving the king some air and threatening to bust open Black's king position. 33...Qc8?! After a few more passive moves like this one Black's position will become distinctly unpleasant. 33...b5!? was promising, distracting one white piece from the mate battery on g8 and using the time to gobble the a3-pawn! 34.Bxb5 Qxa3 34.h3 Rd7 35.Qe6 Qd8 36.e5 f5 37.Qf6+?! Relinquishing a lot of the pressure. Now Black has a relatively easy path to a decent endgame. 37.Nf6 Rxd4 38.Qf7+ Kh6 39.Ng8+ Kg5 40.Ne7 Kf4 41.Kh2 Ke3 42.Nc6 Qh8 43.Qf6 37...Qxf6 38.exf6+ Kh7 39.Ne5 Rd6! A key move that puts Black in the driving seat, although the f-pawn naturally continues to pose him questions. Avoiding 39...Rxd4 40.f7 Rd8 40...Kg7 41.Nxg6‼ 41.Nd7 Kg7 42.f8Q+ Rxf8 43.Nxf8 Kxf8 44.Bb5= with vague winning chances for White. 40.f7 Kg7 With the time control past, Black has managed to get queens off and establish a clear advantage in the endgame. But this is the one time in a hundred when an elite game erupts into unexpected and unnecessary drama. 41.Nf3 Nb3 42.Ng5 Nd2! Black thought, probably correctly, that he could do without the drama of the minor-piece endgame after 42...Nxd4 43.Nh7 Rd8 44.f8Q+ Rxf8 45.Nxf8 Kxf8 which could be winning, but could also not be. 43.Be6 Rd8 Black avoids Nh7 for good but his insistence on keeping the rook will be the cause of many future issues. It was time to simplify and get rid of the remaining tricks in the position, mostly centered around the f7-pawn, with 43...Rxe6! 44.Nxe6+ Kxf7-+ when despite the equal material, White will probably have to go into extreme passivity to save the a3-pawn, and even then Black's king activity will easily win him the game. This was the cleanest conversion available, in my opinion. 44.Kf2 Kf6 45.Bd7! White threatens the new idea of Ne6 now in addition to Be8. Maybe Black missed this move, or the threats. Ne4+ 46.Nxe4+ fxe4 46...Kxf7! should probably still win. 47.Be8 Ke7?! Some winning chances were still offered by 47...Kg7 48.Ke3 Rc8 49.Kxe4 Rc3 50.Bxa4 Kxf7 although it is far from clear to me that Black can lift the successive blockades that White is able to arrange in this position, either in case of a Kd5-c6 plan or the plan of exchanging kingside pawns. 48.Ke3!= The problem is that Black has no time left to take the a3-pawn because now d6 comes with check. Rb8 49.Bxa4 b5 50.Bb3 Ra8 51.Kxe4 Rxa3 52.Be6 Ra1? The wrong strategy. None of the strategies based on pure passive defence works, but Black has a draw now based on using his own trump card. 52...b4! 53.d5 Ra6 54.Ke5?? 54.Kd3 and neither side can make progress in the end: Rb6 55.Kc2 b3+ 56.Kb2 Rb8 57.h4 Rb6 58.g4 Rb8 59.h5 gxh5 60.gxh5 Kf6 61.h6 Kg6= 54...Rxe6+‼ 55.dxe6 b3-+ Black is once again winning. 53.d5 Rd1 53...Rf1 54.Ke5 Rxf7 55.Bxf7 Kxf7 56.Kd4+- rounds the b5-pawn up for free. 54.Ke5 Rf1 55.d6+ White has broken through and the rest is quite trivial. Kf8 56.Kd5 Rf6 57.d7 Ke7 58.Kc6 Rf2 59.Kxb5 Rb2+ 60.Kc6 Rb8 61.Kc7 Now both Black pieces are totally paralysed and it remains to leave the bishop on h3 while creating a passed pawn on the kingside (among other winning ideas.) An amazing turnaround! 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2822Anand,V27581–02020D38Tata Steel Masters8

Post-game interview with Fabiano Caruana

First-time winners

The remaining three decisive games of Sunday saw players scoring their first wins in this edition of the tournament. Vladislav Kovalev came from losing all his four games with Black and managed to get his first full point while, precisely, marshalling the black pieces. For Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Magnus Carlsen, on the other hand, their first victories came after a streak of seven half points. The world champion was happy he finally managed to break the cycle:

It's the first chance I've actually had in the tournament, and it ended in a win, so obviously that's huge for me, and it means I can still sort of hope for something. Obviously, coming into the rest day, it's a massive boost.

While Carlsen's win was rather clean — in fact, Daniel Fernandez called it "something of a positional masterpiece" — Kovalev left the cellar of the standings table only after Jeffery Xiong inexplicably gave up a piece while having a clearly superior position:

 
Xiong vs. Kovalev
Position after 27...Qa8

It is clear that White is in the driver's seat, and this is the kind of position in which a piece sacrifice is necessary to break through, but 28.♘xa7 was uncalled for here — that move would only make sense if White gets to play b6 immediately, winning with the connected passers. Furthermore, Xiong could have successfully given up the same knight on e5 a couple of moves earlier.  

In the game, the youngster did not recover after this mistake and ended up losing from what seemed to be a defensible position. 

Do not miss to replay these three games with thorough annotations, including Duda's exemplary handling of a double-rook endgame:

 
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1.e4 This game is something of a positional masterpiece, even if it might not appear that way at first. The question of which pieces to exchange - and when, and how - is very sophisticated especially in openings like the (closed) Ruy Lopez and Giuoco Piano. e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.Bd2 Not one of the main moves. Carlsen is making the point that he understands this position better than his opponent and doesn't need to have the theoretical discussion. 8.c3 is most popular. 8...0-0 9.h3 h6 10.Re1 Re8 11.a3 Bf8 More or less at this point Black makes a commitment to putting his c6-knight on g6. The other place it can go is e6, as in the Kovalev game from round 7. 11...Bb7 12.Nc3 Qd7 13.a4!? 13.Ne2 Nd8 14.Ng3 c5 13...Nd4 13...Nd8! 14.Nxd4 exd4 15.Ne2 c5 16.Ng3 Rac8 17.axb5 axb5 18.Nf5 Osmanodja,F-Movsesian,J Batumi 2019 12.Nc3 Rb8 13.Ba2 Ne7 14.Nh4!? In Carlsen's opinion it is so important to provoke ...g5 before ...Ng6 that he can spend two tempi on doing so. And this generates the necessary imbalances in the position that he can use to draw a lower-rated opponent out of their comfort zone. The position is objectively (i.e. Stockfish) level, and 14.Nh2 is an equally reasonable move. However, Black would probably have a very good idea of how to play this position, since even I could manage an intelligent plan here. Beginning, for instance, with c6 14...g5 15.Nf3 Ng6 16.Nh2 c6 17.Ne2 d5 18.Ng3 dxe4 19.dxe4 Rb7 This rook, one of Black's more developed pieces, makes a total of three moves and then exchanges itself for a rook which has made one move. A very bad sign even if the computer doesn't mind the position yet. It is relatively clear to me that Black has to close the diagonal of White's light-squared bishop as a matter of some urgency. After 19...c5 20.Nh5 Nxh5 21.Qxh5 c4 Black retains reasonable play. 20.Qf3! On the level of principle, White should try and use the small features of the position to develop his pieces rather than acting just yet. 20.Nh5 is tempting as well, but often in such positions it is better to try and move slowly and inexorably rather than forcing the exchanges. 20...Nf4 21.Rad1 Rd7 22.Be3 Rxd1 There was one more opportunity to play 22...c5 here. 23.Rxd1 Qe7 24.Ng4 Magnus continues playing accurately; perhaps not the absolute most forcing continuation on every move but relying on the momentum of the position to bring him dividends. Here some ideas like Bc5 are introduced into the position, and Black executes one more exchange, the recapture of which improves White's position quite significantly. Nxg4 25.hxg4 Rd8 26.Re1! Here, the exchange doesn't help White and the rook will be able to do very useful work on the h-file later. c5? This is just a bit too late because by the time Black gets to play ...c4, either his knight will be trapped or the bishop will have flown the nest. 26...Qf6! was possible, threatening ...Nh3+ with a relatively favourable queen trade. 27.Nf5 Qc7 27...Bxf5? 28.gxf5 and the f4-knight will be trapped somehow in quite short order. Potentially, Black could save it with ...h5 but then White could at least grab a pawn and keep going with a huge attack. 28.g3 Ne6 29.Qh1!? 29.Bd5± was possible, but it seems White didn't want to trade a minor piece after Nd4 . 29...f6? A decisive mistake. 29...c4± was both consistent and completely necessary. Following 30.Nxh6+ Bxh6 31.Qxh6 Rd6! Black doesn't quite lose a second pawn, since there will be time for either ...Ng7 and ... Rg6, or ...Qd8-f8. This was a grovel but had to be tried. 31...Qe7 32.Kg2 f6 33.Rh1 Qg7± 30.Bd5 Perhaps the resignation needs some words to clarify it. White is about to play Qh5, then possibly Kg2 and Rh1, and Black was obviously unable to think up anything against this. At a time of his choosing, White can also play b4 and lock in a structural superiority on the other side of the board. Vitiugov had no chances in the position and therefore ended things without further resistance. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2872Vitiugov,N27471–02020C84Tata Steel Masters8
Xiong,J2712Kovalev,V26600–12020A42Tata Steel Masters8
Yu,Y2726Duda,J27580–12020B35Tata Steel Masters8

Yu Yangyi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Jan-Krzysztof Duda showed good technique to take down Yu Yangyi | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Three games finished peacefully in round eight, with former sole leader Firouzja finding himself on the defensive side against Jorden van Foreest. Daniil Dubov and Wesley So called it a day after merely fifteen moves, while Anish Giri could not get much with White against Vladislav Artemiev.

After the rest day, the highly anticipated match-up between Firouzja and Carlsen will be the highlight of round nine.

 
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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 Nbd7 6.e3 The natural 6.e4 is known not to work out very well for White: dxe4 7.Nxe4 Qa5+ 8.Bd2 Bb4 and because the check on d6 is counterproductive, White doesn't have anything here. 6...Qa5 7.cxd5 Personally I prefer the Catalan approach: 7.Nd2 dxc4 8.Bxf6 Nxf6 9.Nxc4 Qc7 10.Rc1 Be7 11.g3 0-0 12.Bg2 Ding, L-Shankland,S chess.com INT 2019 7...Nxd5 8.Rc1 Bb4 Black plays the most active move. 8...Nxc3 9.bxc3 Ba3 10.Rc2 b6 11.Be2 Ba6 Ding, L-Shankland,S chess.com INT 2019 9.a3 Sooner or later White will probably want to play this. 9.Qb3 c5 increases the pressure on White's centre and it is hard to imagine him continuing to avoid a3. 9...Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 As nearly as I can tell, there is no difference between doing this now and playing ...h6 first. b6 10...h6 11.Bh4 b6 10...h6 does have the advantage that Black can now play 11...0-0 without worrying about e4. 12.e4 Nf4 13.Bg3 Ng6 14.Bd6 Re8 15.Bd3 c5 16.0-0 e5 17.Nd2 Nf4 Laznicka,V-Fodor,T Legnica 2013 12.Qb3 0-0 13.Nd2 b5! 14.Be2 c5 15.0-0 cxd4 16.exd4 Ba6 17.Bf3 N7b6 18.Bg3 Rac8 Black had a very comfortable bind on the light squares, Ding,L-Mamedyarov,S Beijing 2012 11.Qd2 11.Qb3 should be met by waiting, and if Nd2 then ... b5 as in the Ding game above, since Ba6 12.Bxa6 Qxa6 13.c4= is probably marginally more comfortable for White. 11...h6 12.Bh4 c5 13.Be2 Ba6 14.c4 Qxd2+ 15.Nxd2 Ne7 16.f3 Reaching a type of queenless middlegame that should be very familiar to Nimzo-Indian players. Rc8 With queens off in such types of hanging-pawn position Black White often cedes the d5-square and then tries to play 'around' it, e.g. 16...cxd4 17.exd4 Nf5 18.Bf2 0-0 19.c5 Bxe2 20.Kxe2 Nf6 21.g4 Ne7 22.Rhd1 Nfd5 23.Bg3 Rac8= Morchiashvili,B-Can,E Kocaeli 2015 17.0-0 Nf5 18.Bf2 cxd4N Another example along the lines of the above was given by Alexander Grischuk, a particularly strong handler of the bishop-pair. 18...Ke7 19.Rfe1 g5 20.Bf1 Nd6 21.a4 Rhd8 22.Rc3 Nf6 23.Rc2 Nd7 24.Rec1 Nb8 25.a5 cxd4 26.axb6 axb6 27.exd4 b5 28.c5 Nf5 29.Ra2! Nxd4 30.Ne4± e5 31.f4 gxf4 32.Bh4+ Ke6 33.Bxd8 Rxd8 34.c6 Rc8 35.c7 and Black resigned, Grischuk,A-Dreev,A Poikovsky 2005. 19.exd4 0-0 20.Rfd1 Rfd8 21.g4 Not a bad move, but it turns into a slight overextension later. The game continuation indicates that White was probably a bit nervous about the possibility of ...e5, but maybe this wasn't such a big deal. 21.Ne4!? Nf6 21...e5 22.d5 and Black is quite poorly placed to either push the f-pawn or take advantage of the weak dark squares. 22.Nxf6+ gxf6 23.Bf1 21...Ne7 22.Bg3 f5 Opening up the position for the knight-pair, as Kasparov would say. 23.a4 The cautious 23.h3 would have retained the structural integrity of White's kingside. e5!? 23...fxg4 24.fxg4 Nf6 25.Bf2 Ng6 26.h3 e5! Black has completely equalised and with White's centre as open as it is, it is definitely easier to take Black here. 27.dxe5 Nxe5 28.Bg3 Nd3 29.Rc2 Nc5 Now White is able to neutralise the pressure. Black had a very narrow window of opportunity to prevent the queenside becoming locked down. 29...Nb4! 30.Rb2 Nc6! and with the knight cemented on a5 and possibly the second one coming to c5, Black can press for a real advantage. 30.Bf2! Bb7 A necessary bit of caution. Now White liquidates the queenside and goes for the draw. The point is that 30...Nxa4 31.Ra1 b5 32.Raa2‼ leaves Black with an untenable set of contradictions on his queenside. 31.a5 bxa5 32.Ra1 a4 33.Bxc5 Rxc5 34.Rxa4 Re5 35.Bf1 a6 36.c5 Rc8 37.Nb3 Bd5 38.Nd4 Be4 39.Rf2 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Giri,A2768Artemiev,V2731½–½2020D52Tata Steel Masters8
Dubov,D2683So,W2765½–½2020D38Tata Steel Masters8
Van Foreest,J2644Firouzja,A2723½–½2020B90Tata Steel Masters8

All games of the Masters available at Live.Chessbase.com

Alireza Firouzja

Still sharing the lead — Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Grandelius and Anton in the hunt

The Challengers is heating up in the meantime. Five 2600+ players are fighting to get the coveted spot in next year's Masters, and all of them seem to be a good fit to face that challenge. Pavel Eljanov continues as sole leader; Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Erwin l'Ami drew their direct encounter and remain a half point back; while Nils Grandelius and David Anton won their round eight encounters to join the chasing pack.

Grandelius lost in round two, but has now recovered by scoring 3½ points on the last four days of action, while Anton defeated Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin to reach 'plus two'. Coincidentally, the Swedish and the Spaniard will be facing each other after the rest day. 

Round 8 games - Challengers

 
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David Anton

David Anton during round seven | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Round-up show

GM Yannick Pelletier reviews the action of the day

Standings after Round 8 - Masters

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Standings after Round 8 - Challengers

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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