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ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
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Going into the last round of last year’s Tata Steel Masters, three players stood a half point behind sole leader Anish Giri. Fabiano Caruana, Jorden van Foreest and Alireza Firouzja needed a win to catch up with the in-form Dutch number one. Caruana drew Aryan Tari and Van Foreest took down Nils Grandelius, while Firouzja had a better position with the white pieces against Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
Special attention will be paid to Intermediate Moves, Quiet Moves, Sacrifices on Empty Squares, Mating Patterns, Ignoring Opponents Threat, Calculation in Defence and Method of Comparison. Plus 50 interactive examples to test your knowledge.
By then, the spectators and players that had already finished their games knew that even if Firouzja won his game and joined the leaders, Giri and Van Foreest would be the ones participating in a playoff as they had better tiebreak scores. We do not know whether Firouzja was aware of this, but while he was still trying to convert a sharp position into a win, the arbiters asked him and Wojtaszek to move to another board in order for the Dutchmen to occupy centre stage.
As shown in the official webcams, Firouzja was visibly upset when they asked him to move to another board, as he either thought he still had chances to reach a playoff or was trying to finish a remarkable event with a win over a fellow top grandmaster.
In the end, the then 17-year-old finished his game while Giri and Van Foreest were already playing blitz, and only managed to get a half point in his last-round encounter.
Radoslaw Wojtaszek facing the brilliant Alireza Firouzja | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit
A public apology by the organizers followed shortly:
♟ | The official statement of the #TataSteelChess Tournament. pic.twitter.com/1ewuQX4hy6
— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) February 1, 2021
Chief arbiter Pavel Votruba offered a more detailed explanation of what had transpired in an open letter published by chess.com.
Given these circumstances, and the fact that Magnus Carlsen recently complained about a similar tiebreak rule at the World Rapid Championship in Warsaw, the organizers have decided to fully adjust the tiebreak rules for this year’s edition.
Unfortunately, Firouzja will not participate this year (he asked for compensation for the 2021 incident and was not satisfied with the financial offer made by the organizers), but with the presence of Carlsen, Caruana, Giri and a host of young talents, we still expect to be thoroughly entertained by the long-standing event.
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament organization has introduced a new tiebreak format. There are two reasons for this change:
A. General
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B. Time control
The playing schedule of the tiebreak games depends on the number of players in the tiebreak games (see paragraphs C to F). If the top two or more players score the same number of points after a series of tiebreak games, these players will advance to the next series of tiebreak games, following the relevant schedule related to the number of remaining players (see paragraphs C to F).
C. Two players
If there are two players in the tiebreak, the following playing schedule will apply:
D. Three players
If there are three players in the tiebreak, the following playing schedule will apply:
E. Four players
If there are four players in the tiebreak, the following playing schedule will apply:
F. Five or more players
If there are five or more players in the tiebreak, the following playing schedule will apply:
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