All three games that featured contenders for first place in the Masters ended drawn, but out of the three only the encounter between Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Wesley So was a safe, ‘grandmasterly’ draw. The remaining two games were nothing short of dazzling, with Jorden van Foreest trying a risky line against Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen failing to make the most of a very promising position against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu.
While Van Foreest and Giri joked around during their post-game interview — noting that “you can appreciate playing an interesting game” — Carlsen was extremely disappointed after all but losing his chances to win the tournament for a ninth time. Although he still has mathematical chances, he wistfully confessed:
[It is] really frustrating. I feel like I should have gotten a lot more from the position I had from the opening. He defends really well. [...] I fell like this was a bit of a backbreaker, to be honest. Tournament victory is obviously gone, so we’ll see if I can find some motivation to try again tomorrow.
In Sunday’s final round, which kicks off two hours earlier than usual, Carlsen will play black against an out-of-form Arjun Erigaisi, but in order to reach a tiebreak for first place he needs for Abdusattorov to lose against Van Foreest (with white) and for Giri not to beat Richard Rapport (also with white). The same goes for So, who is still tied for third place with the world champion, a full point behind the leader.
During round 12 most eyes were focused on the aforementioned (drawn) games, but that does not mean there were no decisive encounters — Parham Maghsoodloo defeated Arjun in his second consecutive victory over an Indian prodigy, while Rapport got the better of Ding Liren with the white pieces. Apparently, the confirmation of the dates for the World Championship match have affected the Chinese’s concentration: uncharacteristically, he has lost twice and has not grabbed a single victory in the second half of the event.
Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
Jorden van Foreest’s experiment in the opening almost gave him a win over Anish Giri | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
The pre-game handshake | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
By the end of round 8, Alexander Donchenko had grabbed the sole lead in the Challengers tournament. A loss against Erwin l’Ami followed, allowing Mustafa Yilmaz to leapfrog him in the standings. Since then, however, the German grandmaster had a remarkable run of three consecutive wins, which granted him tournament victory with a round to spare.
Despite only being one point ahead of Yilmaz, even if the Turkish champion wins and Donchenko loses, the first tiebreak criterion would give the latter overall first place — the Russian-born GM beat Yilmaz in their round-7 direct encounter.
Meanwhile, Javokhir Sindarov remains in sole third place, a half point behind Yilmaz. Further back, Velimir Ivic and Adhiban are sharing the fourth spot in the standings, with 7 points.
Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
♟| BREAKING | Donchenko wins Tata Steel Challengers
— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 28, 2023
Alexander Donchenko is the winner of the Tata Steel Challengers with one round left and promotes to next years Masters tournament! #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/IFzxDWORt9
Alexander Donchenko will be invited to next year’s Masters tournament | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
