Tata Steel Chess R3: Caruana joins the leading pack

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/16/2023 – Fabiano Caruana scored the one decisive game in round 3 of the Tata Steel Masters, as he beat Jorden van Foreest with the white pieces to join the leading pack, now comprising five players. The longest games of the day in this section saw Vincent Keymer and Arjun Erigaisi successfully defending tough positions against Praggnanandhaa and Levon Aronian, respectively. Meanwhile, six players are sharing first place in the Challengers. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Carlsen plays the London

The two highest-rated players in the world met in round 3 of the Tata Steel Masters. Magnus Carlsen, playing white against Ding Liren, opened with 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4, entering the popular London System — not the most combative of setups. Given the format of the event, with 14 players ranging from 2681 to 2859 rating-wise, keeping it solid this early in the tournament seems to be a sound strategy for the world champion, who will face Anish Giri in round 4 prior to the first rest day of the event. Not surprisingly, the game against Ding ended in a 37-move draw.

However, there was no lack of excitement in other games, both in the Masters and the Challengers. A few of the encounters lasted over six hours, with Max Warmerdam and Eline Roebers only agreeing to a draw at almost the exact 7-hour mark. In the Masters, Vincent Keymer and especially Arjun Erigaisi defended fiercely to save draws in games lasting 78 and 61 moves respectively.

It was not all draws in the Masters, though, as Fabiano Caruana defeated Jorden van Foreest from the white side of a Petroff Defence. Van Foreest, who won the event back in 2021, approached the game creatively, going for an early ...f7-f5 push with black. The very principled Caruana saw this as a chance to score his first win of the event, and managed to get the full point after 46 moves of play. The US ace will try to claim his second title in Wijk aan Zee, as he won the 2020 edition with an incredible 10/13 performance, finishing a full two points ahead of second-placed Carlsen.

The lengthy tournament is just beginning, but we can already draw some conclusions...

...or as Vishy Anand put it:

It is our greatest tradition, and a January not in Wijk Aan Zee is no January at all! 

Ding Liren, Magnus Carlsen

The most anticipated matchup of the day — Ding Liren playing black against Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Van Foreest’s failed experiment in the Petroff

 
Caruana, Fabiano27661–0Van Foreest, Jorden2681
85th Tata Steel Masters 2023
Wijk aan Zee16.01.2023[Schulz,A]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be6 That is a very rarely played move in the Russian Defence. 7.0-0 f5
Previously a more natural continuation had followed in this strange line. 7...Nd7 8.Bxe4 dxe4 9.Ng5 Nf6 10.Re1 Bd6 11.Nc3 0-0 12.Ncxe4 Nxe4 13.Nxe4 Be7 14.c3 with an extra pawn for White. Black, however, has compensation with his bishop pair. 8.Qe2 Be7 9.Ne5 Nd7 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 11.f3 0-0 11...Nf6 12.Re1 Kf7 would have been a bit uncomfortable. 12.Bf4 12.fxe4? is no good: fxe4 as after 13.Bb5? c6 14.Ba4 Bg4 15.Rxf8+ Rxf8 16.Qe1 Black has a strong attack: Bh3 17.gxh3 Qxh3 18.Nd2 Bd6 19.Qe2 Rf6-+ 12...Bf6= 13.c3 Now threatens to take on e4. g5 14.Be5 Nd6 15.f4 g4 15...Bxe5 16.dxe5 Ne4= 16.Na3 Rae8 17.Nc2 Bd8 18.Rad1 c6 19.Ne3 b5 20.a4 bxa4 21.Qc2 h5 22.Kh1 a3 23.bxa3 Nc4 24.Bxc4 dxc4 25.Kg1
25...h4? Allows the coming shot, perhaps in time trouble. Better was 25...Bd5 26.Nxd5 cxd5 White, nonetheless, has the advantage with his outpost on e5. 26.Nxg4 Bd5 26...fxg4? 27.Qg6+ and mate. 27.Ne3 27.Nf2 prevents Be4, but the knight is still in a very bad position here. 27...Be4 Black wins an exchange, but White's coordinated army is stronger. 28.Qe2 Bd3 29.Rxd3 cxd3 30.Qxd3 Re6 31.Rb1 Not 31.Nxf5? Qh7 31...Rg6 32.Rb8 Qf7 33.c4 c5 34.dxc5+- Or 34.d5+- 34...Be7 35.Rb7 Qe6 36.Rc7 Rc8 37.Rxc8+ Qxc8 38.Qd5+ Kf8 39.Bd6 Qe6 40.Qxe6 Rxe6 41.Nxf5 Bxd6 42.cxd6
The white pawns decide the game. 42...Re1+ 43.Kf2 Rc1 44.Ke3 Ke8 44...Rxc4 45.d7+- 45.Kd4 Rc2 46.c5
1–0

Fabiano Caruana, Jorden van Foreest

Tournament director Jeroen van den Berg looking on as the Petroff between Fabiano Caruana and Jorden van Foreest unfolds | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Standings after round 3 - Masters

Loading Table...

All games - Masters

 
Loading...
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
 

Six leaders in the Challengers

Three games finished decisively in round 3 of the Challengers tournament, which left no fewer than six players — almost half the field — sharing first place on 2/3 points. 

All three winners of the day joined the leading pack. Velimir Ivic defeated former co-leader Abhimanyu Mishra with black; Javokhir Sindarov inflicted Vaishali Rameshbabu’s second consecutive loss; while Mustafa Yilmaz got the better of Erwin l’Ami, who came from losing to Eline Roebers in the previous round. Still in the shared lead after drawing on Monday are Alexander Donchenko, Amin Tabatabaei and Max Warmerdam.

In the one confrontation between co-leaders on Tuesday, Yilmaz will get the white pieces against Warmerdam.  

Eline Roebers, Max Warmerdam

Eline Roebers beat Erwin l’Ami on Sunday and missed a few chances to defeat Max Warmerdam on Monday | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Beerdsen’s missed chance

For a second round in a row, Jergus Pechac featured in the most exciting game of the day. Right after playing the King’s Gambit against Tabatabaei, he faced Thomas Beerdsen’s Evans Gambit. On move 25, Beerdsen failed to find a deep — and rather peculiar — tactical shot.

 
Beerdsen, Thomas2515½–½Pechac, Jergus2637
85th Tata Steel Challengers 2023
Wijk aan Zee16.01.2023[Schulz,A]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.0-0 Bb6 9.Nbd2 Na5 10.Qc2 f6 11.a4 Ne7 12.Ba2 Nec6 13.Ba3 exd4 14.cxd4 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 Bxd4 16.Rad1 Qe7 17.e5 fxe5 18.Nf3 Nc6 19.Bd5 Kd8 20.Rfe1 Qf6 21.Bxc6 bxc6
22.Qxc6 A simpler winning line was 22.Bxd6 cxd6 23.Nxd4 exd4 24.Qxc6 Rb8 25.Rc1+- Qf7 26.Qxd6+ Qd7 27.Qxb8 Re8 28.Rxc8+ 22...Rb8 23.Rc1 Bb6 24.Nxe5 Re8 25.Bxd6? This is not enough to win. The winning tactical shot was 25.a5 Bxa5 26.Bxd6 cxd6 27.Nf7+
27...Qxf7 28.Qxd6+ Qd7 29.Rxe8+ Kxe8 30.Qxb8 Kd8 31.Qf4 Qf5 32.Qxf5 Bxf5 33.Rc5+-
25...cxd6 26.Nf7+ Qxf7 27.Qxd6+ Qd7 28.Rxe8+ Kxe8 29.Qxb8 Kd8 30.Qf4 Qf5 31.Qg3 g6 32.a5 Bxa5 33.Qd6+ Bd7 34.Qb8+ Ke7 35.Qxa7 Qd5 36.Qc5+
½–½

Jergus Pechac, Thomas Beerdsen

Bringing back the Romantic era of chess — Jergus Pechac and Thomas Beerdsen | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023

Standings after round 3 - Challengers

Loading Table...

All games - Challengers

 
Loading...
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
 

Links


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.

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.