Tata Steel Chess R2: Firouzja leads with 2 out of 2

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/15/2024 – Alireza Firouzja became the first sole leader in this year’s Tata Steel Masters after beating Parham Maghsoodloo with white in the second round — the Frenchman is the only player who started the event with back-to-back victories. Gukesh D. and Max Warmerdam also grabbed wins on Sunday. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, five players are sharing first place with 1½/2 points. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

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Firouzja, Gukesh and Warmerdam score

Alireza Firouzja made headlines throughout December, as he attempted to qualify to the 2024 Candidates via rating. The 20-year-old played a couple of tournaments he would not have played under different circumstances to overtake Wesley So in the FIDE ratings list for January. In the end, his 7/7 performance in an open event in Rouen granted him the right to play in the Candidates set to take place in Toronto in April.

Following his perfect showing in the aforementioned open, he continued his winning streak at the first super-tournament of the year. Firouzja beat Jorden van Foreest and Parham Maghsoodloo in the inaugural two rounds of the Tata Steel Masters to become the first sole leader of the event.

Talking to Fiona Steil-Antoni after beating Maghsoodloo’s Berlin Defence, Firouzja referred to his last-minute (successful) attempt to gain rating points in a small event:

It felt a bit unfortunate because in the [previous] Elo lists I had more rating than everyone. [The open in Rouen] was a difficult tournament, one of the most difficult tournaments I have ever played because I could not make one draw, so I was very happy to finally make it.

When asked about whether he was paying attention to the negative criticism on social media regarding his participation in these events, Firouzja responded:

I didn’t care. I knew that I was doing the right thing to try my chances. [...] I get a lot of these kinds of things all my life, so I’m kind of used to it.

With his two wins in Wijk aan Zee, Firouzja now stands over 10 points ahead of So in the live ratings list. In Monday’s third round, the French representative will face Max Warmerdam with the black pieces.

Firouzja was not the only player to score a full point in round 2, as Gukesh and Warmerdam grabbed their first wins of the event in their games against Wei Yi and Jorden van Foreest, respectively. Gukesh came from drawing Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the first round, while Warmerdam had lost to Ian Nepomniachtchi on opening day.

While Gukesh needed 33 moves to beat Wei in what was a very sharp struggle, Warmerdam made the most of Van Foreest’s run of bad form at the outset of the event — the 2021 champion lost twice with the white pieces after misplaying endgame positions he would usually handle proficiently.

As for the remaining four games, perhaps the biggest highlight was Ju Wenjun defending a slightly inferior endgame against Nepomniachtchi. Curiously, for a second day in a row, the women’s world champion played the longest game of the round, with both encounters lasting exactly 80 moves (find analysis of her draw against Nepo below).

Ju is set to face Van Foreest with the white pieces on Monday.

Results - Round 2

Alexander Donchenko

Alexander Donchenko held world champion Ding Liren to a draw | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

Firouzja 1 - 0 Maghsoodloo

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Parham Maghsoodloo

Parham Maghsoodloo | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

Nepomniachtchi ½ - ½ Ju

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Ju Wenjun

Ju Wenjun | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes


Expert video analysis by IM Robert Ris


Standings after round 2

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.e3 0-0 5.Be2 c5 6.d5 e6 7.Nc3 d6 8.0-0 exd5 9.cxd5 Bg4 10.Nd2 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 Na6 12.e4 Re8 13.Nc4 b5 14.Nxb5 Nxe4 15.Qf3 Qd7 16.a4 Nb4 17.Bf4 Nc2 18.Rad1 Nd4 19.Rxd4 cxd4 20.Ncxd6 Nxd6 21.Nxd6 Red8 22.b3 g5 23.Bg3 f5 24.Qxf5 Qxf5 25.Nxf5 Bf6 26.Nd6 h5 27.h3 h4 28.Bh2 Be7 29.Nb5 Bc5 30.d6 Rac8 31.Be5 d3 32.Bf6 Rd7 33.Bxg5 a6 34.Nc3 Bxd6 35.Ne4 Be7 36.Rd1 Bxg5 37.Nxg5 d2 38.Kf1 Re7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Donchenko,A2643Wei,Y27400–12024E6086th Tata Steel Masters1.1
Van Foreest,J2682Firouzja,A27590–12024C1186th Tata Steel Masters1.2
Vidit,S2742Ding,L2780½–½2024E2086th Tata Steel Masters1.3
Ju,W2549Giri,A27490–12024B4086th Tata Steel Masters1.4
Gukesh,D2725Abdusattorov,N2727½–½2024C5586th Tata Steel Masters1.5
Warmerdam,M2625Nepomniachtchi,I27690–12024D3786th Tata Steel Masters1.6
Praggnanandhaa,R2743Maghsoodloo,P2740½–½2024B9586th Tata Steel Masters1.7
Abdusattorov,N2727Praggnanandhaa,R2743½–½2024E0486th Tata Steel Masters2.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2769Ju,W2549½–½2024E0686th Tata Steel Masters2.2
Giri,A2749Vidit,S2742½–½2024D1086th Tata Steel Masters2.3
Wei,Y2740Gukesh,D27250–12024C5386th Tata Steel Masters2.4
Firouzja,A2759Maghsoodloo,P27401–02024C6786th Tata Steel Masters2.5
Ding,L2780Donchenko,A2643½–½2024E9486th Tata Steel Masters2.6
Van Foreest,J2682Warmerdam,M26250–12024D0286th Tata Steel Masters2.7

Challengers: Five co-leaders, Beukema gets attacking win

Round 2 saw two games ending decisively in the Challengers. Anton Korobov bounced back from his loss against Saleh Salem by beating Divya Deshmukh, while Stefan Beukema grabbed his first win of the event by defeating Eline Roebers in attacking fashion.

Beukema v. Roebers

34.Rxf5 was played after a bit over a minute of reflection. Beukema had already foreseen that the line is winning by force — there followed 34...gxf5 35.Qxf5 e6 36.dxe6 Nh8 37.Bh6 Ra8 38.Qg4+ Bg7, and the other rook (on the f-file) joined the attack decisively with 39.Rf7

Tactics favour the player with the better coordinated pieces. After 39...Rxf7 40.exf7+ Qxf7, the light-squared bishop finally made its appearance: 41.Bc4 was followed by Roebers’ resignation. A fine win by the Belgian IM!

Beukema is now one of five co-leaders with 1½/2 points each. He is sharing the lead with Hans Niemann, Saleh Salem, Jaime Santos and Leon Luke Mendonca.

Results - Round 2

Stefan Beukema, Eline Roebers

Stefan Beukema and Eline Roebers | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Vrolijk ½ - ½ L’Ami

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Liam Vrolijk, Erwin l'Ami

Liam Vrolijk failed to make the most of his advantage against Erwin l’Ami | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Standings after round 2

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qa4 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Ra7 11.Rc1 Be4 12.Qb3 Nc6 13.e3 Qa8 14.Nc3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Nxd4 16.exd4 Qxf3 17.Nxb5 Qxb3 18.axb3 Rb7 19.Nxc7 Rxb3 20.Rc2 Ne4 21.Nxa6 Ra8 22.Ra4 Nxd2 23.Rxd2 h5 24.Nc5 Rxa4 25.Nxa4 Bg5 26.f4 Bf6 27.Nc3 Rb4 28.Ne2 g5 29.Kf2 Rb3 30.Nc3 Kg7 31.Ke3 Kg6 32.Ke4 Bg7 33.f5+ exf5+ 34.Kd5 Bf8 35.Kc6 Bb4 36.d5 Bxc3 37.bxc3 Rxc3+ 38.Kb5 Rb3+ 39.Kc4 Rb8 40.d6 f4 41.gxf4 gxf4 42.d7 Rd8 43.Kc5 Kf5 44.Kd6 f3 45.Ke7 Rxd7+ 46.Rxd7 Ke4 47.h4 f2 48.Rd1 Kf3 49.Kf6 Kg4 50.Ke5 Kg3 51.Ra1 f6+ 52.Kf5 Kh3 53.Ra3+ Kg2 54.Ra2 Kg3 55.Ra3+ Kg2 56.Ra1 Kh3 57.Ra3+ ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Maurizzi,M2572Dronavalli,H2500½–½2024E06Tata Steel Challengers1.1
Dardha,D2602L'Ami,E2627½–½2024B13Tata Steel Challengers1.2
Roebers,E2381Mendonca,L26080–12024B94Tata Steel Challengers1.3
Salem,A2630Korobov,A26631–02024B94Tata Steel Challengers1.4
Niemann,H2692Vrolijk,L25731–02024C50Tata Steel Challengers1.5
Divya,D2420Beukema,S2428½–½2024D10Tata Steel Challengers1.6
Yilmaz,M2665Santos Latasa,J26150–12024D38Tata Steel Challengers1.7
Korobov,A2663Divya,D24201–02024C26Tata Steel Challengers2.1
Dronavalli,H2500Dardha,D2602½–½2024B57Tata Steel Challengers2.2
Niemann,H2692Yilmaz,M2665½–½2024A45Tata Steel Challengers2.3
Santos Latasa,J2615Salem,A2630½–½2024D35Tata Steel Challengers2.4
Beukema,S2428Roebers,E23811–02024A45Tata Steel Challengers2.5
Vrolijk,L2573L'Ami,E2627½–½2024D30Tata Steel Challengers2.6
Mendonca,L2608Maurizzi,M2572½–½2024C65Tata Steel Challengers2.7

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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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