Tata Steel Chess R5: Ju upsets Firouzja, Roebers stuns Niemann

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
1/19/2024 – Ju Wenjun, in the Masters, and Eline Roebers, in the Challengers, obtained remarkable wins over much higher-rated opponents in round 5 of the Tata Steel Chess Festival. Ju defeated an overly ambitious Alireza Firouzja, while Roebers patiently made the most of a positional advantage in her game against top seed Hans Niemann. Firouzja’s loss allowed Anish Giri to go into round 6 with a full-point lead, while Erwin l’Ami is the sole leader in the Challengers. | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

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An underrated world champion?

It was a memorable day for women’s world champion Ju Wenjun. The soft-spoken star obtained the biggest win of her career in round 5 of the Tata Steel Masters — Ju, who has a 2549 rating, defeated the 2759-rated Alireza Firouzja with the white pieces.

This is not the first time that the Chinese star beats a much stronger opponent. In May last year, she stunned a 2731-rated Vidit Gujrathi in round 2 of the Sharjah Masters. Much like Vidit, Firouzja will play in the upcoming Candidates Tournament in Toronto — i.e. these are not only very high-rated players, but also fighting competitors capable of outscoring elite colleagues when it matters most.

Such wins have prompted pundits to wonder whether Ju is heavily underrated, especially given the fact that she often plays in women’s tournaments. Fiona Steil-Antoni asked the world champion what she thought about this hypothesis, to which she replied that perhaps her playing level is, in fact, a bit above her rating. She also noted, however, that the difference between her level and that of most of her rivals in this event is certainly significant.

This was Ju’s first victory in the event. In round 2, she had obtained another remarkable result, as she had held Ian Nepomniachtchi to a draw in a fighting, 80-move encounter.

In the game, Firouzja replied to 1.d4 with 1...e6, allowing Ju to enter the French Defence with 2.e4. Understandably, the underdog chose to play the solid Exchange Variation.

Normal play would have led to a draw in most games involving two grandmasters, but Firouzja apparently thought that he could eventually outplay his opponent as he, more than once, rejected going for the most natural, simplifying continuations. An example of this attitude was seen on move 23.

Ju v. Firouzja

Since the position is already simplified, Black already needs to be careful here due to his inferior structure with doubled pawns on the c-file.

The straightforward 23...Bxf3 would have almost certainly led to a draw, but Firouzja played 23...Qf7 instead, when White can reply by 24.Ng5, and the endgame reached after 24...Qg6 25.Qxg6 Bxg6 26.Rxe2 h6 27.Nf3 leaves Black with a tough defensive task ahead.

Granted, it is possible that Firouzja simply missed Nf3-g5 in the first diagrammed position. But also, perhaps he would have been more careful in calculating the consequences of not exchanging the minor pieces had he been facing a higher-rated opponent.

Notwithstanding, Ju still needed good technique to convert the advantage into a win. A couple of imprecisions close to the time control meant she had to work extra hard to get the full point, but she never lost the initiative and went on to get the job done at the end of the day.

Firouzja resigned the game in the following position.

Going into the fifth round, Firouzja stood in sole second place a half point behind Anish Giri. Since Giri managed to draw Praggnanandhaa R. on Thursday, he now has a full-point lead over a 4-player chasing pack consisting of Firouzja, Pragg, Wei Yi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Giri had the black pieces against an excellently prepared Pragg, who lamented not having made the most of his chances in the game. When asked about whether he is ‘saving’ opening lines for the Candidates, the Indian prodigy responded that he is not hiding preparation in Wijk aan Zee, as there are still three months to go before the Candidates.

Pragg’s compatriot Gukesh D., who also qualified to the Candidates, did make the most of his chances in round 5. After collecting back-to-back losses in the previous two games, Gukesh defeated Nepomniachtchi with the white pieces, thus returning to a fifty-percent score (as he had obtained a win over Wei in round 2).

All remaining games ended drawn on Thursday.

Results - Round 5

NameRtg.Nt.Pts.Pts.NameRtgNt.
2743
½-½
2749
2727
½-½
2740
2725
1-0
2769
2549
1
1-0
3
2759
2742
2
½-½
2
2625
2740
½
½-½
2
2780
2643
1
½-½
2682

Gukesh 1 - 0 Nepomniachtchi

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Gukesh D27251–0Nepomniachtchi, Ian2769
86th Tata Steel Masters 2024
Wijk aan Zee18.01.2024[Mueller,Karsten]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Bb5 Nc6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Rd1 a6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Ne5 Rc8 14.0-0 Be8 15.Qxa6 h6 16.Bh4 Ra8 17.Qe2 Ne4 18.Nxe4 Bxh4 19.Nc3 Bf6 20.Nd3 Qa5 21.Rd2 Bd7?!
Black has compensation, but not complete equality. 21...Bxc3 22.bxc3 Qxc3= was called for. 22.Rc1 Rfb8 23.Qf3 Bc8 24.h3 Ba6 25.Qf5 Bc8 26.Qh5 Be6 27.Nf4 Bd7 28.Qd1 28.Nfe2!? is favored by the engines. 28...Bf5 29.Nfe2 Bg6 30.Nd4 Ra6 31.b3 Be7 32.Na4 32.Nce2 can be met by Bb4 33.Rxc6 Bxd2 34.Rxa6 Qxa6 35.Qxd2 Qa3= 32...Rc8 33.Qg4 Rc7 34.Rcd1 Bb4?
This runs into a mighty blow. 34...Ra8 is called for and more or less equal. 35.Nxc6‼ A real knightmare for Black. Rcxc6 36.Rxd5 h5 36...Qc7 37.Qxb4+- is White's point. 37.Qf4 Rd6 38.Rxd6 Bxd6 39.Rxd6 Rxd6 40.Qxd6 Qe1+ 41.Kh2 Qxf2 42.Nc3?! 42.Nc5! was stronger due to Qxa2 43.b4 Qe2 44.Qb8+ Kh7 45.Nd7 Qxe3 46.Nf8+ Kh6 47.Qd6 Qg5 48.b5 Qxb5 49.h4+- 42...Qc2? This is easily parried. 42...Qxe3 was called for as after 43.Nd5 Qf2 44.Ne7+ Kh7 45.Nxg6 fxg6 46.a4 Qa7± Black can still offer resistance. 43.Qd4 Bd3 44.Nd5 Be4 45.Nf4 g6 46.a4 Bf3 46...g5 is met by 47.Qd8+ Kh7 48.Qxg5+- 47.Qd3 Qf2 48.e4 Bd1 49.Nxg6!
The final knight strike. 49.Nxg6! fxg6 50.Qxd1 Qf4+ 51.Kh1 Qxe4 52.a5+-
1–0

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh

Gukesh D. will face Ian Nepomniachtchi again in the upcoming Candidates Tournament | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Lennart Ootes

Standings after round 5

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
TBPerf.
1
2749
4.0
5
8.75
2920
2
2743
3.0
5
8.00
2819
3
2727
3.0
5
6.75
2813
4
2759
3.0
5
5.75
2737
5
2740
3.0
5
5.50
2788
6
2725
2.5
5
7.00
2753
7
2742
2.5
5
6.75
2721
8
2625
2.5
5
5.75
2700
9
2769
2.5
5
5.50
2657
10
2780
2.5
5
5.00
2719
11
2549
2.0
5
5.50
2645
12
2682
2.0
5
4.00
2592
13
2643
1.5
5
3.50
2595
14
2740
1.0
5
2.75
2510
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

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1.d4 3 d5 5 2.c4 20 e6 6 3.Nc3 43 Nf6 9 4.cxd5 25 exd5 6 5.Bg5 21 Bb4 15 6.Nf3 4:39 Nbd7 2:42 7.e3 2:30 h6 1:48 8.Bh4 2:08 g5 7 9.Bg3 12 Ne4 7 Die Stellung ist ausgeglichen. 10.Nd2 13:08 Droht stark Ndxe4. Nxg3 4:51 11.hxg3 55 Nb6 3:59 12.Bd3 8:07 Be6 2:13 13.a3 2:39 Bd6 8:07 14.Qf3 8:53 g4 14:46 15.Qe2 29 c6 4:31 16.Rh5 12:54 Nd7 8:26 17.e4 8:25 Nf6 1:50 18.exd5 31 cxd5 4:28 19.Rh1 2:11 Kf8 4:52 20.Qe3 5:46 Kg7 2:09 21.Nb5 3:07 21.Bc2= 21...Rc8 10:24 Günstiger ist 21...Be7 22.Nb3 Bd7 22.Nxd6 9:23 Qxd6 14 23.Kf1 7 Qb6 4:31 24.Rb1 38 Bd7 5:37 25.Kg1 30 Rce8 7:36 26.Qf4 13 Bb5 4 26...Re7= hält das Gleichgewicht. 27.Bf5± 1:28       Be2 41 28.Rh4 4:39 Qb5 5:33 28...h5 29.Rc1 3:40 29.Re1 29...Bd3 10:44
30.Rc5! 4:41 30.Bxg4?! Qxb2 31.Nf3 Re4= 31...Qxa3 32.Ne5± 30...Qa6 5 31.Bxg4 22 Weiß steht aktiver. Re1+ 1:19 32.Kh2 6 h5 1:10 33.Bf3 5:32 g4! ist eine echte Drohung. Rh6? 2:46       33...Qe6 34.Rc7!+- 1:51 Und g4 würde nun gewinnen. 34.Bxd5? ist das falsche Schlagen. Ng4+-+ 34...Rh7 18
34...Qe6 ist eine bessere Verteidigung. 35.g4 35.Rxb7 Be2+- 35...Ne8 36.Rxb7 a5 37.gxh5 37.Rxh5 Rf6+- 37...Rf6 38.Qg5+ Kh8 39.Qxd5 39.Bxd5 Qd6+ 40.f4 Rf5+- 39...Qxd5 40.Bxd5 Nd6 35.Bxh5! 2:25       Gewichteter Fehlerwert: Weiß=0.10 (sehr präzise) /Schwarz=0.40. Verlustzug: --- Schwarz=1 Fehler: Weiß=2 Schwarz=4 Ungenau: Weiß=2 --- OK: Weiß=10 Schwarz=11 Bester: Weiß=3 Schwarz=2 Stark: Weiß=2 ---
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Donchenko,A2643Firouzja,A27591–02024D3886th Tata Steel Masters 20249.1
Ding,L2780Giri,A2749½–½2024D3186th Tata Steel Masters 20249.2
Gukesh D2725Vidit,S2742½–½2024C4286th Tata Steel Masters 20249.3
Maghsoodloo,P2740Warmerdam,M26251–02024D3286th Tata Steel Masters 20249.4
Abdusattorov,N2727Van Foreest,J26821–02024C2486th Tata Steel Masters 20249.5
Wei,Y2740Nepomniachtchi,I27691–02024C2486th Tata Steel Masters 20249.6
Praggnanandhaa R2743Ju,W25491–02024C5886th Tata Steel Masters 20249.7

Challengers: L’Ami sole leader, Roebers beats Niemann

It was a great day for women’s chess and also for the Dutch representatives. Much like Ju in the Masters, 17-year-old Eline Roebers grabbed the biggest win of her career in the fifth round, as she beat top seed Hans Niemann to recover from a disappointing start. Meanwhile, 38-year-old Erwin l’Ami, a long-time second of Anish Giri, became the sole leader of the Challengers after collecting a third win in a row.

Roebers played sound, positional chess — albeit not without mistakes — to beat Niemann’s Caro-Kann Defence. 42...Nd5 by the U.S. grandmaster simply gave up a piece in what already was a tough position for him.

Roebers v. Niemann

There followed 43.Bxd5 Rxd6 44.cxd6 Qxd6, and the white bishop is pinned to the queen. This recourse is not enough to recover the piece, though, as White counts with 45.g4

Roebers emerged a knight up and went on to convert her material advantage into a memorable 56-move victory.

Roebers was one of the six players who scored full points in the Challengers. Saleh Salem, Mustafa Yilmaz, Marc’Andria Maurizzi, Erwin l’Ami and Leon Luke Mendonca also obtained wins in the fifth round.

In round 6, sole leader L’Ami will face Anton Korobov — who stands in sole second place a half point back — in a duel between the two most experienced players of the event. Another enticing confrontation will be the one facing 20-year-old Niemann against current junior world champion Maurizzi.

Results - Round 5

NameRtg.Nt.Pts.Pts.NameRtgNt.
2602
2
½-½
3
2663
2627
3
1-0
2
2428
2572
2
1-0
2615
2630
2
1-0
2
2573
2500
0-1
2
2608
2381
0
1-0
3
2692
2420
0-1
2665

Maurizzi 1 - 0 Santos

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Maurizzi, Marc`Andria25721–0Santos Latasa, Jaime2615
86th Tata Steel Challengers 2024
Wijk aan Zee18.01.2024[Mueller,Karsten]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.0-0 c6 8.b4 b6 9.a4 Bb7 10.a5?! 10.Qc2 is favored by the engines. 10...Ba6?
Black does not have time for this. 10...dxc4! is forced and Black is even slighty better. 11.Ne5 Qc8? This goes too far. 11...Nxe5 12.dxe5 Ne4 limits the damage. 12.Nc3 Bxb4 13.Nxd5! Nxd5? This runs into a powerful blow. 13...Bxd2 was forced, e.g. 14.Nxf6+ gxf6 15.Nxd7 Kxd7 16.Qxd2 Bxc4± 14.cxd5 Bxd2 15.Nxf7‼
This destroys Black's defenses. 15...Kxf7 15...0-0 16.dxe6 Bxa5 17.exd7 Qxd7 18.Ne5+- 16.dxe6+ Kxe6 17.Qxd2 Kf7 17...Bc4 does not defend due to 18.Bh3+ Kf7 19.Qf4+ Ke8 20.axb6 axb6 21.Qd6 Ra6 22.Rfc1 Rf8 23.Rxa6 Bxa6 24.Rxc6 Qd8 25.Bxd7+ Qxd7 26.Qe5+ Kd8 27.Rd6+- 18.Rfc1 Bb5 19.Qa2+ Ke7 20.Qa3+ Kf7 20...c5 runs into 21.axb6 Bc6 22.Rxc5 Nxc5 23.Qxc5+ Kd7 24.Bh3++- 21.Qb3+ Ke7 21...Kf6 22.Rc3 Re8 23.Rf3+ Ke7 24.Rf7+ Kd8 25.d5 Rb8 26.Bh3 Rb7 27.a6+- 22.d5! The ram opens the gates. Nc5 23.Qe3+ Kf7 24.Qf4+ Kg8 24...Kg6 is met by 25.Rxc5 bxc5 26.Be4+ Kh5 27.Qh4# 24...Ke7 25.Rc3+- 25.axb6 axb6 26.Rxa8 Qxa8 27.dxc6 h5 27...Bxc6 28.Bxc6 Qxc6 29.Qb8+ Kf7 30.Qxh8+- 28.c7 Qc8 29.Rd1 Bd7 30.Bc6!
The final punch. 30...Rh6 30...Bxc6 31.Rd8+ Kh7 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.Qf5++- 31.Bxd7 Nxd7 32.Rxd7 A really powerful attack by White! 32.Rxd7 Qxd7 33.Qc4+ Kh7 34.c8Q+-
1–0

Marc'Andria Maurizzi

According to Praggnanandhaa, Marc’Andria Maurizzi was the strongest player (out of the tournaments’ participants) in Wednesday’s football game | Photo: Tata Steel Chess Tournament / Jurriaan Hoefsmit

Standings after round 5

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
TBPerf.
1
2627
4.0
5
8.75
2782
2
2663
3.5
5
6.75
2670
3
2630
3.0
5
8.25
2714
4
2572
3.0
5
6.75
2635
5
2692
3.0
5
6.25
2606
6
2608
3.0
5
5.25
2608
7
2602
2.5
5
7.00
2565
8
2665
2.5
5
6.00
2586
9
2615
2.5
5
5.00
2534
10
2573
2.0
5
5.25
2551
11
2428
2.0
5
3.00
2448
12
2500
1.5
5
3.75
2447
13
2420
1.5
5
3.50
2464
14
2381
1.0
5
3.00
2361
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

All games

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1.Nf3 5 Nf6 1:01 2.c4 6 c5 1:47 3.Nc3 26 e6 2:12 4.e3 29 d5 7 5.cxd5 17 Nxd5 1:35 6.Bc4 31 Be7 10 7.0-0 25 0-0 8 8.d4 51 The position is equal. Nxc3 2:08 9.bxc3 16 Qc7 15 10.Bd3 15:00 Nc6 3:56 11.e4 8:07       Rd8 12:33 12.Be3 3:27 Na5 14:45
12...b6= remains equal. 13.e5!± 3:58 g6 15:04 14.Ng5 6:29 White is more active. cxd4 9:04 15.cxd4 17 Bxg5 11:08 16.Bxg5 19 Threatens to win with Rc1. Rxd4 3 17.Qe2 3:25 Rac1 would now be deadly. Nc6 3:20 Black is on the road to losing. Better is 17...Qc3 18.Rfd1 Bd7 18.Bf6 1:44 This pair of bishops is nice. Rf4 13:41 18...Ne7± was called for. 19.Qe3+- 4:28 Rxf6 9 20.exf6 5 White threatens Qh6 and mate. Qd8 4
21.Qg5 1:02 h6 1:10 21...Qxd3 22.Qh6 21...Nb4 22.Rfd1 22.Qh4 39 Don't play 22.Qxh6 Qxf6 23.Be4 e5 24.Bxc6 Qxc6 22...e5 45 Weaker is 22...Qxd3 23.Qxh6 23.Rad1 2:05 Qf8 12 24.Qg3 1:55 Black must now prevent Bxg6! Be6 44 25.Be4 40 Re8 2:46 26.Rfe1 2:08 Bxa2? 44
26...Kh8 27.Rb1 Rb8 28.Bxc6 bxc6 29.Qxe5 Rc8 27.Bxg6! 1:33       Kh8 24 28.Be4 3:56 Nd4? 2:06 28...Qg8 29.Qa3 Be6 29.Qh4 41 White is clearly winning. Bc4 3:42 30.Re3 2:29 Rd8 32 31.Rde1 2:17 Prevents Ne2+ 31.Bxb7? gets mated. Ne2+ 32.Rxe2 Rxd1+ 31...Ne2+ 5:12 32.R1xe2 1:59 Bxe2 16 33.h3 6 Weighted Error Value: White=0.13 (very precise) /Black=0.47. Mistake: --- Black=5 Inaccurate: --- Black=1 OK: White=13 Black=10 Best: White=1 Black=2 Strong: White=1 --- Brilliant: White=1 ---
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dardha,D2602Salem,A26301–02024A1786th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.1
L'Ami,E2627Yilmaz,M2665½–½2024D3886th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.2
Dronavalli,H2500Niemann,H26920–12024A3286th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.3
Roebers,E2381Vrolijk,L25730–12024C3886th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.4
Maurizzi,M2572Divya Deshmukh24201–02024D7986th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.5
Beukema,S2428Korobov,A26630–12024A2586th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.6
Mendonca,L2608Santos Latasa,J26151–02024C5486th Tata Steel Challengers 20249.7

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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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