Tata Steel Chess: Giri grabs early lead

by Macauley Peterson
1/15/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won in round two and, as luck would have it, two of three co-leaders after the first round met in round two. Anish Giri toppled Vladimir Kramnik, while Vishy Anand drew, so the Dutchman moves to the fore. In the Challengers group, no one can claim a perfect score after two rounds. The 2018 Tata Steel Masters and Challengers takes place January 13th to 28th. Grandmaster Daniel Fernandez dissects the Masters games in detail. | Photo: Alina l'Ami Tata Steel Chess on Facebook © 2018 Tata Steel

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Carlsen and Mamedyarov post wins as well

World Champion Magnus Carlsen got his first win of the tournament on Sunday, but Anish Giri managed to knock off his co-leader after round one, Vladimir Kramnik, and so takes the early sole lead. Magnus wasted no time in trolling his rival:

Giri for his part took it in stride:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also won, sending Hou Yifan to the bottom of the table:

Standings after two rounds

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Commentary and analysis by GM Daniel Fernandez

Today saw two of yesterday's winners in a battle which started with a really odd opening, and concluded with a very sudden attack that neither I nor engines understand easily. But clearly Anish Giri did. The game finishes clinically after the 14th World Champion gets his rook trapped deep in enemy territory...

 
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1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Qb3 I was intrigued by this opening, and looked around it a bit, finding that it is indeed played reasonably often by really top players, but probably should not promise anything, at least on a cursory investigation. Ba5 3...a5 is a stereotypical 'Bogo' way to play, and after 4.a3 Bxc3 5.Qxc3 Nf6 6.b3 0-0 7.Bb2 d6 8.e3 e5 9.d4 Nc6= Black was fine in Aronian,L-Riazantsev,A Sharjah 2017 4.Nf3 c5 4...Nf6 was played in an old Conquest-Rozentalis game, but doubtless Giri had something else quite inventive up his sleeve, for instance 5.g4!?∞ 5.d4 Nf6 6.dxc5!? Not holding back, Giri makes a double-edged decision that might score worse on the engine pane, but is nearly certain to get him the bishop pair and hence an imbalanced position. 6.e3 might well be more solid, and Black needs to be careful that he does not transpose to an awkward Nimzo. This can be acheived with cxd4?! 7.exd4 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bd3 and for this reason Black should prefer something like 6...d6. 6...Na6 7.Be3 Ne4 8.g3 Naxc5 9.Qc2 Bxc3+ 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 b6 11.Bg2 is a hard thing for a human to play as Black, with the backward d-pawn and the wayward bishop on a5. 10.bxc3 b6 11.Bg2 Bb7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Rfd1 Qe7 Now we have more or less the position that White signed up for on move 6. A simplistic evaluation would be 'equal', a better one would be 'equal for kids or blitz players, better for Black from 1800 to 2600 in classical, and messy above that!' 14.a4 One problem Black has is that he cannot block the a5-push. d6 14...f5 15.a5 e5 16.axb6 axb6 might have been preferable for Black, who intends ...f4 soon- the plan is very easy to grasp. 15.a5 f5 16.axb6 axb6 17.Nd4 Nf6 18.Bxb7 Nxb7 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Nb5 Rc8?! Leaving the a-file, which White eventually exploits, and he could in fact have done so a bit faster. 20...Nd7! is sensible, heading for c5 with one knight and either a5 or e5 with the other, and keeping the Nimzo-typical ...Rc8 in reserve. White wins a pawn with 21.Nxd6 Nxd6 22.Qd3 Ne5 23.Qxd6 Qxd6 24.Rxd6 Nxc4 25.Rxe6 but after Rc8‼ his pieces are so badly tangled that he must give it back to get out. 26.Re7 Kf8 27.Rb7 Nxe3 28.fxe3 Rxc3 29.e4 fxe4 30.Rxb6= 21.Qa2 21.Bxb6 Rxc4 22.Ra1± 21...d5 22.Bg5 A reasonable human way of using the a-file. Rxc4?! 22...Qd7!? 23.Bxf6 gxf6 is quite a random defensive attempt, but it seems okay. 22...dxc4 23.Qa7± 23.Qa8+ Kf7 24.Ra1 Na5 25.Qb8 Rc6 26.Nd4 Rxc3? 26...Rd6! leaves Black facing a string of tactical problems, but his pieces aren't as poorly linked as in the game. 27.Bf4 27.Nf3 Qd8 28.Ne5+ Kf8 29.Qa7 Qe7 30.Qa6 Nb3 31.Rb1 Nc5 27...Rd7 28.Qxb6 Nc4 29.Qb8 Qe8= 27.Qxb6 Now Black should be lost, which seemingly is only discovered by playing down lines with the engine rather than just letting it run. Nc4 28.Qb8 Nd7 The final mistake, getting the rook trivially trapped. 28...Ra3 29.Rb1 Kg6 is the engine attempt, and now White may have nothing better than an almost-definitely-winning ending with 30.Rb7 Qe8 31.Qxe8+ Nxe8 32.Nxe6± 29.Bxe7 Nxb8 30.Bb4+- e5 31.Ra7+ Kg8 32.Bxc3 exd4 33.Bxd4 Nc6 34.Rxg7+ Kf8 35.Bf6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Giri,A2752Kramnik,V27871–02018A13Tata Steel Masters2.2

Giri: "He tricked me a little bit...I would have been very happy with a draw." | Tata Steel Chess YouTube

GM Daniel King also examined the game of the day in our round two round-up show:

Live at 21:00 CET (3 pm EST) — all rounds are available on-demand in ChessBase Videos

A black day

It looked like today Hou Yifan might like to make a quick draw, but as one inevitably learns on one's chess journey, there is play in even the most innocuous-looking of positions; and also, higher rated players always want to win. A combination of these two factors was to blame for her slow slide into a losing position against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who after several years slightly below the radar seems to have joined the top ten for good. As her loss was just a matter of slowly being outplayed, there are less clear-cut things here to say than about her loss yesterday, which may have affected her to some extent.

 
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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.a3 Ba5 This is optimistic. Bxc3 is the move you play if you would like to hold a solid draw. 7.Nge2 Nge7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bg5 9.Na4!? demands attention, because the bishop pair is almost never bad to have. An old game by an (East) German grandmaster went: Bf5 10.Nc5 Qc8 11.Bg5 Bb6 12.b4 Bxc5 13.dxc5 Re8= Schmittdiel,E-Uhlmann,W Germany 1992 9...f6 10.Be3 Bf5 11.Nf4?! The computer sees no problem with this, but compared to move 6, Black is much better developed and ready to take advantage of the structural problem this implies. Bxc3 12.bxc3 Qd7 13.c4 Bxd3 13...Na5 is the engine recommendation, but the compact structure after 14.cxd5 Nxd5 15.c4 Nxe3 16.fxe3 may be better for White than it thinks. 14.Qxd3 Rad8 15.Rab1 15.cxd5 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 Qxd5 17.c4 is worth a look: the blitzy ...Ne5 gets the knight trapped, and when White gets d5 in his bishop will be of equal value to the knight. 15...b6 16.Rb5?! Now Black is slightly better already — this rook is tactically weak and does not coordinate well with the rest of the pieces. dxc4 17.Qxc4+ Rf7 18.Rd1 This doesn't help either — now everything comes with tempo. Na5 19.Qd3 c6 20.Rbb1 Qf5 21.a4 21.Qe2 Nd5 22.Nxd5 cxd5 23.Qd3 might not be so dreadful 21...g5! 22.Nh5 Qxd3 23.Rxd3 Nd5 24.Bd2 Nc4 This position is almost winning at the elite level, and Mamedyarov's 'tactically informed technique' is nearly perfect. 25.Re1 h6 26.h4 26.Re6 Rd6 27.Re8+ Kh7 28.h3 may have been worth a try, just to keep two active pieces 26...Kh7 27.g4 gxh4 28.Re6 Rd6 29.Rxd6 Nxd6 30.f3 f5-+ 31.Be1 a5 32.Bxh4 b5 33.Ra3 Nc4 34.Ra1 fxg4 35.fxg4 Nde3 36.Nf6+ Kg6 37.d5 cxd5 38.axb5 Rxf6 Gaining material, though there might have been some last bit of optimisation to do. 38...Nxc2 39.Rc1 39.Rb1 Nd2-+ 39...Nd4 40.Kg2 Rxf6 41.Bxf6 Kxf6 42.Rb1 Nb6 obtains the same position with the c2-pawn gone. 39.Bxf6 Kxf6 40.c3 40.Kf2 Nxg4+ 41.Kf3 Nge5+ 42.Kf4 was the last try to pose practical problems, in my opinion 40...Ke6-+ Now Black's pieces all have defined roles: the Black king will stop the b-pawn, and then take it once the a-pawn has distracted White's rook. 41.b6 Kd7 42.Rb1 Kc8 43.b7+ Kb8 44.Kf2 a4 45.Ke2 a3 46.Kd3 Nxg4 47.Kd4 Nd2 47...Nge3 and ...Nc2 and ...a2 would have been as per the original plan, but there is a tactic instead. 48.Rb4 a2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Hou,Y2680Mamedyarov,S28040–12018C01Tata Steel Masters2.4

Hou Yifan

Hou Yifan cannot be happy with her play in the first two rounds | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel

The other Black win of the day started in an opening with which I have an association dating back some 10 years- it was partially responsible for my first IM norm. White did some preparation and got a nice enough position out of the opening, but it was of a variety which is a bit hard to play: Black's hard-to-touch pawn weaknesses were compensated by dynamic pawn play through the centre. The same kind of thing arises quite often from the 5.f3 Sicilian if Black replies with 5...e5 6.Nb3 d5 7.Bg5 Be6. 

Carlsen: "I faced this line in the World Rapid as well, and had a slightly unpleasant position". | Tata Steel Chess YouTube

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 0-0 9.0-0 cxd5 10.Bg5 c6 11.Qf3 It is interesting how these things change. In 2008 this line was taught to me from the White side by Ukrainian-Israeli GM Boris Alterman; shortly after became an IM (in 2011) I viewed it as primarily a drawing weapon and now I think it's just a way to get a long and strategically messy game which the better player will probably win. That is in fact what occurred. Bd6 11...Rb8 12.h3 probably brings White a little bit closer to his dream of Na4, b3, c4, Bf4 and Rad1. 11...Be7 is more played and is most solid, but the doubled f-pawns are not something to get that scared about. 12.Rae1 Possibly preparation, but in any case quite logical to take the e5-square from Black's bishop. 12.h3 is main, and now a tactic worth knowing is Rb8 13.b3 Be5 14.Bf4!? although it doesn't necessarily promise White anything after Bxc3 15.Bxb8 Bxa1 16.Rxa1 Bg4 17.hxg4 Qxb8= as in Morozevich,A -Kramnik,V Moscow 2013. However, we were not destined to see another bishop-vs- knight-and-solid-d5-centre draw this round. 12...Rb8 13.b3 Keeping equality. 13.Na4 h6! 13...a5 13...Bb4 tries to take advantage of White's tactically vulnerable pieces. There could follow: 14.Qg3 Bd7 and I assume Carlsen saw this and steered clear due to the drawing line 15.Qh4! h6 16.Bxh6= 14.h3 h6 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.Qxf6 gxf6 17.Ne2 c5 18.Ng3 Rd8 19.Nf5 So White has emerged with a marginally more comfortable position from the opening, but Black isn't giving up on trying to win just yet. Bf8! Bishops of the same colour always offer more imbalance, and in this case White needs to be concerned about the ...c4 push too. 19...Bxf5 20.Bxf5 a4 21.g3 axb3 22.axb3 Be5= would be a reasonably solid way to make a draw 20.Ne7+ Bxe7 21.Rxe7 Be6 22.Rd1 22.Ra7! As always, White should exchange precisely one pair of rooks, and this poses Black some significant problems. Ra8 22...c4 23.Be2 is inconvenient for Black as he doesn't obtain enough in case of ...c4, but also bad is Ra8 24.Rxa8 Rxa8 25.f4 23.Rxa8 Rxa8 24.f4 24.g4 h5= 24...f5! 24...Kf8 25.Kf2 Ke7 26.g4 leads to the same problem as in Giri-Hou yesterday, and a Rubinstein game about 100 years ago: the isolated rook's pawn is often a major weakness. 25.g4 fxg4 26.f5 Bd7 27.hxg4 Re8= 22...c4 23.Be2 a4 Now Black is having some fun: possibly Adhiban missed from afar that ...Rxc2 can pin a bishop to a c7-rook a few moves into certain lines. 24.bxa4 Bf5?! Either an inaccuracy or a slight gamble. Either way, it makes the game look a bit less 'smooth' given that it is a win in the end, but also increased the likelihood of that being the result. 24...Kf8 25.Rc7 Rb2 was for instance one reasonable continuation for Black 25.Bf3?! Missing the accidental chance. 25.c3! Ra8 25...d4 26.Bxc4 dxc3 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Bb3 26.Rc7! The point is that White can use the pin on the d-file, and for this reason Black is unable to take on a4. For instance: Be6 27.f4 f5 28.Rd2 25...d4! 26.a5? 26.Re2 Rb2 27.Red2 is the engine suggestion but following d3!? it is also a bit depressing, e.g. 28.cxd3 28.c3 Rb6 29.a5 Ra6 28...c3 29.Rxb2 cxb2 30.Rb1 Rb8 31.Be4 Be6 32.a5 Bxa2 33.Rxb2 Rxb2 34.a6 Rb1+ 35.Kh2 Ra1 36.a7 Bd5 37.Bxd5 Rxa7 and the endgame should be held, especially at this level: bishop goes to f5 and is supported by g4, for instance, but it requires a certain appetite for suffering to go in for this. 26...Bxc2-+ 27.Rc1 Rb1 28.Rxb1 Bxb1 29.Rc7 c3 The engine takes a while to realise, but White is toast. 30.Bd1 30.Kf1 Re8 snares the a5-pawn in a reasonably funny way 30...Ra8 31.Rc5 Bxa2 32.Bc2 Be6 33.Kf1 Rc8 34.Rxc8+ Bxc8 35.Ke2 Ba6+ 36.Kf3 d3 A very well played game! 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Adhiban,B2655Carlsen,M28340–12018C47Tata Steel Masters2.1

Magnus Carlsen won with black over Adhiban

Magnus Carlsen won with black over Adhiban | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel

There were once again four draws in the round (replay them all below with my notes). The most hard-fought of the draws came from the English GM Gawain Jones vs Fabiano Caruana, whose stated goal is to prove that he is not just in this tournament as decoration or cannon-fodder. Several times he was close to lost (against the second seed with black!) but with an exchange sacrifice and then precise defence in a rook endgame he managed to get the (probably deserved) half point. Probably White's best try to win was to give back the exchange a move sooner.

In Karjakin vs Anand, White obtained the bishop pair in a standard Catalan position but never looked like going anywhere with it. His final liquidating combination might have been the most noteworthy moment of the game, as this could have given Black an incentive to play on — the resulting opposite-coloured bishop ending might have troubled any player below about 2400 — but the two heavyweights just agreed a draw.

Karjakin vs Anand

Sergey Karjakin vs Viswanathan Anand | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel

Another Catalan was seen in Matlakov vs So, which was also not going anywhere other than a draw. Black played several really precise moves, which even the engine does not understand properly, to neutralise White's first move advantage. 

Finally, we deal with a game that undoubtedly will haunt one player's dreams for several years to come: Wei Yi vs Peter Svidler. After losing a game he 'really should have drawn' yesterday to Kramnik, today Wei was not able to put the finishing touches to another experienced master of the Russian school (and eight-time Russian Champion!). As has been commented, the Cyrillic spelling of Svidler's given name is properly transcribed in English as Pyotr, and maybe by winning here Svidler will be able to teach people by force how to say his name...

 
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1.e41,166,62354%2421---
1.d4947,29855%2434---
1.Nf3281,60256%2441---
1.c4182,10256%2442---
1.g319,70256%2427---
1.b314,26554%2427---
1.f45,89748%2377---
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1.b41,75648%2380---
1.a31,20654%2404---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d395450%2378---
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 I'm not sure what else one expects from Gawain Jones! 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 The Petrosian systems are a good place for both sides to show class as they lead to long and yet complicated games, so this was a predictable choice from Caruana, but as Gawain mentioned yesterday, he is not in this event as decoration and can give as good as he gets in complex positions. Na6 8.g4 Nc5 9.f3 h5!?N This is new according to my database, but also quite good. Previously a strong grandmaster had played for ...f5 here with 9...Ne8 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 gxf5 and lost a long game to a centre/kingside attack in Parligras, M-Demchenko,A Konya 2017 10.Qd2 10.Bg5 might have been an interesting way to execute the same idea, trying to get the Black queen a bit out of place first. 10.g5 Nh7 11.h4 would have forced Black to come up with something other than the plan he showed in the game. My guess is that the intention was f6!? 12.Qd2 fxg5 13.hxg5 and now if he had reached this position, Black might not have been able to resist the thematic, and ironically Petrosian-like, exchange sacrifice Rf4!? 14.Bxf4 exf4 15.Qxf4 Bd7 10...Nh7 11.0-0-0 h4 Black is threatened with a kingside attack, so he must prevent gxh5 opening up the whole flank. 12.Bd3 Black can now choose between ...f5 and .. .b5 plans. Nxd3+ 12...a6 is another way of playing; even though White would typically like to retain the light-squared bishop on say c2, here Black is on time with ...b5 and some pawn sacrifices. 13.Kb1 13.Bc2 b5 14.b4 Nb7 15.cxb5 a5!∞ is cute 13...Nxd3 14.Qxd3 b5 15.cxb5 axb5 16.Nxb5 Ba6∞ Black seems to have quite good compensation. 13.Qxd3 f5 14.Rh2 14.gxf5 gxf5 15.exf5 Bxf5 16.Ne4 was stereotyped, but maybe not advantageous after Qe8= 14...Kh8 15.Rg2 Bd7 Black keeps tension. 15...f4 runs the risk that following 16.Bf2 and another 40 moves, Black will find himself crushed on the queenside with no moves or space. 16.exf5 gxf5 17.g5 f4 18.Bf2 Qe8?! This is completely understandable, trying to organise ... Qh5 and ...Nf8-g6 or even ..Be8-g6, but concretely another move was better. 18...Rg8 The idea is just to use the unexpected pressure on... the g5 pawn. 19.g6!? 19.Bxh4 Bh6= 19...Bf6 20.Nge2 Nf8= Black will play .... Qc8 and ...Bf5 next. 19.Ne4 Bf5 20.Bxh4 Qh5 21.Bf2 Bxe4 .Nf8-g6 and other extravagant maneouvres do not ultimately target the White kingside pawns, for example 21...Rfc8 22.h4 Nf8 23.Kb1 Ng6 24.Ne2± and White can play c5 soon. 22.fxe4 Nxg5 23.Rg4 Nh7 23...Bh6 was another option, after which White is also better and may manage to get more pieces off: 24.Rh4 Qg6 25.Nf3! Nf7 26.Rg1± 24.Nf3 Bf6 25.c5 Rg8 26.Rdg1 Qh6 26...Be7 was also possible immediately and would have maintained the option of ...Rxg4 and ...Qe8-a4. 27.Qf1 Be7 27...Rxg4 28.hxg4 Rg8 28.Kc2 28.Bh4! would have led to a situation reminiscent of Anand's game from yesterday, where White's practical advantage is larger than his actual one. For instance: Rxg4 29.hxg4! Bxh4 30.Rh1 Rg8 31.cxd6 cxd6 32.Nxh4± 28...Nf6= 29.Ng5 Raf8 30.Ne6 Qh7! 31.Rh4 Nh5 32.Nxf8 Rxf8 32...Qxe4+!? led to a really interesting ending: 33.Qd3 Qxd3+ 34.Kxd3 Bxh4 35.Ng6+ Rxg6 36.Rxg6 Kh7 37.Rg2 Bxf2 38.Rxf2 Ng3 39.cxd6 cxd6 I very much believe Black is in this game, and all three reuslts are on the cards. 33.Rhg4 Qxe4+ 34.Qd3 Qxd3+ 35.Kxd3 e4+ 36.Kc4 36.Kxe4 Nf6+ 37.Kf3 would have been my choice-baby steps! Caruana wants to try and win with an extra exchange. 36...dxc5 37.Bxc5 Bxc5 38.Kxc5 Ng3 39.Rh4+ Kg7 40.Kd4 Rf5 41.Rxf4! The best way to give up an exchange. 41.Rc1 Rf7 42.Rg4+ Kf8 would have delayed the inevitable but White is going to have to sac an exchange against the rolling pawns. 41...Rxf4 42.Rxg3+ Kf6 43.Rb3 c6 Now Black has to try and get 'b and a against e with rooks' as connected pawns always win in these things. 43...b6 44.Rc3 e3+! was a simple-once-you-see it way to draw: 45.Kxe3 Ke5 46.Rxc7 Rh4 47.Rxa7 Rxh3+ 48.Kd2 Kxd5= 44.Rxb7 44.dxc6 bxc6 45.Rc3 is, strangely enough, winning, for complicated reasons we shan't go into. 44...cxd5 45.Kxd5 e3! And this is the reason why Rxb7 isn't winning. Black's e-pawn is far enough advanced that White cannot take a7 and then go back. 46.Rb3 Rf2 47.Rxe3 Rxb2 48.a4 Rb7 49.h4 Rd7+ 50.Kc5 Rh7 51.Re4 Rh5+ 52.Kd6 Kf7 53.Re7+ Kg8 Black remembers how to draw from the side as in a Nakamura-Howell game if need be! 54.Re4 Kf7 55.Rf4+ Ke8 56.Kc7 Ke7 57.Re4+ Kf6 58.Kb7 Rh7+ 59.Ka6 Kf5 60.Rb4 Ke6 61.a5 Kd6 62.Rf4 Rh5 63.Rg4 Kc6 64.Rb4 Rh7 65.Rc4+ Kd6 66.Rc1 Rxh4 67.Kxa7 Ra4 68.a6 Rb4 69.Ka8= Black's king is too close to the pawn. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Caruana,F2811Jones,G2640½–½2018E71Tata Steel Masters2.6
Karjakin,S2753Anand,V2767½–½2018E04Tata Steel Masters2.5
Matlakov,M2718So,W2792½–½2018E04Tata Steel Masters2.3
Wei,Y2743Svidler,P2768½–½2018D91Tata Steel Masters2.7

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In the classical system of the King's Indian White develops naturally and refrains from chasing ghosts looking for a refutation of Black's set-up. White instead relies on the fact that natural play should yield him a small but lasting advantage.

Svidler, Giri and Caruana

Svidler, Giri and Caruana shoot the breeze before round two | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel

Complete Round 2 commentary

Commentary by GM Robin van Kampen and Yasser Seirawan | Tata Steel Chess YouTube

The Challengers

Vidit Gujrathi, the top seed in the Challengers, got his first win of the tournament, and joins the trio who won their first round games at the top of the scoreboard. He was sent well-wishes from his teammate Abhijeet Gupta, who is busy playing himself in Delhi, where he is doing quite well.

Vidit

Vidit has every reason to be confident | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel

Both Lucas van Foreest and Olga Girya bounced back from their first round losses to win in round two, leaving only Matthias Bluebaum in the position of having "castled" to start the tournament. Van Foreest beat World Junior Champion Aryan Tari.

Van Foreest on his goals: "Win as much as possible...12 out of 13 should be a nice aim." | Tata Steel Chess YouTube

Standings after two rounds

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All games of round two

 
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Additional photos

Alina l'Ami is the official photographer and her photo galleries can be found at the tournament's Facebook page.

Round schedule

All rounds start at 13:30 CET except where noted.

  • Round 1: Saturday 13 January
  • Round 2: Sunday 14 January
  • Round 3: Monday 15 January
  • Round 4: Tuesday 16 January
  • Round 5: Wednesday 17 January (Masters in Hilversum starts 14:00)
  • Free day: Thursday 18 January
  • Round 6: Friday 19 January
  • Round 7: Saturday 20 January
  • Round 8: Sunday 21 January
  • Free day: Monday 22 January
  • Round 9: Tuesday 23 January
  • Round 10: Wednesday 24 January (Masters in Groningen starts 14:00)
  • Free day: Thursday 25 January
  • Round 11: Friday 26 January 
  • Round 12: Saturday 27 January
  • Round 13: Sunday 28 January (12:00 Noon)

Links

Macauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.

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