Chess News
Chess fans in Norway watching TV2 were undoubtedly disappointed by the quick draw in Magnus Carlsen vs Wei Yi — it was so quick, in fact, that Magnus had barely run a minute off his clock, needing only the 30 second bonus per move to reach a repetition draw on move 46. In all, five of the seven games in the Masters were drawn, but fans attending in Wijk aan Zee nevertheless had plenty to cheer for. In particular, Viswanathan Anand notched an impressive win, one that brought him back into a tie for first.
Despite the weekend being over we once again had huge numbers of chess fans at the De Moriaan today and the weekday tournaments also got underway. pic.twitter.com/eGrBm7uFpk
— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 15, 2018
Afterwards, speaking on the live webcast, Anand struggled to explain his opponenet's decision on move 28 that gave Anand a vital tempo and initiative:
"I think axb4 is just astonishing, because I dreamed of getting this position with the rook on a5, and here I get it just for free."
A few moves later, it appeared as though Caruana had some attacking chances, but Anand 'called his bluff', finding a precise defence that shut down Black's counterplay:
Black is menacing ...Rc2, but Anand put a stop to it with 34.Ra2! correctly recognizing that shifting to the first rank with 34...Qd1+ 35.Kh2 Rc1 was relatively harmless. The white king can be reasonably safe on g3 in the event of a check on h1. That left Caruana 'short-stacked' and needing to go 'all-in', and in the process he weaked his own king position beyond repair.
The coup de grâce, however was the flashy move that forced resignation:
In the post-game analysis Anand said he was actually tempted by 42.Bxg7, but while on air worked out that in fact this would allow black back into the game! Instead his 42.Rd6! was immediately decisive. White is threatening Rxh6# and the only move to stop it 42...Qc1 would be refuted by 43.Rd8! with multiple mate threats. Anand lamanted that there is no longer a daily beauty prize, referring to the "prize of the public" that was once traditionally awarded before the start of rounds 2 to 13. It was discontinued in 2014.
He did, however earn the admiration of his successor to the World Championship:
Rd6!! @vishy64theking #stillgotit
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) January 15, 2018
Other grandmaster pundits were similarly impressed:
You'd have to say this is vintage Anand.
— Daniel Gormally (@elgransenor1) January 15, 2018
Vintage Vishy. Will he never retire ;-) ? #tatasteelchess
— Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis) January 15, 2018
Viswanathan Anand goes through his win with GM Robin van Kampen | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Gawain Jones' debut so far in the Masters group has gone quite well, as a solid draw against Karjakin and a turbulent one with Caruana must have aided his confidence going into today's game against the uncompromining Adhiban Baskaran.
As Simon Williams warned in his round-up of the day's action (which you can replay below), "Don't underestimate his calculation skills, he might get some very big scalps in this tournament."
Play through the moves right on the live diagram!
In this position after 30.Ra1, Adhiban needed to immediately regroup with 30...Bd8, when White has nothing concrete. But by inserting 30...Qb2 31.Ra7 and only then 31...Bd8 Jones' attack was too strong: 32.Qd6! Qb1+ 33.Kh2 Re8 34.Qc6! and the threat of Nf6+ with a discovered attack is unstoppable.
Here Adhiban unfortunately had no time to go for mate with 38...Nf2, as 39.Qh5+ Kg8 40.Ra8+ and White mates first! But the necessary retreat 38...Qb8 39.Qxf6 Qxa7 40.Qh4+ Kg8 41.Qd8+ picking up the black knight, left Gawain two pawns up and winning comfortably.
It was one of those days for Adhiban | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel
Jones could scarcely have asked for a better start | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Click or tap a player name to see rating progression, or on a result to open a game via live.chessbase.com
The other player in the chasing pack with 2 / 3 is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. Today facing Maxim Matlakov, 'Shak' was quite critical of his opening play, saying that only black had chances for an advantage as the game unfolded. Yet, the game remained equal throughout, and the players shook hands on move 25.
Mamedyarov was pleased with his round two win, which he described as "like Karpov" | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Wesley So called chess, "over scientific", with a heavy burden of theory making it difficult to fight for an advantage. He praised Karjakin's "accurate defense" resulting in a draw.
So: "As Bent Larsen said, 'you've got to win Wijk aan Zee once before you die', and I have won it once". | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Vladimir Kramnik and Hou Yifan were quite friendly both before and after the game | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel
Hou Yifan got on the score board finally, with a draw with black against Vladimir Kramnik. Afterwards they analysed for quite a long time at the board, and she emerged pleased with the improvement of her play today, following a rough start.
Hou: "I actually threw away a very good position against Anish [Giri]...today I'm satisfied with the result.
Hou has been awarded a prestigous Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University and she said she has "no clear idea" how much she'll be able to combine chess and university. Prioritising the most significant tournaments to play, will be the key. This is already her seventh time playing in Wijk aan Zee.
"It should be a kind of turning point in my life, considering how to balance chess [with my studies and future career.]"
She will try to maintain her level, but admits that it will be difficult.
Simon Williams looks at the games of the day:
Watch live at 21:00 CET (3 pm EST) each day or replay all daily round-ups in ChessBase Videos
Commentary by GM Robin van Kampen and Stefan Kuipers | Tata Steel Chess YouTube
Vidit Gujrathi's back-to-back wins put him in a good position to take the lead, as he'll have white against Harika on Tuesday. His victim Monday was Bassem Amin, the first African player to break 2700, who, along with Vidit, is making his Wijk aan Zee debut.
Let's take a closer look at one of the Challengers: Bassem Amin #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/pTywNX1l5j
— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 15, 2018
Amin blundered in the endgame, right after time control:
Black's d-pawn is dangerous, but 42.Kf3 keeps it under control for now. Unfortunately going the other way with 42.Kf1 led to disaster. Can you see why? (Replay the game below.)
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi is in the driver's seat | Photo: Alina l'Ami © 2018 Tata Steel
Matthias Bluebaum got off the mark on a lucky break in an equal ending against Jorden van Foreest:
Essential was 31.Ke3, but van Foreest thought he could get away with 31.Rd5?
The position would be equal but for the straightforward 31...Bf3, embarrasing White's rook. (If 32.Rd6 there's Ke7 double-attack, not to mention Bc6 exploiting the pin.)
Anton Korobov also netted his second win of the tournament when his opponent Benjamin Bok tried to force matters in a minor piece ending:
After the exchange on d4, White found the strong 48.h5! forcing Bok to give up his knight on g5, since 48...gxh5 49.g6 leaves black with no way to defend his a and h-pawns.
Alina l'Ami is the official photographer and her photo galleries can be found at the tournament's Facebook page.
Make sure to check out @alinalami's photo gallery of yesterday's NK Schools Rapid (which was won by the team of brothers @jordenvforeest and Lucas van Foreest) at https://t.co/ntmDQkzoUe pic.twitter.com/SCGkwz0kyu
— Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess) January 15, 2018
Several of these photos are also included in the gallery slider at the top of this story!
All rounds start at 13:30 CET except January 17th and 24th at 14:00, and the final round on January 28th at 12:00 Noon.
We'll be recapping each day's action with a live webcast at 21:00 CET (3pm EST) from a variety of familiar ChessBase contributors:
| 13. Jan | Round 1 | Yannick Pelletier |
| 14. Jan | Round 2 | Daniel King |
| 15. Jan | Round 3 | Simon Williams |
| 16. Jan | Round 4 | Daniel King |
| 17. Jan | Round 5 | Simon Williams |
| 18. Jan | Rest day | |
| 19. Jan | Round 6 | Simon Williams |
| 20. Jan | Round 7 | Daniel King |
| 21. Jan | Round 8 | Yannick Pelletier |
| 22. Jan | Rest day 2 | |
| 23. Jan | Round 9 | Lawrence Trent |
| 24. Jan | Round 10 | Yannick Pelletier |
| 25. Jan | Rest day 3 | |
| 26. Jan | Round 11 | Daniel King |
| 27. Jan | Round 12 | Lawrence Trent |
| 28. Jan | Round 13 | Daniel King |
