Tata Steel Rd11: A day for the Chinese
1/23/2015 – While Carlsen drew and maintained his lead, Wesley So continues his superb run by beating Ivan Saric, and is now within a half point of the leader. Among the numerous exciting games, the one that stood out between Wojtaszek and Ding Liren, in which the Chinese player conjured up a fantastic win that no one saw coming. In the Challengers Wei Yi took the sole lead. Round eleven report.
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The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the 'round robin' system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Tata Steel Masters has 14 participants and the Tata Steel Challengers has 14 participants. Both groups start on January 10th 2015 and the last round is on January 25th. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 25th, which begins at 12.00 hours. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.
Admission to the playing hall in Wijk aan Zee, Rotterdam and The Hague is free of charge
Round eleven - Masters
| Round 11 - Friday Jan. 23 | |
| Giri, A. - Van Wely, L. |
1-0
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| So, W. - Saric, I. |
1-0
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| Wojtaszek, R. - Ding, L. |
0-1
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| Carlsen, M. - Vachier-Lagrave |
½-½
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| Aronian, L. - Ivanchuk, V. |
½-½
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| Caruana, F. - Radjabov, T. |
½-½
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| Hou, Y. - Jobava, B. |
1-0
|
Daniel King shows highlights of round 11
Giri, Anish 1-0 Van Wely, Loek
An up and down, interesting game. Giri's attack was threatening and strong. Neither player figured out how to deal with the threats with precision, which gave us a very entertaining game:
The eyes of a true gladiator: Loek Van Wely
[Event "77th Tata Steel Chess Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2015.01.23"] [Round "11"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Van Wely, Loek"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B09"] [WhiteElo "2784"] [BlackElo "2667"] [PlyCount "103"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 1. e4 {0} d6 {75} 2. d4 {0} Nf6 {6} 3. Nc3 {0} g6 {5} 4. f4 {0 The Austrian attack... again! Radjabov employed it against Van Wely earlier in the tournament but got no advantage from the opening.} Bg7 {10} 5. Bd3 {0} e5 {473} (5... c5 6. dxc5 {is no good for Black, so he has to go for the e5 break instead.}) 6. dxe5 {49} dxe5 {13} 7. Nf3 {8} exf4 {203} 8. Bxf4 {13 White has the problem of his isolated pawn on e4, but on the other hand Black has virtually no development. It's hard to play Black in these kinds of positions until he obtains a blockade on e5.} O-O {249} 9. Qd2 {33} Nc6 {1585} 10. O-O-O {27} Ng4 {484} 11. Nd5 {451} Nce5 {331} 12. h3 {Forcing black to trade on f3, which is not something he wants to do.} Nxf3 {80} (12... c6 13. hxg4 Nxd3+ 14. cxd3 cxd5 15. Bh6 {is some computer suggestion, but it basically looks like completely suicide. The brilliant point is that} f6 $1 {saves Black.} 16. Bxg7 $6 Qc7+ 17. Kb1 Qxg7 {and Black is actually ok somehow.}) 13. gxf3 {13} Ne5 {5} 14. Be2 {Now Black really has nothing compensating for his lack of development. White is very close to breaking the kingside with simple moves such as h4-h5 or Be3 f4-f5.} Be6 {676} 15. Bg5 {1349} f6 {43} 16. Be3 {132} c6 {145} 17. f4 $1 {35 The start of a nice sequence.} Nf7 {247} 18. f5 {116} gxf5 {188} 19. Nf4 {33} Qxd2+ {393} 20. Bxd2 {104} Rae8 {407} 21. Rhg1 {227} Kh8 {58 Just because the queens are off it does not mean that Black has solved the pressure coming down on his kingside.} 22. Rxg7 $6 {348} (22. Nxe6 Rxe6 23. Bb4 Rb8 24. Rd7 Bh6+ 25. Kb1 Rxe4 $1 $13) (22. Kb1 $1 {Is kind of a brilliant move. The point is that fxe4 blocks the saving resource Rxe4 that we saw in the previous variation, but if Black's can't take the pawn what on earth is he going to do?} ) 22... Kxg7 {8} 23. Nh5+ {20} Kg6 $2 {Definitely not the right way to go. The king is too exposed!} (23... Kh8 24. Nxf6 Rd8 25. exf5 Rxd2 $1 (25... Bxf5 26. Bc3 Rxd1+ 27. Bxd1 Kg7 28. Nd7+ Kg8 29. Nxf8 Kxf8 30. h4 {and White's pair of bishops gives him a pleasant endgame.}) 26. Rxd2 Bxf5 $11) 24. Rg1+ {369} Ng5 { 81} 25. Nf4+ $1 {56} Kg7 {231} (25... Kf7 26. Bh5+ $18) 26. h4 {444} h6 {28} 27. Bh5 {677} Bf7 {447} 28. exf5 {43} Bxh5 {59} 29. Nxh5+ {15} Kf7 {15} 30. hxg5 {56} fxg5 {14} (30... hxg5 {is far more resilient.} 31. Bc3 Re3 $1 $14) 31. Ng3 {78} Rd8 {149} 32. Rh1 {16} Rd4 {74} 33. Rxh6 {7 The two pieces will simply overwhelm the rook. The rest is not terribly difficult.} Rfd8 {97} 34. Rh7+ {27} Kg8 {7} 35. Rh2 {5} Rg4 {10} 36. Ne2 {121} Rd5 {57} 37. Rf2 {11} Kf7 {19} 38. b3 {88} b5 {22} 39. b4 {39} c5 {30} 40. a3 {0} cxb4 {0} 41. axb4 {149} a5 {1064} 42. Nc3 {218} Re5 {87} 43. bxa5 {7} b4 {5} 44. Na2 {17} Rxa5 {42} 45. Nxb4 {3} Rg1+ {8} 46. Kb2 {3} g4 {5} 47. Nd3 {190} Rb5+ {301} 48. Kc3 {11} g3 { 173} 49. Rf3 {33} Rb7 {204} 50. Bf4 {196} g2 {45} 51. Rg3 {39} Re7 {79} 52. Ne5+ {17} 1-0
So, Wesley 1-0 Saric, Ivan
Things were heating up until Saric made a crucial couple of mistakes:
2788 live rating: Wesley So, 12 points ahead of America's #2 Hikaru Nakamura
[Event "77th Tata Steel Chess Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2015.01.23"] [Round "11"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Saric, Ivan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C92"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2666"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "b2nrbk1/2pq1pp1/3p3p/1p2P3/1n1PN3/1B3N1P/1P3PP1/2BQR1K1 w - - 0 20"] [PlyCount "17"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 20. Qd2 {1076} dxe5 $2 {The start of Black's real problems.} (20... Bd5 $1 21. Bxd5 (21. Qxb4 Bxe4 22. Rxe4 d5 23. Qe1 dxe4 24. Qxe4 $14 {Gives White compensation for the sacrificed exchange, but Black has his own chances.}) 21... Nxd5 $11) 21. Nxe5 {2} Qf5 {135} 22. Nc5 {Black is somewhat uncoordinated. since f7 is weak and his knight on b4 is hanging he has to come up with some creative way of holding everything together.} Bxc5 {1649} 23. dxc5 {2} Bd5 $4 {This, however, blunders a piece.} (23... Kh7 24. Qxb4 Rxe5 $16) 24. g4 $1 {The move that Saric must have missed.} (24. Bxd5 Rxe5 25. Rxe5 Qxe5 26. Bxf7+ Nxf7 27. Qxb4 {is an extra pawn but converting it would be time consuming.}) 24... Qf6 {582} 25. Bxd5 {59} Nxd5 {86} (25... Rxe5 26. Qxb4 {is the point.} Rxd5 27. Re8+ Kh7 28. Qe4+ {since the queen is now not on f5, but on f6, this check is possible and it wins a whole rook.}) 26. Qxd5 {53 Black is simply down a piece here.} Nc6 {17} 27. Nf3 {50} Rd8 {106} 28. Qe4 {163} 1-0
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw 0-1 Ding Liren
A fantastically complicated game, and one of the most difficult ones for me to annotate in this tournament. It was simply too hard! The positions were always murky and both sides had an incredible number of resources. Wojtaszek bravely sacrificed a pawn, and Ding Liren did not react the best way. After reaching a winning endgame... Wojtaszek managed to lose it! To be fair, it was still very complicated, take a look!
Understanding the KID seems almost impossible, but Ding Liren manages to do it!
[Event "77th Tata Steel Chess Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2015.01.23"] [Round "11"] [White "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"] [Black "Ding, Liren"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E91"] [WhiteElo "2744"] [BlackElo "2732"] [PlyCount "130"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {0} g6 {0} 3. Nc3 {0} Bg7 {0} 4. e4 {0} d6 {0} 5. Nf3 { 10} O-O {0} 6. Be2 {4} Na6 {0} 7. O-O {11} e5 {0} 8. Be3 {10} c6 {3} 9. d5 {15} Ng4 {12} 10. Bg5 {16} f6 {5} 11. Bh4 {15} c5 {39} 12. Ne1 {27} h5 {33} 13. a3 { 74} Nh6 {6} 14. h3 {A relatively unique interpretatino of the KID. Black chases around the White bishop, but his structure looks kind of funny. Computers love White in these positions, but it is not so clear that they understand what is going on.} Nf7 {261} 15. Nd3 {224} Bh6 {323} 16. b4 {97} Bd7 {333} 17. Rb1 {648} b6 {55} 18. bxc5 {91} Nxc5 {139} 19. Nxc5 {16} dxc5 {1065} 20. a4 {884} Nd6 {35 Again, computers prefer White, but with a nice blockade on d6, targetting e4 and c4, a solid kingside and a solid queenside, it is not entirely clear to me why White has the preferable position.} 21. Qd3 {219} Kg7 {406} 22. Rb2 {359} Bg5 {183} 23. Bg3 {295} h4 {323} 24. Bh2 {8} Qe8 {341} 25. Ra1 {177} Nb7 $1 {Simply preventing White from opening the queenside.} 26. Kh1 {267} Qe7 {187} 27. Qc2 {272} Bf4 {589} 28. Bg1 {As you can see, White doesn't want to trade bishops.} f5 {147} 29. Bd3 {73} Rf6 {17} 30. d6 $6 {This move is a little too happy. White obviously gets the great square d5 for his knight, but giving up a full pawn for it doesn't seem to be worth it.} Rxd6 {359} 31. Nd5 {65} Qf7 {34} 32. Qc3 {62} Kh7 {192} 33. Re1 {112} Re8 {430} 34. Rbe2 {239} fxe4 {419} 35. Bxe4 {101} Nd8 {373} 36. Nxf4 {137} (36. a5 $5 Bc6 $1 {seems quite unclear to me.}) 36... exf4 {31} 37. Bd5 {9} Ne6 {180} 38. Bh2 {White obviously has compensation for his pawn. The pressure on the e-file and the d5-f7 diagonal is annoying, he has the pair of bishops and some initiative, but with some moves Black will untangle and then it will be a question of if White will retain enough for his material deficit.} Qg7 {87} 39. Re5 {300} g5 { 119} 40. Qf3 {0} Kh6 $1 {0 The king can take care of himself! This is a fabulous move as now White is really running out of attacking resources while Nd4 is coming.} 41. Bxf4 $1 {1147} Rf8 $6 {This tempting move is actually the source of some troubles.} (41... gxf4 42. Qh5#) (41... Nxf4 $1 42. Rxe8 Bxe8 43. Rxe8 Qa1+ 44. Kh2 Qf6 $13) 42. Rxe6+ {1016} Rxe6 {6} 43. Bxg5+ $1 {22} Kxg5 $8 {18} 44. Qg4+ {104} Kf6 {3} 45. Rxe6+ {52} Bxe6 {3} 46. Qxe6+ {7} Kg5 {1} 47. Qg4+ {79} Kf6 {6} 48. Qe6+ {19} Kg5 {1} 49. Qg4+ {7} Kf6 {2} 50. Qxh4+ { White is in no risk to lose this position. He has enough material for the exchange. Well, at least that's what one would think.} Qg5 {8} 51. Qe4 {19} Qe5 {189} 52. Qh4+ {338} Qg5 {4} 53. Qe4 {43} Qe5 {5} 54. Qc2 {105} Qe1+ {493} 55. Kh2 {8} Kg7 {15} 56. f3 $6 {85} (56. Qb2+ $1 {This was much more precise.} Kh7 (56... Kh6 $1 57. f3 Re8 (57... Qe7 $16) 58. Qf6+ $18) 57. f3 Re8 $2 58. Be4+ $18) 56... Re8 {138} 57. Qf5 {275} Qe5+ {35} 58. Qxe5+ {3} Rxe5 {2} 59. Be4 $2 {132} (59. g4 $1 a6 (59... a5 60. Bc6 (60. Be4 b5 $1 $11) 60... Re3 61. Kg3 Rb3 62. h4 Rb4 63. Bb5 $18) 60. Kg3 b5 61. axb5 axb5 62. Kf4 Kf6 63. h4 {is not playable for Black as the threat of g5+ allows White to take on b5 next turn.}) 59... Re6 {235} 60. Kg3 $2 {0} Rd6 {0} 61. Bd5 $4 {Even though White was already not going to win because of his tempi loss, this move hands over the game to Black!} a5 $1 {An excellent move. The threat of breaking through with b5 is real.} 62. Bb7 {376} b5 $19 {34} 63. cxb5 {12} c4 {55} 64. Be4 {256} c3 { 5} 65. Kf4 {14} Rd2 {19 The rook easily takes the bishop, the a-pawn, stops the b-pawn and wins the game.} 0-1
Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
A complicated Grunfeld landed the players in a weird endgame. Both sides' pair of bishops were the last remaining pieces on the board, but White managed to obtain an extra pawn. This was offset by Black's powerful passed a-pawn, always menacing. The game fizzled to a draw as both sides basically ran out of pawns to advance.
A fighting draw between the leaders
This brave, and somewhat suicidal, c-pawn is the reason the Grunfeld exists
Aronian, Levon ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vasil
Despite having a slight advantage from the opening, and always having some kind of pressure over the majority of the board, Aronian was unable to put Ivanchuk in serious difficulties. After running out of pawns on the queenside it was clear that his majority on the kingside would be insufficient to play for a win.
Levon Aronian, perhaps thinking back on his tournament
Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Radjabov, Teimour
With 4.Nf3 and 5.g3 in the Nimzo-Indian Fabiano Caruana and Teimour Radjabov followed famous predecessors: In the first game of their 1985 match Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov had this line on the board. Kasparov scored an impressive win and the previously obscure variation became famous. However, the game between Caruana and Radjabov was much less spectacular. After an early exchange of queens an equal endgame arose and after 41 moves the players settled for a draw.
Hou Yifan 1-0 Jobava, Baadur
Baadur fought hard to come back from an awful position in the opening. He was almost successful, but, as usual in this tournament, he ended up imploding.
Hou Yifan scores her first victory in Wijk aan Zee!
Well, at least this year, she won thrice last time she played here.
[Event "77th Tata Steel Chess Masters"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2015.01.23"] [Round "11"] [White "Hou, Yifan"] [Black "Jobava, Baadur"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B15"] [WhiteElo "2673"] [BlackElo "2727"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/p4kp1/3b1pp1/2pP4/2P2PPp/1P2Q2P/2q3K1/4B3 w - - 0 39"] [PlyCount "14"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "NED"] [TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"] 39. Kf1 {Black's position is somewhat miserable as any endgame is dangerous to him; that passed pawn on the d5 square will never go away. However, for now, his queen is making an amazing job of creating counterplay.} Kg8 $4 {It's very unclear what Jobava missed, but this just gives White the full point.} (39... Kf8 40. Bxh4 a5 $1 {And White's task of making progress might simply be impossible.}) 40. Qe6+ {0} Kh7 {0} 41. Qxd6 {Why not? It's a free bishop. Black does not have a perpetual.} Qxb3 {12} (41... Qd3+ 42. Kg1 Qe3+ 43. Bf2 Qc1+ 44. Kg2 $18) 42. Kg2 {546} Qxc4 {116} (42... Qc2+ 43. Bf2 Qe4+ 44. Kg1 Qb1+ 45. Kh2 Qc2 46. Qxc5 $18) 43. Qe6 {460} a5 {20} 44. f5 {51} gxf5 {217} 45. Qxf5+ {358} g6 {39 The endgame is very simple to win from this point on.} 1-0
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Masters standings after eleven rounds
Round eleven - Challengers
| Round 11 - Friday Jan. 23 | |
| Michiels, B. - Wei, Y. |
0-1
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| Saleh, S. - Van Kampen, R. |
1-0
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| Potkin, V. - Timman, J. |
1-0
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| Gunina, V. - Navara, D. |
½-½
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| Sevian, S. - Dale, A. |
½-½
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| Klein, D. - Shankland, S. |
0-1
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| l' Ami, E. - Haast, A. |
½-½
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Another interesting round in the Challengers, but the news of the day is certainly Wei Yi's victory. With his performance he is simply skyrocketing in rating, reaching 2695... one more win against a similar-rated opponent and he will cross the magic 2700 barrier!
Nava now trails by half a point as he only managed a draw against Gunina.
Tournament leader: Wei Yi setting himself up to participate in the Masters section next year
Replay Challengers games
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Challengers standings after eleven rounds
Photos by Alina l'Ami for the official website
Schedule and results - Masters group
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Schedule and results - Challengers group
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Venues
The tournament has a slight change this year. Most of the rounds will be played in the traditional De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk aan Zee, but two of the rounds will be played elsewhere. Last year the tournament traveled to the National Museum in Amsterdam and the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.
This year the fifth round will be held in De Rotterdam. De Rotterdam is a building on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam, designed by Rem Koolhaas in 1998.
Rotterdam is ready to host Tata Steel!
The tenth round will be played in the International Press Cnetre Niewuspoort in the Hague. Councillor Karsten Klein of The Hague had this to say: "The Hague is honored to be able to host the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2015 at the heart of the Dutch parliamentary democracy. Our city has a long history of international chess tournaments, a tradition which is continued in this manner. "
Commentary on Playchess
This being the first major event of the year, it is clear that we will be bringing you live commentary on our server www.playchess.com!
| Day | Date | Round | English |
| Friday | January 23 | Round 11 | GM Daniel King |
| Saturday | January 24 | Round 12 | GM Simon Williams |
| Sunday | January 25 | Round 13 | GM Daniel King |
LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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