1/14/2012 – It was a day for the young up-and-comers, though with Carlsen and Aronian in the top two, perhaps up-and-camers is more appropriate. Carlsen had an edge in an endgame against Gashimov, and sure enough weaseled his way into a win. Aronian beat Karjakin with black in a complicated and exciting game, while Giri ground down Gelfand after 70 moves. Illustrated report with videos.
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The 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from January 13 to 29,
2012 in the sports hall Moriaan in Wijk aan Zee. There are three grandmaster
tournaments with fourteen players each playing thirteen rounds at 100 minutes
for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and finally 15 minutes for the rest
of the game, with a 30 seconds/move increment starting with the first move of
the game. Rest days are on January 18, 23, and 26.
Tata Steel 2012
The opening ceremony took place in the Chess Pavillion in Wijk aan Zee
Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler officially opened the tournament
Round one
Group A: Round 1 - Sat. Jan. 14th
David Navara - Veselin Topalov
½-½
Boris Gelfand - Anish Giri
0-1
Teimour Radjabov - Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Sergey Karjakin - Levon Aronian
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura - Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Vugar Gashimov
1-0
Gata Kamsky - Loek van Wely
½-½
Whether a sign of things to come or not, Carlsen's live rating is just 12
points short
of Kasparov's record 2851.
Whether or not this round was a sign of things to come is impossible to say,
but if one is to consider the opening ceremony prognostics by the players, perhaps.
Magnus Carlsen obviously entered the favorite, but favorites are a statistic,
not a guarantee. When asked about his expectations, the Norwegian said, "
My goal is to play good chess, and maybe win the tournament",
followed by a typical shrug.
Dutch TV also did a report on the event. Even if you don't speak Dutch the
footage is worth checking out. (thanks to Rob Vlaardingerbroek)
He was able to do just that, carrying a small edge throughout the game. This
was not enough though as the pieces came off and the weight of the opposite-colored
bishops began to be felt. Vugar Gashimov then completely misjudged the situation
and went chasing ghosts as he tried to carry out a king attack that only ended
up misplacing all his pieces. This ended up being decisive and the number one
chalked his first win of the year.
Aronian is also on a high, and not letting Carlsen steal the limelight without
a fight
The world number two, Levon Aronian, actually beat him to the title of first
win of Wijk aan Zee's A group, as he managed to force his opponent, Sergey Karjakin,
to capitulate first. The opening was nothing special and was roughly equal for
both players, however, Aronian played a pawn sac that he felt would give him
good play, a sac that he later thought the Russian had underestimated. Energetic
play in a dynamic and exciting middlegame led to a deserved win.
A tough game for Boris Gelfand, and a brilliant start for Anish Giri
The final winner not only of the A group, but of the tournament, was Gelfand-Giri,
but the spectators who stuck around were rewarded for their patience. 17-year-old
Anish Giri, fresh from his victory in Reggio Emilia just a week ago, was trying
his best to convert a pawn up against Boris Gelfand, whose defensive technique
is nothing to scoff at. It was unclear whether he would manage, however little
by little he showed his growing endgame skills and edged his way forward until
a win at move 70.
Former top Dutch player Loek Van Wely is back
The official video reports by the organizers, is some of the best we've
ever seen, with top-notch
editing, presentation, and narration. They hired a professional video production
company and should
not be missed. (courtesy of the Tata
Steel Facebook page)
Still, while the video reports above may be nice, but they cannot compare
to the quality and depth of the Playchess commentators who are there analyzing
for hours for your pleasure. Don't take our word for it, watch the round-up
show by the GM Yannick Pelletier, the commentator of the day.
Group B: Round 1 - Sat. Jan. 14th
Dimitri Reinderman - Alexander Motylev
½-½
Lazaro Bruzon - Pentala Harikrishna
0-1
Kateryna Lahno - Sipke Ernst
1-0
Harika Dronavalli - Daniele Vocatura
½-½
Viktorija Cmilyte - Ilya Nyzhnik
0-1
Erwin L'Ami - Sergey Tiviakov
1-0
Jan Timman - Vladimir Potkin
½-½
In the B tournament, all the decisiev games stuck out for different reasons.
Lazaro Bruzon was the top-seed and promptly lost to the Indian Pentala Harikrishna's
Berlin as he was outplayed in a balanced middlegame. Sergey Tiviakov was also
one of the favorites but also lost to Erwin L'Ami. Finally, while 15-year-old
Ilya Nyzhnik started with a win over European Women Champion Viktorija Cmilyte,
GM Kateryna Lahno avenged the losses of her female fellows by beating Sipke
Ernst.
Dutch legend, Jan Timman, accepted his invitation to play
There will be full broadcast of all games on the official site and on the Playchess
server, which will provide live audio commentary of the most interesting
games (free for Premium members) starting at 15:00h for each round, 14:00h for
the final round.
Date
Round
Day
Commentator
14.01.2012
Round 1
Saturday
Pelletier
15.01.2012
Round 2
Sunday
King
16.01.2012
Round 3
Monday
Seirawan
17.01.2012
Round 4
Tuesday
King
18.01.2012
Free Day
Wednesday
19.01.2012
Round 5
Thursday
King
20.01.2012
Round 6
Friday
Seirawan
21.01.2012
Round 7
Saturday
Seirawan
22.01.2012
Round 8
Sunday
King
23.01.2012
Free Day
Monday
24.01.2012
Round 9
Tuesday
King
25.01.2012
Round 10
Wednesday
Pelletier
26.01.2012
Free Day
Thursday
27.01.2012
Round 11
Friday
King
28.01.2012
Round 12
Saturday
Trent
29.01.2012
Round 13
Sunday
King
Commentary begins at approx. 3 PM and lasts 2-2.5 hours with breaks in between.
A round up show is provided at 8 PM server time.
The games are being 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 and get
immediate access. Or you can get our latest Fritz
13 program, which includes six months free premium membership to Playchess.
2nd Move Anti-Sicilian Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12090 games from Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 874 are annotated.
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
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