1/27/2012 – Six wins in seven games in both groups A and B, but the highlight was Carlsen's game against Topalov in which he went for broke with a Tal-like attack, and turned a lead position into gold. Leader Aronian lost to Navara but so did Ivanchuk, after committing suicide against Gelfand. Radjabov beat Gashimov and joins Carlsen tied for second. Illustrated report with annotations by GM Alejandro Ramirez.
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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 Tournament 2012
A beautiful day on the North Sea shore
For those up early enough, it was a welcome sunrise that day
Round eleven
Group A: Round 11 - Fri. Jan. 27th
Magnus Carlsen - Veselin Topalov
1-0
Gata Kamsky - Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Loek van Wely - Sergey Karjakin
0-1
Vugar Gashimov - Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Vassily Ivanchuk - Boris Gelfand
0-1
Levon Aronian - David Navara
0-1
Fabiano Caruana - Anish Giri
1-0
The flag lineup for Group A
If one were to try to describe round ten in one word, the word would be brawl. It was an incredibly combative round in which six of seven games ended in decisive results, in both the A and B groups, and the surprises just poured in.
David Navara scored his 'redemption' win over the tournament leader Levon Aronian
The first surprise was Levon Aronian’s loss to David Navara, since not only had Aronian been in the hottest streak of his career, but Navara had been in his worst. It is possibly for this very reason that the leader lowered his guard slightly, and this was all that the Czech needed, as he steadily buyilt up his slight advantage into a winning position. Aronian put up as stiff a resistance as possible, but by then it was too late, and Navara’s technique was up to the task.
A stare down by the two youngest players before their game
Fabiano Caruana beat Anish Giri in a game that soon became very lopsided. Caruana explained that the piece sacrifice for the pawns should not have been missed by Anish, and that this oversight simply cost him the game. GM commentary online agreed with this, and nerves or fatigue must be behind it.
Loek Van Wely, who had managed to draw all the players until now, played a weak game in round eleven, and Sergey Karjakin pounced on him to continue his nearly drawless tournament for which even he has no explanation. Just one of those flukes.
Vassily Ivanchuk who had moved into sole second by virtue of his wins, and the see-saw results of the others, lost control of his nerves against Boris Gelfand. They had played a very balanced game, which led to an equally balanced endgame, and a draw was to be the logical result. Instead, the Ukrainian sacrificed a pawn for no reason that any could see, and lost.
Although he has not been high on the radar, Radjabov has moved into clear second
with Carlsen.
Teimour Radjabov moved into second with a solid win over his compatriot Vugar Gashimov, a half-point behind Aronian.
Vladimir Kramnik was caught visiting and gave his impressions, promising to be there for the 75th
anniversary jubilee
(courtesy of the Tata Steel Facebook page)
The game of the day was nevertheless the extremely complicated, absurdly exciting game by Magnus Carlsen versus Vesselin Topalov. The comments throughout were all comparisons on one level or another to Tal. They were quite justified, even if afterwards, Carlsen claimed he had ‘blundered’. Carlsen embarked on a sacrificial attack that had to have shocked his opponent somewhat. In fact, much like Tal, whose speculative attacks were as much bluff as dangerous, it seemed like a dubious gamble against a player like Topalov.
Everyone was caught up in the Carlsen-Topalov game. John Nunn (seated) could
not take his eyes off the game...
...nor could visiting Vladimir Kramnik.
In his heyday, Tal had serious trouble against players like Korchnoi, who were able to calculate precisely and avoid the traps, or Botvinnik, who won back his title in 1961 after realizing that he had to accept Tal’s sacrifices and not shy away from them. Topalov is a player who relishes complications, so one would think this was the worst type of player to try this against, but things are not so simple. Consider their personal score in classical games, a biased 8-3 (not including draws) in the Norwegian’s favor. In any case, it worked, and the Bulgarian did go astray, though it is hard to blame him, and Magnus got enough play for his material. It should still have not led to a win, and Topalov survived the worst to a balanced endgame.
Blunder or inspiration, it was a wonderfully exciting game
Topalov was still not recovered it seemed, and this brought to mind an article by Boris Gulko many years ago in Inside Chess magazine, in which he described a loss to Tal. He explained that he too had survived a long and complicated onslaught by the Latvian genius, and just when he had the draw within reach, his nerves failed him and he blundered and lost. Perhaps this is the explanation for Vesselin’s weak play in the end, leading to a win for Magnus and renewed chances for first. For Topalov, this also means that for the first time since the end of December 1995, he is faced with being evicted from the world Top Ten. Still, even if this should happen, we know he will be back.
Magnus Carlsen was all smiles after his win
GM Alejandro Ramirez annotates:
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Move
N
Result
Elo
Players
1.e4
1,186,706
54%
2421
---
1.d4
960,560
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,913
56%
2440
---
1.c4
185,115
56%
2442
---
1.g3
19,902
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,609
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,959
48%
2376
---
1.Nc3
3,919
50%
2383
---
1.b4
1,791
48%
2379
---
1.a3
1,252
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
93
66%
2506
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
Please, wait...
1.e4c52.Nf3d63.Bb5+Nd74.c3Ngf65.Qe2a66.Ba4Qc7Not the main
move, but it scores quite well. A lot of games have seen 6... b5 instead.7.0-0e5And this is new, Volokitin had tried c4 against a weaker opponent a
few years ago.8.d4b59.Bc2cxd4This move requires a little bit of an
explanation. Black doesn't really want to concede the c3 square for White's N,
but at the same time, this move is useful because it takes the sting out of a4,
which would have been the reply to any other logical move. The position
heavily resembles a Ruy Lopez more than a Sicilian, due to the B positioning
on c2 and the pawn structure.9...Be710.a4b411.dxc5dxc512.Nbd2
Really emphasizes the weakness left on c4 by pushing the pawn.10.cxd4Be711.Nc311.a4b4is nowhere near as threatening now.11...0-012.Bg5h613.Bh4Bb714.Rad1Rac815.Bb3Rfe816.dxe5dxe517.Bg3Bf818.h3Nb6So far both sides have developed in a very logical fashion. Black
should be quite happy with the results of the opening: all his pieces are on
good squares and he has a sound pawn structure. His last move prepares the
very natural Nc4, which will block out the strong B on b3, and pressure b2.19.Nh4!?Nc420.Nf5And this is where things start to get wild. Magnus'
Nh4 was already an indication that this move will follow, as there was no
satisfactory way to meekly defend the b2 pawn.Nxb221.Bh4!?21.Rc1Nc422.Bh4g5Gives White some compensation but I'm not sure it is enough.
The N on f5 does look powerful, but a pawn is a pawn. It's possible that
Black is just better in this position.21.Nxh6+!?gxh622.Bh4Bg722...Qc623.Bxf6Qxf624.Qxb223.Bxf6Bxf624.Qg4+Kh825.Rd7Qxc326.Bxf7Red8And here White has a scary looking attack, but it does seem
like Black will survive by all means.21...Nxd1Topalov "goes for it" but
he might not have had a choice.21...g5Seemed like the more prudent way
to play, but that is not quite the case.22.Rd6‼Bxd623.Nxh6+Kf824.Bxg5∞And despite being up a rook (!) White's threats look extremely
powerful. Specifically, Bxf6 and Qg4 or Nf5 and Bh5+. A crazy position that
will be analyzed in depth in CBM for sure.22.Bxf6Nxc322...gxf6?23.Nxd1±Gives white way too much compensation for his lost material, as Qh5
is the next move and the attack is huge.22...Re6!?is a very clever
move. If White takes on e6, then after fxe6 the g7-pawn will be better
defended and it kicks out the N on f5. Again, this position would require
lots of analysis, but let's take a look at the most obvious.23.Nxh6+23.Bxe6Nxc3!?24.Nxh6+Kh725.Qh5g6∞23...Kh724.Qh5g6!25.Qh4Bxh626.Rxd1g5!27.Bxg5Rg6∞23.Qg4Bxe4A very logical move. The
bishop hurries back to the defense and attacks the f5 N. It also covers the
b1-h7 diagonal which can be important in many variations.23...Re6Was
very interesting but it's hard to play during a game. Again, this will be
analyzed in full.24.Nxh6+24.Nxg7!?Rxf625.Ne8+Kh826.Nxf6Bg727.Qf5Bxf628.Qxf6+Kg829.Qg6+Kf830.Qxh6+Ke8Might just not work for
White though.24...Kh725.Nxf7∞24.Nxh6+24.Nxg7Kh725.Nxe8Rxe826.Rd1!is a very surprising resource. Here Black is powerless against
the threat of Rd7, but he can still defend once the R penetrates.Bg626...Nxd1??27.Qxe4+Kg828.Qg6+27.Rd7Ne2+28.Kf1Ng3+29.fxg3Qc1+30.Ke2With an incredibly messy position.24...Kh725.Bxf7A lot of pieces are
swarming around the black king. It is easy to say this during post mortem
analysis: I just don't see what White is threatening at the moment. However,
during the heat of battle, I can't imagine having a scarier position.Qxf7?This is a little bit of a panic mode.25...Bd3And I'm not sure what
White's followup is.26.Qh5Ne2+27.Kh1Nf4And it looks like it's
checkmate but it's not, so Black wins.26.Nxf7gxf6Black still has a
considerable material advantage, but unfortunately for him his K is very
exposed. Carlsen must be quick to exploit this, because as soon as Black gets
any kind of coordination he will be lost.27.f4Bg628.Qh4+Kg729.fxe5Ne430.Rxf6Bc5+31.Kh2Nxf632.Qxf6+Kh733.Ng5+Kh6White has
sacrificed even more material, but in compensation Black's K is even more
exposed. It is funny how those things work. In any case, it is clear the
Magnus now has a perpetual and I'm sure many GMs would be willing to finish
such an exhausting game, but that's not the attitude that's made Magnus the #1
player in the world.34.Ne634.Nf7+Kh7=34...Rxe635.Qxe6Re836.Qf6To be fair, it doesn't take much to realize that White still holds a
perpetual in his hands whenever he wants it. He just has to be careful not to
overpress.Be7?I'm not sure why Topalov gifted the a6 pawn, but maybe a
loss of perspective can explain it. After defending so much and having such
wild material differences, it is sometimes hard to remember that one pawn can
make a big difference.36...a5was quite a superior move. Not only does
it save the pawn, it keeps the pressure on e5 which is very important.37.Qxa6b438.Qc4Bf839.g4Kh740.e6Bd6+Move 40 has finally been
reached, but sadly for Topalov his position isn't so good any more. This is
mainly due to the fact that the e6 pawn is very hard to get to, and the two
passed pawns on the kingside are very powerful. On top of that, there is no
way to create counterplay. This is a very tough defense.41.Kg2Be742.Qc7Black is almost in Zugzwang in this position, and actually 42... Kg7 is
forced.Kg843.Kg3Kf844.Qf4+?!An innacuracy, a better way to do what
Magnus did in the game was by putting the Q on e5 immediately.44.Qe5!
threatening Qh8 mate.Kg845.h4is much more like it, with strong threats.44...Kg745.Qd4+Kg846.h4Rd847.Qc4Bd3?!And with this move Topalov
returns the favor, it was imperative to take this one hope of counterplay and
go for it.47...Rd3+!48.Kg2Rd2+48...Bxh4?49.e7++-49.Kf3Bxh4and it seems Black is safe. Easier said with a lot of time to analyze
the position though, as it looks quite scary.48.Qc6Bb1?But this move
just loses. It is way too aggressive, which is unsurprising considering
Topalov's usual 'defense' methods, but it was not what the position required.48...Kg749.g5Bg6still gave good drawing chances since the K can't
easily cross to the 4th rank to support the pawn.49.h5Winning but not as
easily as....49.Qb7!And now Black has serious problems with the
positioning of his pieces.Kf8?49...Re850.Qd7Kf851.Qd1and again Q
somewhere in the f-file next move.49...Bd6+50.Kh3+-threatens both
Qf7 and e7 and just e7 directly.50.Qf3+Kg851.Qf7+49...Bxa250.Qe4
Black is simply dominated in this position, and his K is rapidly being
entangled in a mating net.Kh851.h6Bf652.e7Re853.Qf4Bg754.hxg7+Kxg755.g5Kg856.Qf6Definitely not Topalov's most shining moment. It is
possible that he was simply winning and that Carlsen's sacrifices were not
much more than a bluff, but the bluff paid off. Even then, the endgame was
quite holdable, but Topalov's over-aggression prevented him from cooly
maintaining a passive defense, and that cost him the game. Wild and exciting
chess!1–0
Timman in a picture of the blue, white, and red. No, we did not Photoshop this.
The B group was similarly fought, and only one draw was recorded. Also like ther A group, the leader recorded a loss that did not lose the leadership, it just kept it a fight. Pentala Harikrishna showed he was human after all, and went down to Sipke Ernst. Erwin L’Ami drew against Alexander Motylev who remain tied for second, while Lazaro Bruzon lost to the Ukrainian prodigy, Ilya Nyzhnyk, and saw his chances for first dashed for good.
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
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
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