1/16/2012 – It was the clash of the titans as the top two players in the world bumped heads for first place. Magnus Carlsen scored an impressive win over Levon Aronian as he slowly built up an advantage into a convincing win. Radjabov joined Caruana and Aronian in second after a blunder by Navara. Both Harikrishna and Turov lead Group B and C respectively with 3.0/3. Illustrated report with video.
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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
Round three
The players arrive for the round
Group A: Round 3 - Mon. Jan. 16th
Boris Gelfand - Veselin Topalov
½-½
Teimour Radjabov - David Navara
1-0
Sergey Karjakin - Anish Giri
1-0
Hikaru Nakamura - Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Magnus Carlsen - Levon Aronian
1-0
Gata Kamsky - Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Loek van Wely - Vugar Gashimov
½-½
The first result of the day came in disappointing fashion as the Czech champion
David Navara blundered a piece right after a mistake and that was that, Radjabov
moved in to equal second with 2.0/3.
19-year-old Fabiano Caruana is already looking at a 2750 rating
Hikaru Nakamura was almost on the wrong side of the next decisive result as
he was possibly lost at one point against Fabiano Caruana, but fortunately he
kept his wits about him and saved the game in the end. It is worth noting that
while Caruana’s rating may have seemed stationary for about a year, he
seems to be solidifying his gains and has gained nearly 40 Elo since September
if one is to refer to the Live Ratings
list where he stands at 2750 and 12th in the world.
Relief is spelled K-A-R-J-A-K-I-N
It was also a relief for Sergey Karjakin, and a disappointment to Anish Giri’s
fans, when he beat the Dutchman to break his nervy start. The game was relatively
balanced until Giri decided to undertake energetic measures on the queenside
with f5 that only yielded him fatal weaknesses on e6 and the dark squares.
Carlsen made a first step for glory by beating his most dangerous rival
Still the game of the day was also the biggest encounter of the event: Magnus Carlsen versus Levon Aronian, the two top seeds in Wijk and in the world. Aronian was sole first, with a perfect 2.0/2 start, and Carlsen, trailing a half-point behind, had a chance to invert their places, which he took. His typical provocative play
drew his opponent out to make several concessions which he then negotiated beautifully.
In his attempt to find the most precise move, he actually ended up with a secondary
choice, though the more aesthetic of the two. This caused the game to go longer
than he had planned, but his famed technique did not let him down and he maneuvered
his way to the top of the leaderboard. His win also takes him to a stratospheric
2843, a rating he no doubt plans to push past Kasparov’s record 2851 set
in 2000.
In tomorrow’s game Carlsen faces Caruana with Black, a game that has
great promise while Aronian takes on Kamsky. Radjabov will face Gelfand.
The third round in Group B came close to six wins in seven with the only draws
being Lahno-Reinderman and Bruzon-Motylev. Top-seed Bruzon (2691) has been out
of form and after losing to the leader, Harikrishna, in the opening round, came
dangerously close to losing against Motylev. He was quite lost but the Russian
allowed an ending with opposite-colored bishops in which his two extra pawns
were no longer decisive.
The Indian GM Pentala Harikrishna once again showed off his technical skills
as he outplayed his female compatriot GM Harika Dronavalli, and now has 3.0/3.
In second place is the Dutch player, Erwin L’Ami, who beat the winner
of last year’s Group C, Italian GM Daniele Vocaturo.
After a first round loss, Sergey Tiviakov won two games, including over
Vladimir Potkin
That said, the highest profile win was Sergey Tiviakov’s second straight
win, this time against European Champion Vladimir Potkin in an impressive game
that has already put him in third.
Nyzhnik and Timman, a pleasing victory for Timman's fans
Of note also, was the meeting between the tournament's youngest and oldest
players, 15-year-old Ilya Nyzhnik, and 60-year-old Jan Timman. This time experience
had the last word as Jan Timman converted an extra pawn after 97 moves.
In the C Group, Turov continues to dominate with 3.0/3, though he had a large
Elo advantage over his opponent Dutch junior Lisa Schut. Etienne Goudriaan,
the lowest rating of the group with 2279, is the surprise second with 2.5/3,
though it bears noting none of his opponents outrated him by more than 50 Elo
until now.
Matthew Sadler has conceded two draws so far, both against the lovely Tania
Sachdev in round two, and Elizabeth Paehtz in round three.
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.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
€9.90
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