76th Tata Steel Chess R11: Winner's Press Conference Video with Aronian; Giri second, Karjakin third
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Levon Aronian has won the 76th edition of Tata Steel Chess despite a last round blunder-loss to Loek van Wely. Anish Giri is second and Sergey Karjakin is third. Here is the final tournament report via the official website:
The participants showed no signs of fatigue and interesting battles were fought out in the last round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014.
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Loek van Wely went for an aggressive approach in his encounter with tournament victor Levon Aronian, opting for the Dutch Defense. The Dutchman thought he “had nothing to lose anyway” and was happy about the way the game developed. But then Van Wely “completely misplayed it and after that I was just positionally lost.”
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Both combatants invested a lot of time evaluating the complications and matters became unclear in time trouble. Aronian felt the pressure and blundered on move 38 when he played the horrible 38.exf4??. Van Wely capitalized immediately with the devastating 38. …Bd4+!ending the game.
Anish Giri finished in second place after a draw against Hikaru Nakamura. In an interesting line, Nakamura commented he “had no idea what was going on.” Giri sacrificed a pawn and decided to give up another one to keep his opponent from developing his pieces.
The two competitors had a lot of lines to choose from but in the end the Dutchman’s compensation sufficed. Nakamura still had an extra pawn in the endgame but the American said “objectively it was probably always going to be a draw.”
Sergey Karjakin came in third as he escaped with a draw against Leinier Dominguez. The Cuban grabbed a pawn with 13. …Nxe4 and it seemed a matter of time before he would convert his advantage into a win but Karjakin confirmed his reputation as an excellent defender, restoring the balance.
The Russian blundered on move 40, though, giving Dominguez a winning position. Karjakin rose to the occasion once more when his opponent played 43. …Rxa2 (see diagram), missing 43. …f3! with the idea of 44.Qb1 Re1+! and mate to follow. He managed to get a rook-ending that proved too difficult to win for Dominguez. Two lone kings remained after 71 moves, ending the duel peacefully.
The Boris Gelfand – Pentala Harikrishna game was won by the white player. The position appeared to be balanced after the opening but Gelfand gradually increased the pressure on Harikrishna’s position. The Indian had to defend carefully but he could not prevent Gelfand from getting a favourable pawn-ending.
The Israeli commented he “probably shouldn’t go into it. I can play a rook-ending that is totally won and a pawn-ending requires a lot of calculation.” However, Gelfand calculated correctly and brought home the win several moves later.
Arkadij Naiditsch ended his tournament with a second consecutive victory, punishing Richard Rapport’s provocative opening play. When the Hungarian wasted several tempos, Naiditsch was quick to launch his attack. The German had a nice finisher with 20.Rxh7! Bf5 21.Qc4, winning decisive material. Several moves later, Rapport realized further resistance was futile and resigned.
A long theoretical line in the Grünfeld was played in the encounter between Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana, creating an equal position. The battle reached a climax when Caruana went for 22. …Nxd4. After 23.Bxd7 Ne2+ 24.Kf1 Bxa1 25.Kxe2 a4 So had to be careful not to let the passed a-pawn become dangerous. A repetition of moves occurred and as neither competitor saw a way to make progress, a draw was agreed.
Ivan Saric drew his last game in the Challengers group against Sabino Brunello, bringing his total to an amazing 10.0/13. Saric now has the right to participate in next year’s Masters Group. Jan Timman and Baadur Jobava drew their respective games and tied for second place with 8.5/13.
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76th Tata Steel Chess R10 Full Report: Aronian wins Masters Group, Ivan Saric wins Challengers Group in Penultimate Rounds!
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
76th Tata Steel Chess 2014: Here is the final report (via the official website) on Round 10 of which we shared a quick update yesterday - Levon Aronian has won the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament! He beat Leinier Dominguez in the penultimate round, bringing his total to an impressive 8.0/10. In a Ruy Lopez, the Armenian felt that Dominguez’ 17.Rfe1 was not the best move, making black’s position “slightly more preferable.” The Cuban committed several more inaccuracies, desperately trying to squeeze out of his predicament. Matters only got worse, however, and when Aronian obtained a menacing passed b-pawn, it was just a matter of time before Dominguez had no other option but to admit defeat.
Anish Giri and Sergey Karjakin are the main contenders for second place, both with a 6.0/10 score. In their game, Giri tried a long-forgotten idea in the Catalan.
He said that “If I’m able to stop his breakthrough with b5 I should be slightly better.” When he missed the sly 17.Ne5, with the idea of 17. …Bxg2 18.c4!, the Dutchman was unable to prevent the breakthrough with which Karjakin maintained the balance. Giri saw it coming and “just tried to make a draw.” He succeeded in doing so after 32 moves.
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Hikaru Nakamura managed to win his game, defeating Richard Rapport. Rapport once again ventured onto uncharted opening territory, creating a highly interesting position. Nakamura said that “had he (Rapport) calmed down he should have been a bit better but he continued to play very creatively.” Rapport went for an all-out attack against the black king with 19.Qf3, instead of taking the knight. The American happily accepted the material and when he fended off the assault, there was nothing Rapport could do to avoid losing the battle.
In the encounter between Loek van Wely and Boris Gelfand, the latter got his first win of the tournament. A balanced position arose from a Trompowsky but then the Dutchman “was overoptimistic and played a bit too ambitiously”, according to Gelfand. Van Wely sidelined his pieces, reducing them to mere spectators as the Israeli countered with 32. …Rd1. After 33.c5 Bc7 34.Rxh5? Rxf1+ 35.Kg2 Qg6 Van Wely could not prevent the checkmate and resigned several moves later.
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Levon Aronian wins 76th Tata Steel Chess 2014 with One Round to Go (Video)
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
World No. 2, Armenia's Levon Aronian has won the 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2014 with one round to go. He already has 8/10 which is two points of Anish Giri and Sergey Karjakin who have 6 points each. Aronian beat Dominguez with Black to take the title in the penultimate round that concluded a while back. Aronian last won the event in 2012, ahead of Magnus Carlsen. Here is the post-game video via the official website. Also, Ivan Saric won the Challengers Group, by winning his game today against Yu Yangiy. (More updates later).
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Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014, ivan saric, levon aronian
76th Tata Steel Chess R9: Levon Aronian Extends Lead
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
With just two rounds to go, Levon Aronian has already opened a 1.5 lead over the others after the 9th round at the 76th Tata Steel Chess Masters Group in Wijk aan Zee. Here is the report via the official website:
The ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters Group was held at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.
Levon Aronian dealt a huge blow, defeating his main rival Sergey Karjakin. Both combatants repeated the first 15 moves from an earlier encounter in 2013, which Karjakin won. The top-seed deviated, playing 16.Ne2 instead of 16.Na4. On this occasion, Aronian got the advantage after Karjakin played 30. …Kh8?. Aronian replied with the strong 31.Nxb6!, winning a pawn.
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Aronian: “I think somewhere he should have had a way to escape but in a practical game it is not easy to do so.” Karjakin failed to find a way out of his predicament. A pawn down, he ended up in an unpleasant ending and was forced to resign on his 61st move. Aronian is now firmly in the lead with 7.0/9, one and a half point ahead of the pack.
The battle between Richard Rapport and Anish Giri took off slowly, with Rapport taking his time before playing 3.dxc5. In the resulting original position, the Hungarian sacrificed two pawns with 13.Nf3!? Qxc2 14.0-0 Qxe4 to obtain a lead in development. Giri defended well, though, not allowing his opponent to take control of the position. Several exchanges later, a rook-ending was reached. Sound play by both competitors assured that a draw was the inevitable outcome.
In the encounter between Boris Gelfand and Leinier Dominguez, both combatants agreed it was “a balanced game.” In a Grünfeld, Dominguez sacrificed a pawn in order to activate his pieces. The Cuban got sufficient compensation, winning back the pawn, but Gelfand had no problems in the resulting ending. After a few more moves, a draw was agreed.
Pentala Harikrishna had no trouble with Arkadij Naiditsch, defeating the German in a mere 19 moves. Unorthodox opening play by Naiditsch gave the initiative to Harikrishna. After some dubious maneuvers by Naiditsch, the Indian developed a strong attack against the white king. Harikrishna did not see a way for his opponent to get out of the tight predicament, stating he thought “it’s just lost for white.” Things escalated quickly when Naiditsch went for 16.dxc5? The Indian demolished the white position with 16. …Bxc3! 17.cxb6 axb6 18.bxc3 Nxa2+ 19.Kb2 Qd6 and as he could not prevent the checkmate, Naiditsch resigned.
Loek van Wely “wanted to show the home crowd some fireworks” so he opted for an aggressive King’s Indian Defense in his game against Wesley So. A double-edged position arose, where So got the usual queenside-play while Van Wely tried to break through on the kingside. So said “it was a complicated game and it could have gone either way” but in the end Van Wely blundered with 39. …Bxc6??. After 40.dxc6 dxe5 41.Be4 the Dutchman realized the ending was dead lost and ceased combat.
The last game of the round was the interesting duel between Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. Nakamura won a pawn but Caruana’s pressure against the white position made up for the deficit. The American tried but failed to outmaneuver his opponent and, eventually, had to give back the pawn in order to reach an equal rook-ending. Nakamura desperately attempted to break through but his actions were in vain as a solid defense by the Italian secured the draw.
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Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014, levon aronian
76th Tata Steel Chess Round 8: Aronian Leads by 1/2 Point, Harikrishna beats Nakamura
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
The 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament had an exciting eighth round. Here is the report via the official website: The eighth round proved to be another gory one, with a total of only three games in both the Masters and the Challenger groups ending peacefully! Remarkably, all other games resulted in white victories!
The only Master game to end in a draw was the battle between the top two in the rankings so far, Levon Aronian and Anish Giri. With 10. …Bd6 Aronian deviated from the first-round game Van Wely – Karjakin. Giri obtained some pressure, resulting in a slightly better rook-ending but as Aronian said “I still need to make some inaccuracies in order to lose.” Precise play by the top-seed made sure that the outcome was never in doubt.
The other player in second place, Sergey Karjakin, closed in on Aronian, as he emerged victorious in his game against Boris Gelfand. Karjakin felt he “got a better position out of the opening” but there was no reason for his opponent to despair. Gelfand tried to develop some play against white’s king but when the Russian found the strong 38.Qe3!, the Israeli was obliged to swap queens, leaving him with an utterly lost rook-ending. Karjakin could have ended the game sooner but in the end his technique sufficed.
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By that time, Pentala Harikrishna had already triumphed over Hikaru Nakamura. Harikrishna won a pawn in the opening but “black had compensation”, as the Indian stated. The game ended abruptly when Nakamura embarked on a faulty plan with 29. …Qc5? Harikrishna quickly laid waste to Nakamura’s position with 30.Nh5! initiating an unstoppable attack. A few moves later the American resigned, putting an end to his suffering.
Loek van Wely won his second consecutive game, defeating Arkadij Naiditsch. Things looked grim for the Dutchman when he played the obscure18.Ra7?! and his rook got boxed in, forcing him to give up an exchange. Van Wely stated that “in hindsight, it was the only way to win the game.”
As Naiditsch was unable to come up with a constructive plan, Van Wely took control of the position. In time trouble ‘KingLoek’ missed a chance to conclude the game early on but still managed to win back the exchange, giving him a healthy position with a pawn up. To quote Van Wely: “it was not so difficult anymore after the time control.”
In a French Rubinstein, Fabiano Caruana managed to punish Richard Rapport’s creative opening play. Caruana commented he “had never seen this line before but I have a feeling it’s very risky for black.” He got a clear advantage, having the two bishops and a healthier pawn structure. The Hungarian sacrificed a pawn in order to get some counterplay.
When it proved to be insufficient, Rapport tried another pawn-sacrifice but according to Caruana “it was never going to work.” As there was no method of preventing Caruana’s pieces from launching a final attack on his king with 33.Rdb4, Rapport resigned.
The encounter between Leinier Dominguez and Wesley So ended in a sound victory for Dominguez. In a Petroff Defence, the Cuban quickly revealed his aggressive intentions, attacking So’s kingside. Dominguez felt that16. …g6 was a mistake and “white is probably winning by force.” When he found 19. Rh7! penetrating So’s position, things got critical for the Filipino and after 19. …d4 20.Bc4 Qe7? 21.Qh4 So realized his position was beyond repair.
There was a ‘changing of the guards’ in the Challengers group, as Ivan Saric took the lead, defeating Radek Wojtaszek while Sabino Brunello got the best of Baadur Jobava. Saric now leads with 7.0/9, with Jobava in pursuit at 6,5/9. Jan Timman and Anna Muzychuk share third place with 6.0/9 each. Benjamin Bok scored his final GM-norm, drawing fellow Dutchman Etienne Goudriaan! Having fulfilled all other demands Bok can now apply for the title of Grandmaster.
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76th Tata Steel Chess R7: Levon Aronian Retains Lead, Van Wely beats Nakamura
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Official Website photos by Vincent Bloothoofd (Tata Steel) and Peter Doggers (Chess.com)
Levon Aronian opted for the Ragozin Variation in his game against Boris Gelfand. The leader in the standings tried a new opening idea, sacrificing a pawn for positional compensation. He moved fast, getting ahead on the clock once again.
Aronian figured he “was slightly better, but I couldn’t really find a way to improve my position.” He did not feel like taking any risks and, to quote Gelfand, “the result was never in danger.” Aronian now enters the rest day leading the pack with a 5,5/7 score.
His main rivals for first place at the moment, Sergey Karjakin and Anish Giri, couldn’t benefit as they both drew their games. Giri quickly found himself in trouble against Fabiano Caruana. Caruana had a safe position and tried to build up his advantage. The Italian (“I probably missed many chances”) started drifting just before the time control, however, and Giri managed to hang on. A few moves later, the two competitors decided to share the point.
Karjakin had “a pretty normal game” versus Wesley So, when the Russian decided to sacrifice an exchange with 24. …Bxg2. After 25.Nxc2 Rxc2 26.Kxg2 Ne4 27.Be7 Karjakin initially regretted his decision, thinking he was “just worse.” But he found an interesting continuation and So was unable to seize the advantage. The Filipino even thought he was worse at some point but when he went for a rook-ending it didn’t take long before the result was in.
The most spectacular battle of the seventh round took place between Hikaru Nakamura and Loek van Wely. In a Scheveningen Variation, Van Wely went for an aggressive exchange sacrifice, giving him a strong initiative. The Dutchman obtained a winning position when he lashed out with the strong 33. …d2! After 34.Rxd2 Rxd2 35.Bxb5 axb5 36.Bxd2 Nd4 37.Rc8+ Kh7 38.Qc7 Qb1+ Nakamura’s king was in trouble. The American desperately tried to defend, but Van Wely rose to the occasion, steadily converting the game into a win.
Richard Rapport won his game as well, defeating Pentala Harikrishna. Harikrishna surprised his opponent with the Caro-Kann and Rapport returned the favour by playing an off-beat line. With the subtle 13.Be2 the creative Hungarian got a promising position. Rapport pushed on, forcing Harikrishna to give up the exchange with 28. …Rgg5. The Indian attempted to maintain the balance but, as Rapport commented, “my tactic was not the best probably because it was a pretty long game but he had no real chances.”
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In the last duel of the Masters group, Arkadij Naiditsch went for the solid London System against Leinier Dominguez. The game simmered along quietly but just before the time control, the German lost control of the position. Dominguez’ passed a-pawn became a menace and Naiditsch had to give up an exchange in order to get rid of the little rascal. The resulting ending looked fine for the Cuban but Naiditsch stubbornly defended and when Dominguez could not find a way through, the twosome settled for a draw.
In the Challengers group, Baadur Jobava kept the pedal to the metal, making short work of Yangyi Yu. Unorthodox opening play lead to an attack on Yu’s king. Jobava won a pawn and had no trouble converting the advantage into a win. Co-leader Ivan Saric could not keep up, as solid play by Merijn van Delft secured him a draw. In other games, Dimitri Reinderman punished an oversight by Xue Zhao. The remaining games all resulted in draws, giving Etienne Goudriaan his first score of the tournament.
Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014
76th Tata Steel Chess R6: Levon Aronian Extends Lead with Win as Wesley So Blunders Piece
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
There appears no stopping Levon Aronian at the 76th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee this winter. Here is the report via the official website on Round 6 where Aronian extended his overnight lead with a win over Wesley So. You can replay all the games with Chess King.
Official website photos by Vincent Bloothoofd (Tata Steel) and Peter Doggers (Chess.com)
All eyes were on the fight for first place between Levon Aronian and Wesley So. Aronian chose a line he came up with some time ago and enjoyed a pleasant advantage, having the two bishops. The world number two felt “the position was very difficult for black” and attempted to bring So to his knees. He succeeded doing so when the Filipino blundered and lost a piece with 32. …Nd8?Aronian extended his lead, clinching victory with 33.Bxa7 Ra8 34.Bb5 Bxe5 35.fxe5 Rxe5 36.Be3.
Anish Giri was unable to keep up, drawing Boris Gelfand. Gelfand opted for the Grünfeld Defense and the 19-year-old had a hard time seizing an advantage. Giri stated that “definitely the game was far from good.” The Israeli felt that “it was more or less equal” but “between move 30 and 40 I played too passively and after the time control it’s an unpleasant position.” Giri missed an opportunity to round up Gelfand’s kingside pawns with 59.d5!, after which the former World Championship finalist built an impenetrable fortress, earning him the draw.
Joining Giri in second place was Sergey Karjakin, who defeated Arkadij Naiditsch after a long battle. From a Catalan Karjakin got a minute advantage in a queen-and-rook-ending, having the safer king. The resulting queen-ending proved favourable for the Russian grandmaster: “it should be a draw but it wasn’t so easy.” Naiditsch failed to find the right plan and after 64. …Qa1 Karjakin struck with 65.Qb6+ Kh5 66.Qe3! threatening Qe8. Naiditsch had to pull back but then Karjakin’s passed a-pawn became the German’s downfall.
Leinier Dominguez came close to breaking down the Berlin Wall Hikaru Nakamura put up. The second-seed had to give up the exchange after an inaccuracy, providing him a tough defensive task. Nakamura stated that he “was fairly lucky, because Leinier probably wasted a few tempos in time pressure” giving the American some breathing room. Dominguez: “I kept on missing things when I was a bit in time trouble.”
The Cuban spoiled his advantage when he played 37.Rf1, allowing Nakamura to counter with the sly (see diagram) 37. …Be6+ 38.Kg5 Bc4 and when Ne6 came next, Domiguez played a few more moves before he resigned himself to the fact that a draw was the only possible result
Loek van Wely was dissatisfied, only drawing Richard Rapport. The last few moves before the time control Van Wely outplayed the Hungarian. “It was winning,” he said, “but I missed some small details and then the guy managed to complicate matters. And then it was getting worse and worse and I started to miss more and more.” Rapport made it into a rook-ending that posed no problems, allowing him “a lucky escape,” as he called it afterwards.
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76th Tata Steel Chess R5: Levon Aronian Retains Lead with Super Performance
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Here is the report from the fifth round at the 76th Tata Steel Chess Championship 2013 where Levon Aronian is in lead with a super performance.
Levon Aronian doesn’t cease to amaze, grinding down Arkadij Naiditsch in a tricky endgame. The German dusted off an old variation of the Ruy Lopez, culminating into an equal middle game position. The top seed decided to change gears:
“I felt my only chance to win a game like this is to play fast, to try to put him under pressure.” Naiditsch initially defended well, though, but several inaccuracies after the time control provided the Armenian with excellent winning chances. Aronian steadily increased his advantage and after 57 moves, Naiditsch threw in the towel.
Levon Aronian - Steady and on course
Replay all the games of Round 5 at the 76th Tata Steel Chess (Masters Section) with Chess King.
Wesley So kept the pace, defeating Boris Gelfand. Over the board So decided to try a new move with 8.Qd2. He felt “the opening was just equal but I tried to put some pressure.”
The Israeli had a few pawn weaknesses on the queenside which So tried to exploit. The momentum shifted towards the Filipino when Gelfand played20. …Qe4. So initiated an offensive and after the consolidating 29.Rf1 Gelfand resigned as he was unable to stop So from gobbling up his queenside pawns.
Sharing second place is Anish Giri, who beat Pentala Harikrishna in a quiet Giuoco Piano. Giri sacrificed a pawn in order to mop up the Indian’s queenside. The young Dutchman entered “a rook-ending that is so winning that basically everything wins but how I played was very unconvincing.” For a moment Giri was afraid he had spoiled his profitable position but as he stated “the limit of the win was so big that I didn’t manage to waste it all.”
In a Sveshnikov Defense, Loek van Wely fell victim to Fabiano Caruana’s positional approach. Caruana enjoyed a pleasant edge but the Dutchman’s position was solid. According to the Italian, the game was “more or less equal going into the ending. I’m a pawn up but it’s very hard to do anything.”
When Van Wely lost a second pawn, though, Caruana obtained real winning chances. The Italian kept improving his advantage, creating several passed pawns in the process. Even the opposite-coloured bishops didn’t offer any solace as Caruana secured his third victory with the white pieces.
In the battle between Richard Rapport and Leinier Dominguez, the former once again displayed his creativity when he opted for1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g4!? The Cuban, surprised by this choice, had a deep think before he acted out his battle plan. According to Dominguez, Rapport “probably overestimated his chances” in the middle game, not realizing the danger his king was in. After 19.Nb3? Dominguez immediately capitalized with 19. …Bxe2!launching a decisive attack on the Hungarian’s king.
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76th Tata Steel Chess R4: Levon Aronian Takes Lead
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
The Amsterdam Rijksmuseum was the venue for the fourth round of the tournament. Journalists got a few opportunities to take some impressive pictures of the Tata Steel Masters, one of which was in front of Rembrandt’s famous painting ‘The Nightwatch’. After a few kind words by Wim Pijbes, CEO of the Rijksmuseum, the players engaged in their battles.
Once again Levon Aronian managed to defeat one of his main rivals. The World Number Two clashed with Hikaru Nakamura in a sharp set-up of the King’s Indian Defense.
It looked as if the storm would subside after the exchange of the heavy pieces, Nakamura even offered a draw, but the resulting ending looked promising for the Armenian and he eventually won.
Richard Rapport opted for the unusual 7. …f6 in the French Winawer against Sergey Karjakin, surprising the Russian grandmaster. The resulting complications proved to be a handful for both competitors. Karjakin: “I blundered quite a few times but I’m still happy that I managed to win.”
Anish Giri and Wesley So had a confrontation in the Closed Catalan. Giri avoided a repetition of moves, since “I played this with Georg Meier like that and white had two bishops and slight pressure. But white has to play the first few moves very precise.”
The young Dutchman felt he did not play accurate yet he still obtained a slight advantage. Giri tried to consolidate but So proved to be a tough competitor. So: “He was better all the time but I didn’t see a win for him.” Since Giri couldn’t find a decisive continuation either, a draw was agreed upon.
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76th Tata steel Chess Round 3: Caruana, Harikrishna Score
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Fabiano Caruana is back in the tournament! In a Catalan he got Sergey Karjakin on the defensive and started pushing his kingside pawns. Karjakin saw no other option but to give up his knight in order to stop the pawns from marching down the board. Caruana’s task became a technical one which he carried out perfectly. The other game that was decided was the game between Pentala Harikrishna and Leinier Dominguez. In a Sicilian Najdorf, neither player managed to obtain a clear advantage out of the opening. An endgame with both sides having rooks and opposite-coloured bishops was reached. Harikrishna: “his moves 27. …b6 and 32. …a5 were too committal and after that only I could play for a win.”
Dominguez was left with a difficult defensive task and when Harikrishna pushed his passed d-pawn things got dangerous for Dominguez. When Harikrishna obtained a passed c-pawn as well it was only a matter of time before the Indian Grandmaster got his first win of the tournament.
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76th Tata Steel Chess 2014 R2: Caruana Loses to Aronian
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Once again we were treated to a couple of great battles, with half the games in the Masters group ending in a win for one of the players.
Levon Aronian dealt a blow by defeating Fabiano Caruana. As Aronian said, “Any win in such a strong tournament is an important one and I’m happy that I didn’t spoil too much because I felt I had a good position out of the opening.” Caruana had to invest a lot of time to keep trouble at bay, but in the end Aronian started to push his passed a-pawn with 41.a4 (see diagram)and the arising problems proved too big for the Italian.
In a Bogo-Indian, Anish Giri got a promising position versus Arkadij Naiditsch. Instead of 20.g4 (see diagram) he “should have played 20.Bxe7 Nxe7 21. g4 and it’s just winning” (Giri). “Now it became a position in which there were many complicated lines, but fortunately all of them are good for me”. Giri was pushing for a win when the game came to an abrupt end as Naiditsch allowed Giri a forced checkmate.
The third victor of the day was Richard Rapport, who took revenge for his first-round loss by beating Boris Gelfand, dealing him his second drumming of the tournament. In the Budapest gambit, Rapport had a great advantage but, as he stated, “just before and after the time control I tried everything not to win.” The advantage, however, still proved big enough for him to win the game, thereby “defeating my highest-rated opponent in classical chess” (Rapport)
Hikaru Nakamura played “a bit of a strange game” against Wesley So. It was the first time they confronted each other and “at some point during the middle game I was afraid I was possibly getting outplayed, but then in the analysis somehow it seemed I was completely fine,” according to Nakamura, who thought that the draw was “a pretty fair result over all”.
Leinier Dominguez and Loek van Wely went for what theorists nowadays seem to call a “hyper-accelerated Dragon.” They ended up in a c3-Sicilian, however, and their encounter had nothing even remotely like an accelerated start, with Van Wely taking a 45 minute think for his sixth move. He explained that he didn’t see a satisfying continuation and eventually had to make a move. There was a trade of queens, but Van Wely still wasn’t too sure about his position. In the end, he solved all his problems and a draw was agreed.
Sergey Karjakin and Pentala Harikrishna quickly reached a position in the Queen’s Gambit declined that looked highly drawish. Karjakin, who celebrated his 24th birthday today, had the slightly better bishop but Harikrishna defended adequately.
With only two rounds played, it’s still close with Aronian, Nakamura, Karjakin, Giri and So leading the pack with 1,5/2.
In the Challengers group, seven players are in shared first place with 1,5/2. Baadur Jobava quickly beat Etienne Goudriaan, while Jan-Krzysztof Duda triumphed over Merijn van Delft after a protracted struggle. Benjamin Bok won his game as well. Against Yangyi Yu he struck with the devastating (see diagram) 23.Rxe5! dxe5 24.Bxh6!, giving him a great position and eventually the win.
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Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014
76th Tata Steel Chess Round 1: Caruana, Karjakin, Nakamura, So begin with Wins
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
The first round of the 76th Tata Steel Chess tournament began with a moment of silence in commemoration of Vugar Gashimov, a former participant in this tournament, who passed away yesterday at the age of 27 years.
The first round of the Tata Steel Challengers was an exciting one, with four out of six games ending with a victor. Fabiano Caruana scored the first win in this tournament against Boris Gelfand. In a Sicilian Najdorf white quickly got a comfortable game and Gelfand had to defend carefully. With 28. …Nd7 (see diagram) Gelfand blundered and with29.Rxg6 Rg8 30.Ng5 Caruana clinched victory.
The third player to score a win was Hikaru Nakamura (see picture). In a Nimzo-Indian the game was about equal, but then Naiditsch “tried to get creative” according to Nakamura, with a piece sacrifice. He got three pawns for the knight, but Nakamura stated that “it should be losing”. After Naiditsch lost the b6 pawn Nakamura slowly but surely kept eating pawns. Naiditsch was forced to resign.
Not all games started at the beginning of the round. Wesley So (see picture) only arrived this morning, so after consultation with his opponent Richard Rapport they decided to start the match with a one hour delay. So stated that he “was defending for most of the game, but my opponent probably overstretched” and grabbed the chances given to him.
The two other games ended in a draw. Leinier Dominguez and Anish Giri played a solid Berlin Wall. After several pieces were exchanged both players didn’t see the point in continuing the game and a draw was agreed. The encounter between Pentala Harikrishna and Levon Aronian ended in a draw as well. It was “a strange game” according to Aronian. He felt he should not push his position too much and both players agreed to a repetition of moves.
The Tata Steel Challengers group counted four victories as well, and all with the black pieces. Dimitri Reinderman was victorious over top-seed Radek Wojtaszek, while Sabino Brunello managed to beat Yangyi Yu. Xue Zhao defeated Etienne Goudriaan, who missed a good chance to score a victory himself and the young Kayden Troff defeated Merijn van Delft. (Official website)
Round 2 - Sunday the 12th
Giri, A. - Naiditsch, A.
So, W. - Nakamura, H.
Gelfand, B. - Rapport, R.
Aronian, L. - Caruana, F.
Karjakin, S. - Harikrishna, P.
Dominguez, L. - Van Wely, L.
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Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014
76th Tata Steel Chess 2014 begins with Levon Aronian as Top Seed
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
Opening ceremony with a presentation based on The Night Watch at the opening of the 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament (2nd from left Fabiano Caruana, 3rd from left Sergey Karjakin, 1st from right Levon Aronian and third from the right Anish Giri ). Photo: Official website
The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess 2014 has begun albeit with two groups only. A special opening ceremony was held on Friday with the first round beginning Saturday. The colourful opening ceremony was based on The Night Watch or The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq (Dutch: De Nachtwacht) is the common name of one of the most famous works by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn.In the 18th century the painting became known as the Night Watch. It is one of the most famous paintings in the world!
"In this edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, we want to provide players and chess in general a broader stage," said Dook van den Boer (Director of Tata Steel in IJmuiden) during the opening ceremony. "By choosing two venues in the Rijksmuseum and the High Tech Campus Eindhoven, we want to attract new audiences and inspire, from primary schools to universities, art lovers to engineers," said Van den Boer.
The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from 10 to 26 January 2014. The players from the A group (Tata Steel Masters) playing on January 15 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on January 23 at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven. The remaining rounds they play tradition in Wijk aan Zee, where the B-group (Tata Steel Challengers) and amateur tournaments are played.
Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014
76th Tata Steel Chess 2014 Jan 10-26
Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013
Hello everyone,
The 76th edition of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will take place from 10th through January 26th, 2014. This year for the first time the Grandmasters of the A-group will play one round in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam and one round in the High Tech Campus Eindhoven.
The main A-group is a 12-player round robin:
GM Aronian Levon ARM 2803
GM Nakamura Hikaru USA 2786
GM Caruana Fabiano ITA 2782
GM Gelfand Boris ISR 2777
GM Karjakin Sergey RUS 2756
GM Dominguez Leinier CUB 2754
GM Naiditsch Arkadij GER 2737
GM Giri Anish NED 2734
GM So Wesley PHL 2719
GM Harikrishna Pentala IND 2708
GM Rapport Richard HUN 2687
GM van Wely Loek NED 2678
Average rating: 2743
Category: 20
FIDE-ratings of December 2013The maximum number of participants in the nine-round event and the Weekend three-round events has been reached. New entries for this part of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament will be put on a waiting list. Entries for the Weekday three-round events are still possible. For more details, check out the official website of the Tata Steel Chess.
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Labels: 76th tata steel chess 2014
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