Chessable Houska's Caro

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 (8)

Carlsen beats Gawain Jones even after a "crude" blunder of a piece in Tata Steel Masters Round 8

Magnus Carlsen managed to defeat Gawain Jones after losing a piece. Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Magnus Carlsen managed to defeat Gawain Jones after losing a piece. Photo © Michiel Abeln. | http://theweekinchess.com/

The 8th round of the 80th Tata Steel Masters saw a big shakeup of the leaderboard with a defeat for the leader Shakhriyar Mamedyarov allowing both his opponent Anish Giri and World Champion Magnus Carlsen to catch him. Carlsen's win was remarkable as he recovered from blundering a piece away in the opening phase.

Mamedyarov subsided to his first loss of the tournament in a Symmetrical English where he more or less had equality out of the opening (perhaps rather than the new 12...Qd6 the known 12...Qb6 was better) but about 10 moves later he was in trouble and 10 moves after that he resigned.

Magnus Carlsen didn't predict Gawain Jones' choice of the Dragon Sicilian in spite of the Englishman having written a book about it. Carlsen was dissatisfied with the result of his opening and after a long think he uncorked the "crude" - his word - blunder 17.g4, this just lost a piece to 17...f4. Carlsen admitted that he was lucky to have any compensation at all, but he did have some, and having nothing to lose he found a good practical chance. Jones had choices to realise his advantage but it was his 22...Qb6?! (22...g5 or Kh8 were still large advantages) that reduced it quite a bit and after 23.g5 his 23...hxg5?! (23..Bf8 or gxh5 were better) his entire advantage had gone. The further error 25...Qd8? left Carlsen with a big advantage and Jones did not resist long after that.

Hou Yifan had quite a substantial advantage against Fabiano Caruana but it was all quite difficult and after 33.Qd2? Qh4! Caruana took the initiative and brought home the full point.

The remaining games were all drawn. Svidler-Anand, Kramnik-So and Wei Yi-Matlakov all lasted less than 30 moves. Adhiban-Karjakin was in a Rook and Pawn ending after 26 moves where white had a pawn extra on the king side but with few winning chances and it was drawn after 43 moves.

There was also a similar change in the leadership of Challengers Group with Anton Korobov losing while his only real rival Santosh Vidit won. The winner will surely come from one of these two players as they are two point clear of the rest of the field.

Masters Round 8 standings: 1st= Giri, Carlsen, Mamedyarov 5.5pts 4th= Kramnik, Wesley So 5pts 6th= Anand, Karjakin 4.5pts 8th= Svidler, Matlakov 4pts 10th Jones 3.5pts 11th= Wei Yi, Caruana 3pts 13th Adhiban 2pts 14th Hou Yifan 1pt

Rest Day Monday 22nd January 2018.

Masters Round 9 Pairings Tuesday 23rd January 2018 12:30 GMT: Jones-Hou Yifan, Anand-Carlsen, Wesley So-Svidler, Mamedyarov-Kramnik, Matlakov-Giri, Karjakin-Wei Yi, Caruana-Adhiban.

80th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-28 i 2018 cat. XX (2750)
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4  
1. Giri, Anish g NED 2752 * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ . ½ . ½ . . . 1 2900
2. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2834 ½ * . ½ . . . ½ . 1 ½ ½ 1 1 2870
3. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2804 0 . * . ½ . ½ . ½ . 1 1 1 1 2879
4. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2787 0 ½ . * ½ 1 . 1 . ½ 1 . . ½ 5 2842
5. So, Wesley g USA 2792 ½ . ½ ½ * . ½ . ½ . 1 ½ 1 . 5 2847
6. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2767 ½ . . 0 . * ½ ½ 1 . ½ 1 ½ . 2791
7. Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2753 . . ½ . ½ ½ * . ½ ½ . 1 ½ ½ 2776
8. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2768 ½ ½ . 0 . ½ . * . ½ ½ . ½ 1 4 2732
9. Matlakov, Maxim g RUS 2718 . . ½ . ½ 0 ½ . * . ½ ½ ½ 1 4 2750
10. Jones, Gawain C B g ENG 2640 ½ 0 . ½ . . ½ ½ . * 0 ½ 1 . 2719
11. Wei, Yi g CHN 2743 . ½ 0 0 0 ½ . ½ ½ 1 * . . . 3 2676
12. Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2811 . ½ 0 . ½ 0 0 . ½ ½ . * . 1 3 2661
13. Adhiban, Baskaran g IND 2655 . 0 0 . 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 . . * . 2 2566
14. Hou, Yifan g CHN 2680 0 0 0 ½ . . ½ 0 0 . . 0 . * 1 2456
Round 8 (January 21, 2018)
Giri, Anish - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 1-0 32 A30 English Symmetrical
Carlsen, Magnus - Jones, Gawain C B 1-0 42 B76 Sicilian Modern Dragon
Kramnik, Vladimir - So, Wesley ½-½ 28 A14 Reti Opening
Svidler, Peter - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 27 A35 English Symmetrical
Wei, Yi - Matlakov, Maxim ½-½ 26 C47 Four Knights
Adhiban, Baskaran - Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ 43 A05 Various
Hou, Yifan - Caruana, Fabiano 0-1 58 C96 Ruy Lopez
80th Tata Steel GpB Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-28 i 2018 cat. XV (2612)
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4  
1. Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi g IND 2718 * . 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 . . . ½ 1 1 . 6 2793
2. Korobov, Anton g UKR 2652 . * 0 . . 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 . . 1 6 2813
3. Amin, Bassem g EGY 2693 0 1 * ½ 0 . . ½ . ½ . 1 ½ . 4 2609
4. L'Ami, Erwin g NED 2634 ½ . ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ . . . ½ ½ . 4 2616
5. Van Foreest, Lucas m NED 2481 ½ . 1 ½ * 0 ½ . 0 . 1 . ½ . 4 2631
6. Bok, Benjamin g NED 2607 ½ 0 . ½ 1 * . . ½ ½ . . ½ ½ 4 2591
7. Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2671 0 ½ . ½ ½ . * ½ . ½ . ½ . 1 4 2608
8. Bluebaum, Matthias g GER 2640 . 0 ½ ½ . . ½ * 1 . ½ . 1 0 4 2608
9. Van Foreest, Jorden g NED 2629 . 0 . . 1 ½ . 0 * ½ 1 ½ . ½ 4 2590
10. Xiong, Jeffery g USA 2634 . ½ ½ . . ½ ½ . ½ * 0 . ½ ½ 2561
11. Tari, Aryan g NOR 2599 ½ 0 . . 0 . . ½ 0 1 * ½ . 1 2565
12. Gordievsky, Dmitry g RUS 2622 0 . 0 ½ . . ½ . ½ . ½ * ½ 1 2573
13. Harika, Dronavalli g IND 2497 0 . ½ ½ ½ ½ . 0 . ½ . ½ * . 3 2541
14. Girya, Olga wg RUS 2489 . 0 . . . ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 . * 2490
Round 8 (January 21, 2018)
Korobov, Anton - Amin, Bassem 0-1 40 E81 King's Indian Saemisch
Bok, Benjamin - Van Foreest, Lucas 1-0 22 A14 Reti Opening
Bluebaum, Matthias - L'Ami, Erwin ½-½ 49 D02 Queen's Pawn Game
Van Foreest, Jorden - Tari, Aryan 1-0 22 C45 Scotch Game
Xiong, Jeffery - Harika, Dronavalli ½-½ 32 E06 Catalan
Gordievsky, Dmitry - Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi 0-1 32 A20 English Opening
Girya, Olga - Krasenkow, Michal 0-1 41 D31 Semi-Slav Defence

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