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Wesley So scored an emphatic victory against Anish Giri. So played the English Opening to try and avoid detailed theory as he rates So as the best prepared player in the world right now. Giri was close to equality but a couple of inaccurate moves (possibly starting with 16...Bxd5 and continuing with 17...Na7) left his position critical. Giri played for activity but his position collapsed with the excellent 24.Na1! from So threatening to win Giri's exposed pawn on f3. Soon So was two pawns up and resignation followed. Giri lost very few games in 2015 but nothing quite seemed to work for him today. So looks ready to resume his climb to the top after a mixed 2015 where he seemed to be affected by issues surrounding his move the the US.

Ding Liren ground out a long win against Michael Adams in a 4 pawns vs 3 on the Kingside but it looked that Adams might save it at some point,

Fabiano Caruana was caught by surprise by Pavel Eljanov's 4...dxc4 and played a pawn sacrifice he had looked at in detail about two years ago. Around 21.h4 Caruana really didn't like his position but was relieved to see 25...Rd5 after which he is probably equal with the easier position to play. 31...Qe6 should have been played instead after 31..b6 32.e6 Elajanov's position collapsed quickly.

Magnus Carlsen surprised David Navara with the rare 8...g5 in the Queen's Gambit an idea played by Denis Khismatullin three times last year. The game finished in a tame draw but Carlsen was worried by some unclear attacking ideas for white. Navara wasn't happy to stir things up against the world champion.

"I think he had very interesting attacking chances, but it was not clear at all. As to what happened in the game it pretty much petered out to a draw. I think it was an interesting game, very interesting, but it was dangerous for sure." Magnus Carlsen

Loek van Wely tried for a very long time to grind out an endgame against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov however he could have punished the optimistic 17.Nxb5? with 17...Ng4 which would have ended things abruptly for white.

Evgeny Tomashevsky was very happy to be in Wijk aan Zee having achieved one of his career ambitions to play in the event. He got a comfortable draw with black against Wei Yi who was reported to still be suffering with some jet-lag.

Hou Yifan and Sergey Karjakin played out a fairly calm draw in 40 moves.

78th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee (NED), 15-31 i 2016																cat. XX (2748)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2787	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1
2.	So, Wesley	g	USA	2773	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1
3.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2766	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1
4.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2844	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2730
5.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2769	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	½	2673
6.	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	g	AZE	2747	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	½	2640
7.	Navara, David	g	CZE	2730	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2844
8.	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	g	RUS	2728	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	½	2706
9.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2706	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	½	2728
10.	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2673	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	2769
11.	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2640	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	2747
12.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2798	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	0
13.	Eljanov, Pavel	g	UKR	2760	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	0
14.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2744	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 1 (January 16, 2016)
Caruana, Fabiano	- Eljanov, Pavel	1-0	38	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
So, Wesley	- Giri, Anish	1-0	37	A36	English Botvinnik
Ding, Liren	- Adams, Michael	1-0	61	A20	English Opening
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	- Van Wely, Loek	½-½	76	D11	Slav Defence
Navara, David	- Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	31	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Wei, Yi	- Tomashevsky, Evgeny	½-½	23	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Hou, Yifan	- Karjakin, Sergey	½-½	40	A07	Barcza System

78th Tata Steel GpB Wijk aan Zee (NED), 15-31 i 2016																cat. XIII (2569)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	g	GER	2679	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	1
2.	Adhiban, Baskaran	g	IND	2653	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	1
3.	Safarli, Eltaj	g	AZE	2653	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	1
4.	Dreev, Aleksey	g	RUS	2644	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	1
5.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1
6.	Ju, Wenjun	g	CHN	2548	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	1
7.	Van Foreest, Jorden	m	NED	2541	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1
8.	Bok, Benjamin	g	NED	2607	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	0
9.	Sevian, Samuel	g	USA	2578	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	0
10.	Antipov, Mikhail Al.	g	RUS	2567	.	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	0
11.	Abasov, Nijat	g	AZE	2556	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	0
12.	Batsiashvili, Nino	m	GEO	2485	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	0
13.	Admiraal, Miguoel	m	NED	2441	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	0
14.	Haast, Anne	wg	NED	2391	.	.	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 1 (January 16, 2016)
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	- Batsiashvili, Nino	1-0	49	D31	Semi-Slav Defence
Adhiban, Baskaran	- Abasov, Nijat	1-0	35	E34	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Safarli, Eltaj	- Sevian, Samuel	1-0	55	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
Dreev, Aleksey	- Bok, Benjamin	1-0	45	D83	Gruenfeld 4.Bf4
L'Ami, Erwin	- Admiraal, Miguoel	1-0	34	D10	Slav Defence
Antipov, Mikhail Al.	- Ju, Wenjun	0-1	37	B40	Sicilian Classical
Haast, Anne	- Van Foreest, Jorden	0-1	37	B56	Sicilian Defence

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

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