The Week in Chess

The leaders Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri both drew in the final round of the 80th Tata Steel Masters to finish on 9 points or +5, half a point clear of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen then went on to defeat Giri 1.5-0.5 in a blitz tie-break.

Magnus Carlsen again demonstrated just what a formidable blitz player he is with a smooth technical win in the first tie-break game and turned round a tricky position to hold the second game for the draw he needed and indeed was much better at the end. This gives Carlsen a sixth win in Wijk aan Zee putting him one ahead of Anand with whom he shared the record. This is Giri's best result and his big score should give him hope that this is the start of a new phase of his career.

In the 13th Round Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen and Wei Yi vs Anish Giri were well played draws where the leaders didn't get any winning chances. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov hoped to catch Giri and Carlsen with a win over Viswanathan Anand but although he did play an interesting game the small advantage he got was not enough for a win. Vladimir Kramnik admitted to some tired play as he was at one stage much worse against Baskaran Adhiban but then his Indian opponent gave up the exchange which more or less gifted a point to Kramnik. Wesley So crushed a dispirited Hou Yifan in a brutal fashion. I wonder if Hou Yifan this might be the end of her top flight chess career, at least for a long time. She is completing an international studies degree from Peking University and then is to attend Oxford and study for an MSc in Education. Article about Hou Yifan at Oxford.

Fabiano Caruana also had a terrible tournament, his worst performance in many years. Just about everything seemed off, he will be hoping it's just a blip ahead of the Candidates in March.

Santosh Gujrathi Vidit will play in the Masters Group next year. After a quick final round draw he had to wait a very long time to see if Anton Korobov could equal his score and overtake him on tie-break. As it was Korobov was worse for much of his game against Dmitry Gordievsky and lost in the end.

Final Round 13 Standings: 1st Carlsen 9pts and beat Giri in a tie-break match 1.5-0.5 2nd Giri 9pts 3rd= Kramnik, Mamedyarov 8.5pts 5th Anand, Wesley So, 8pts 7th Karjakin 7.5pts 8th Svidler 6pts 9th Wei Yi 5.5pts 10th= Jones, Caruana, Matlakov 5pts 13tg Adhiban 3.5pts 14th Hou Yifan 2.5pts

Carlsen's top group wins in Wijk aan Zee:
2008 70th Aronian and Carlsen 1st= 8/13 Cat 20
2010 72nd Carlsen 8.5/13 Cat 19
2013 75th Carlsen 10/13 Cat 20
2015 77th Carlsen 9/13 Cat 20
2016 78th Carlsen 9/13 Cat 20
2018 80th Carlsen 9/13 Cat 20