The Week in Chess

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leads the 80th Tata Steel Masters after a second consecutive win. Mamedyarov defeated Baskaran Adhiban in a long game which was sharp but balanced for the most part. 41.Qd2? (41.Qxb5) was a huge gamble which left Mamedyarov objectively lost, after Adhiban's 45.Be3 (45.Re3!) the position was balanced again. Later after the mistake 59.Rxf3?! Mamedyarov quickly obtained a decisive advantage.

The other winner in the Masters was Wesley So who was being beaten by Wei Yi until he found an amazing resource which completely turned the tables. That said, Wei Yi consistently gets into time trouble, and probably should stop doing it, as it was definitely a contributing factor here. 26.Rd4?! lost Wei Yi his advantage as the rook fell with check in a key variation a few moves later.

The remaining games were drawn. Peter Svidler admitted that his opening went somewhat wrong but this led to a very sharp and interesting struggle with Magnus Carlsen which finished in perpetual check. Hou Yifan vs Karjakin was a variation of the Caro-Kann recommended in Vidit's video series and didn't depart much from equality. Kramnik was close to winning against Gawain Jones out of the opening but a few inaccurate moves lost all of this edge and the game was drawn. Caruana and Matlakov drew a theoretical debate in the Ruy Lopez. Anti-Marshall. There was a similar theoretical story in the Catalan between Giri and Anand.

Anton Korobov was the only winner in the B-Group beating Aryan Tari and extending his lead to a point.

Round 6 Masters Standings: 1st Mamedyarov 4.5pts/6 2nd= Giri, Anand, So 4pts 5th= Kramnik, Carlsen 3.5pts 7th= Karjakin, Matlakov, Jones, Svidler 3pts 11th Wei Yi 2.5pts 12th Caruana 2pts 13th= Adhiban, Hou Yifan 1pts

Round 7 Sat 20th Jan 12:30GMT Pairings: Carlsen-Hou Yifan, Jones-Svidler, Anand-Kramnik, So-Giri, Mamedyarov-Wei Yi, Matlakov-Adhiban, Karjakin-Caruana.