The Week in Chess

Anish Giri joined Magnus Carlsen in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters with just two rounds to go after a notable finish to his game against Sam Shankland in Round 11. Giri was pressing a little throughout the game and in the endgame he trapped Shankland's knight. However the Queen side pawn structure and Giri's bishop being of the wrong colour meant the game was a pretty easy draw. Shankland who according to reports had been present when this idea had been demonstrated a few years before, resigned. This meant that with Carlsen drawing he shares the lead with Giri on 7.5/11. Giri has white against Carlsen in the final round.

Teimour Radjabov played a solid and drawish variation of the Sveshnikov Sicilian against Magnus Carlsen and the players drew by repetition on move 25. Ian Nepomniachtchi also took advantage of Carlsen's draw to move within half a point of him with a win against Vladimir Fedoseev. Nepomniachtchi was at least a little better out of the opening but Fedoseev seemed to eventually achieve near equality around move 30 only for his position to fall apart in the next 10 moves.

Vladimir Kramnik's win against Jorden van Foreest was the last game to finish when it could easily have been one of the first decisive games. 19.Nxd6 Qxd6 21.g4 (or 21.Nh8) and 20.Nxd6 Qxd6 21.Nh8 would surely have ended the game. As it was Van Foreest even became better at various points afterwards. 49....Be8? (49...Bxg4=) was the final error that gave Kramnik his first win. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov isn't in his best form in Wijk aan Zee either, he was steadily outplayed by Santosh Vidit and lost in 30 moves. Viswanathan Anand couldn't cause any problems against Jan-Krzysztof Duda's Petroff Defence. Ding Liren didn't seem at all troubled in his draw against Richard Rapport in 16 moves.

Round 11 Standings: 1-2 Carlsen, Giri 7.5pts, 3 Nepomniachtchi 7pts, 4-5 Ding Anand 6.5pts, 6 Vidit 6pts, 7 Radjabov 5.5pts, 8-9 Rapport, Duda 5pts, 10-11 Fedoseev, Shankland 4.5pts, 12-13 Van Foreest, Mamedyarov 4pts, 14 Kramnik 3.5pts.

Round 12 - Saturday 26th Jan 2019 12:30pm Carlsen-Duda, Ding-Anand, Vidit-Rapport, Van Foreest-Mamedyarov, Fedoseev-Kramnik, Shankland-Nepomniachtchi, Radjabov-Giri