The Week in Chess

Anish Giri leads the Tata Steel Masters on seven points from ten rounds going into the final rest day of the competition. He beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek in a London System that got very complicated and resembled a reverse Meran System. In time trouble Giri felt he lost much of his edge - he just couldn't find a way to avoid piece trades and an endgame resulted that objectively should have been a draw, Giri managed to create difficulties and suddenly Wojtaszek was lost 46....Rb6 was the start of problem (46...Rd6 was a sure draw) and 48...Bb2 lost on the spot.

Normally speaking game of the day would have been the Fabiano Caruana against Magnus Carlsen game but with Carlsen off the pace there was certainly interest elsewhere. Carlsen felt he got what he wanted out of the opening before playing 13...b6 which he felt blundered "conservatively at least three things" by which he meant he missed ideas for his opponent rather than being lost. He was in a bit of difficulty but it wasn't easy and after 20.Ne5 it turned out Carlsen could give up a pawn and get all his pieces on good squares, in particular his light squared bishop was much better than white's. Caruana, whilst not in trouble felt he might even get in trouble if he wasn't careful but instead there was a draw by repetition.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave survived a completely disastrous opening that should have seen him lose quickly, he fought back to equal and then Alexander Donchenko played the really unwise 55...f5 which isn't immediately losing but put him under terrible pressure and having to find the only move 57...Kf8 which he did not.

Andrey Esipenko quietly moved into contention with yet another win, this time over David Anton, 35...cxb4 seems to have been the losing move. Jorden Van Foreest perhaps missed a good chance to beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda with the black pieces, he got the initiative and it seems 17...Ng5 was very strong, the game quickly burned out to a draw after his 17...Qe6. Nils Grandelius against Alireza Firouzja and Penatala Harikrishna against Aryan Tari were both drawn.

Final Rest day Thursday 28th January

Round 10 Standings: 1st Giri 7pts; 2nd-4th Esipenko, Caruana, Firouzja 6.5pts; 5th Van Foreest 6pts; 6th Carlsen 5.5pts; 7th-8th Harikrishna, Grandelius 5pts; 9th-11th Tari, Duda, MVL 4pts; 12th-13th Wojtaszek, Anton 3.5pts; 14th Donchenko 3pts.

Round 11 pairings Friday 29th Jan 2021 1pm: Wojtaszek-MVL Carlsen-Giri, Firouzja-Caruana, Anton-Grandelius, Tari-Esipenko, Van Foreest-Harikrishna, Donchenko-Duda.