Anish Giri still leads after round 11 of the Tata Steel Masters

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83rd Tata Steel Chess 2021 (11)

Anish Giri still leads after round 11 of the Tata Steel Masters

Mark Crowther - Friday 29th January 2021

Firouzja against Caruana was a tremendous struggle which both players could have won at various stages. Photo ©

Firouzja against Caruana was a tremendous struggle which both players could have won at various stages. Photo © | https://chess.com

Anish Giri drew against World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a Giuoco Piano to retain the lead in the Tata Steel Masters with just a couple of rounds left to go. Giri was under some pressure early on but after 23...c4 was never in any trouble. Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana drew a wild game where both players had winning opportunities before they both had to settle for a draw. Giri faces Firouzja in round 12. Jorden Van Foreest eventually took advantage of some very risky play by Pentala Harikrishna but it was still a tough battle. Aryan Tari won his first game of the event against Andrey Esipenko who took a few too many risks to try and win the event. Wojtaszek-MVL, David Anton-Grandelius and Donchenko-Duda were all drawn.

Round 11 Standings: 1st Giri 7.5pts; 2nd-4th Caruana, Van Foreest, Firouzja 7pts; 5th Esipenko 6.5pts; 6th Carlsen 6pts; 7th Grandelius 5.5pts; 8th-9th Harikrishna, Tari 5pts; 10th-11th Duda, MVL 4.5pts; 12th-13th Wojtaszek, Anton 4pts; 14th Donchenko 3.5pts;

Round 12 Pairings: Wojtaszek-Carlsen, Grandelius-Tari, Caruana-Anton, Giri-Firouzja, Esipenko-Van Foreest, MVL-Duda, Harikrishna-Donchenko.

Tata Steel Masters 2021 Round 11

Alireza Firouzja and Fabiano Caruana drew a tremendous game with fluctuating fortunes. Caruana won the opening battle as black leaving Firouzja a bit worse. Caruana spent a lot of time looking at Nxg2 sacrifices and the time he used then cost him later on. After 31.Rg4 there was only one good move for black, 31...Kh8 when he is much better, after 31...g6 Firouzja was better emerging a pawn up in a major piece endgame which he thought was "completely winning". This was however still quite tricky and in fact Caruana held reasonably comfortably, most likely 44.Rg3+ was the final error to throw away the win and 44.Kf1 should have been chosen instead. It did require Caruana to find the excellent 48...Qf5 to secure his draw however. After the game Firouzja thought he should have kept the last two minor pieces on.

Jorden Van Foreest best Pentala Harikrishna to move into joint second with a couple of rounds to go. Harikrishna chose what seemed to be a very dubious variation of the Giuoco Piano where he had to sacrifice quite a bit of material in order not to be forced backwards. This idea was known by Van Foreest and he also knew he should be much better if not winning. The game remained complicated and Van Foreest returned the material in time trouble and allowed Harikrishna back into the game but it seems he never lost a large advantage and he eventually won in 61 moves.

Anish Giri was reasonably pleased with his draw with black against Magnus Carlsen. The game was an intricate Giuoco Piano where Giri's light squared bishop was a little stranded on the Kingside, but this was the only problem with the position with the rest of his pieces standing fine. The key point seems to have been allowing 23...c4 after which black was at least equal and the game was drawn in 42 moves.

Aryan Tari scored his first win of the tournament beating Andrey Esipenko when the latter chose a quite dubious variation of the Ruy Lopez. Esipenko probably felt it was worth taking some risks to try and win the tournament but it seemed to backfire today as he never got any chances and when he missed the trick 29.Ra8! he was in dire straits.

Jan Krzysztof Duda felt that he was perfectly fine after his 16...f5 novelty in the Semi-Tarrasch against Alexander Donchenko improving over the game Nepomniachtchi-Bacrot from 2013. Duda couldn't remember his preparation against 20.Rdb4 and was probably a little worse but nevertheless game was drawn in 34 moves.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek drew a theoretical Gruenfeld Defence with white against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Wojtaszek was the one who was pressing but after missing 30...Nd3 exchanging an extra pawn black didn't have too many problems holding.

Nils Grandelius drew with black against David Anton. Grandelius was fairly optimistic as to his chances - he took a small edged after 15...exf4 (15...f6!?) but later he felt he should have traded one set of rooks off on move 22 as after that Anton secured a draw fairly easily.

83rd Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee (NED), 15-31 i 2021																cat. XIX (2725)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2764	*	½	½	.	½	½	1	½	1	½	1	1	.	½	7½	2856
2.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2823	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	½	.	½	1	1	.	1	7	2830
3.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2671	½	½	*	½	.	½	.	1	1	½	½	½	1	½	7	2841
4.	Firouzja, Alireza	g	FID	2749	.	½	½	*	½	0	½	1	½	1	½	.	1	1	7	2822
5.	Esipenko, Andrey	g	RUS	2677	½	½	.	½	*	1	½	½	0	½	½	1	1	.	6½	2804
6.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2862	½	½	½	1	0	*	1	½	½	½	.	.	½	½	6	2744
7.	Grandelius, Nils	g	SWE	2663	0	½	.	½	½	0	*	0	.	1	1	½	½	1	5½	2744
8.	Harikrishna, Pentala	g	IND	2732	½	½	0	0	½	½	1	*	½	.	½	½	½	.	5	2691
9.	Tari, Aryan	g	NOR	2625	0	.	0	½	1	½	.	½	*	½	½	½	½	½	5	2694
10.	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	g	POL	2743	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	.	½	*	.	½	½	½	4½	2651
11.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2784	0	0	½	½	½	.	0	½	½	.	*	½	½	1	4½	2640
12.	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2705	0	0	½	.	0	.	½	½	½	½	½	*	½	½	4	2609
13.	Anton Guijarro, David	g	ESP	2679	.	.	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	*	½	4	2614
14.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2668	½	0	½	0	.	½	0	.	½	½	0	½	½	*	3½	2600

Round 11 (January 29, 2021)
Van Foreest, Jorden	- Harikrishna, Pentala	1-0	60	C53	Giuoco Piano
Firouzja, Alireza	- Caruana, Fabiano	½-½	61	C53	Giuoco Piano
Carlsen, Magnus	- Giri, Anish	½-½	42	C53	Giuoco Piano
Tari, Aryan	- Esipenko, Andrey	1-0	33	C79	Ruy Lopez Russian Defence
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	- Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	½-½	45	D82	Gruenfeld 4.Bf4
Anton Guijarro, David	- Grandelius, Nils	½-½	30	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Donchenko, Alexander	- Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	½-½	34	D35	QGD Exchange