Van Foreest, Giri, Caruana and Firouzja lead the Tata Steel Masters on 4.5 points after seven rounds

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83rd Tata Steel Chess 2021 (7)

Van Foreest, Giri, Caruana and Firouzja lead the Tata Steel Masters on 4.5 points after seven rounds

Mark Crowther - Saturday 23rd January 2021

Fabiano Caruana beat MVL in Round 7. Photo ©

Fabiano Caruana beat MVL in Round 7. Photo © | https://chess.com

It was all change at the top of the Tata Steel Masters after Anish Giri defeated the leader Nils Grandelius in a Najdorf Sicilian. Wins for Fabiano Caruana over Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jorden Van Foreest over Aryan Tari and finally Alireza Firouzja over Jan-Krzysztof Duda meant there was a group of four leading after seven rounds. Magnus Carlsen remains becalmed with yet another draw, he didn't even generate a sniff of a chance against Pentala Harikrishna, Carlsen faces Andrey Esipenko in round 8, he scored his first win after beating Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

A more detailed breakdown of the day's play below.

Round 7 Standings: 1st-4th Van Foreest, Giri, Caruana, Firouzja 4.5pts 5th-8th Harikrishna, Esipenko, Carlsen, Grandelius 4pts 9th Wojtaszek 3pts 10th-13th Vachier-Lagrave, Tari, Anton, Duda 2.5pts 14th Donchenko 2pts

Round 8 Pairings Sunday 24th January 2021 1pm: MVL-Van Foreest, Donchenko-Tari, Duda-Anton, Harikrishna-Firouzja, Esipenko-Carlsen, Grandelius-Wojtaszek, Caruana-Giri.

Tata Steel Masters 2021 Round 7

Anish Giri beat Nils Grandelius in a line that he had suggested for black in his recent Najdorf Chessable course. In spite of this the players used a lot of time to consider their options early in the game and this later caused Grandelius problems. 16...Rc8 was the novelty suggested by Giri in his course and black certainly reached equality at various stages after that. Giri thought 28...Kf8 was a "horrible move" that allowed "all sorts of tactics" but it was 31...Rxc3 where the computer thinks the real problems for black started (31...Ng4) - As it was Grandelius's position disintegrated in only a few more moves.

Pentala Harikrishna got a fairly comfortable draw against Magnus Carlsen. Harikrishna sacrificed his c-pawn and thought this was the easiest way to equalise, he only needed to calculate one trick which occurred in the game, it's probable neither player knew that 20...Qc6 was the first new move (as it was played in a lower rated game) but by this point the draw was all but guaranteed.

Fabiano Caruana played the rather rare 10.Be2 against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's Najdorf - this move was played a bit at the top level in the mid-1980s but not much since. MVL is known as a Najdorf specialist but he clearly didn't remember his preparation against this. Caruana was winning after 14.e6, black's king is just stuck in the middle of the board and his development and coordination are terrible. Caruana was a bit disappointed MVL made it to the endgame, Caruana was surprised by 16...d4 and felt he didn't react correctly, it does seem 17.Rb3 would have allowed him to finish things in a middle game but the endgame was also clearly winning and Caruana won on move 37.

Alireza Firouzja beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda using the London System. Firouzja chose and interesting sideline and already had a promising position when Duda blundered with 13...cxd4 which was met by the non-standard 14.Nxd4 after which Firouzja was much better. Duda later fought back and when Firouzja returned the exchange with 27...Rxd3 the computers think the position is about equal. Duda then played the double edged bishop sacrifice 29...Bxa3 in return for running pawns. A tense struggle followed and Duda's decisive error was 48....f4? (48...Kg3=) after which Firouzja made no mistake in converting his advantage into a win.

Jorden Van Foreest won his second game in a row - this time with the black pieces against Aryan Tari. Van Foreest surprised his opponent in the Ruy Lopez with the very early 4...Bc5. This aggression was rewarded when Van Foreest and got an advantage on the clock and on the board after 19...f5. The following move 20.Bc2 was a blunder after which Van Foreest was probably already objectively winning, it steadily became harder for Tari to hold his position together and the game ended on move 32.

Andrey Esipenko beat Radoslaw Wojtaszek in 42 moves with the black pieces in an f3 Nimzo-Indian. At first Esipenko played a novelty 7...b5 and was playing his moves quickly as Wojtaszek had to think. 25.b3 was the key error 25.Rb1 remained about equal. Esipenko won a pawn and he converted his advantage in 42 moves.

David Anton was better out of the opening against Alexander Donchenko but after 22.Bxg4?! (22.Be4) the position became equal again and was drawn in 35 moves.

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.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2671	*	½	½	½	.	.	½	.	½	.	.	1	1	.	4½	2845
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2764	½	*	.	.	½	½	.	1	.	½	.	1	.	½	4½	2784
3.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2823	½	.	*	.	½	½	.	½	.	½	1	.	.	1	4½	2807
4.	Firouzja, Alireza	g	FID	2749	½	.	.	*	.	.	0	.	.	1	½	½	1	1	4½	2820
5.	Harikrishna, Pentala	g	IND	2732	.	½	½	.	*	½	½	1	½	.	½	.	.	.	4	2804
6.	Esipenko, Andrey	g	RUS	2677	.	½	½	.	½	*	.	½	1	½	½	.	.	.	4	2794
7.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2862	½	.	.	1	½	.	*	.	.	½	.	½	½	½	4	2745
8.	Grandelius, Nils	g	SWE	2663	.	0	½	.	0	½	.	*	.	1	1	.	.	1	4	2791
9.	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	g	POL	2705	½	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	*	½	.	½	½	½	3	2635
10.	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	g	POL	2743	.	½	½	0	.	½	½	0	½	*	.	.	.	.	2½	2647
11.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2784	.	.	0	½	½	½	.	0	.	.	*	½	½	.	2½	2604
12.	Tari, Aryan	g	NOR	2625	0	0	.	½	.	.	½	.	½	.	½	*	½	.	2½	2642
13.	Anton Guijarro, David	g	ESP	2679	0	.	.	0	.	.	½	.	½	.	½	½	*	½	2½	2621
14.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2668	.	½	0	0	.	.	½	0	½	.	.	.	½	*	2	2591

Round 7 (January 23, 2021)
Giri, Anish	- Grandelius, Nils	1-0	39	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Caruana, Fabiano	- Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	1-0	37	B97	Sicilian Najdorf
Firouzja, Alireza	- Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	1-0	56	D02	Queen's Pawn Game
Carlsen, Magnus	- Harikrishna, Pentala	½-½	30	B47	Sicilian Paulsen
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	- Esipenko, Andrey	0-1	42	E20	Nimzo Indian
Tari, Aryan	- Van Foreest, Jorden	0-1	32	C70	Ruy Lopez
Anton Guijarro, David	- Donchenko, Alexander	½-½	35	B23	Sicilian Closed