The Week in Chess

Magnus Carlsen joined Vidit Gujrathi and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the lead of the Tata Steel Masters and 6 of the 13 rounds. Carlsen defeated Richard Rapport in a Catalan where he grabbed an consolidated a passed a-pawn after which he was winning. Sergey Karjakin finally managed his first win of the event after failing to convert large advantages in recent rounds. Karjakin beat Jorden van Foreest in a sharp Two Knights where his opening advantage became decisive once the Queens came off.

Anish Giri beat Fabiano Caruana when the game turned round in a few moves from being very favorable to Caruana to winning for Giri and then swung back to level in time trouble before Caruana blundered the exchange to a backward knight move on move 40.

Vidit Gujrathi drew against Jan-Krzysztof Duda to stay tied for the lead. Duda surprised Vidit with the choice of the Semi-Tarrasch and even when he didn't recall his preparation he stayed ahead on the clock. Vidit's threatening attack was good enough for perpetual. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov offered a draw when he was slightly worse against Nils Grandelius and that draw was taken.

Daniil Dubov and Andrey Esipenko drew a sharp Reti/Catalan. Again Dubov got some chances but could not convert. Sam Shankland against R Praggnanandhaa was a sharp Sicilian which ended in a repetition shortly after theory ended.

Round 6 Standings Masters: 1st-3rd Carlsen, Vidit, Mamedyarov 4pts; 4th-5th Esipenko, Rapport 3½pts; 6th-7th Duda, Giri Karjakin 3pts; 9th-13th Caruana, Dubov, Shankland, Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa 2½pts; 14th Grandelius 1½pts;

Round 7 Saturday 22 January 1pm GMT: Esipenko-Shankland, Giri-Dubov, Duda-Caruana, Van Foreest-Vidit, Grandelius-Karjakin, Rapport-Mamedyarov, Praggnanandhaa-Carlsen

Round 6 Standings Challengers: 1st Erigaisi 5½pts; 2nd-3rd Nguyen, Jumabayev 4pts; 4th-7th Murzin, L'Ami, Bjerre, Ganguly 3½pts; 8th-9th Van Foreest, Warmerdam 3pts; 10th Shuvalova 2½pts; 11th Vogel 2pts; 12th-13th Dardha, Zhu Jiner 1½pts; 14 Maurizzi 1pt;