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Home » Chess News » Events » 85th Tata Steel 2023 » Abdusattorov leads the Tata Steel Masters with 6/8 going into the second rest day

Michiel Abeln reports from Wijk aan Zee on Tata Steel Round 8 22nd Jan

Today we had a lot of decisive games: Carlsen won and three people won their first games in the tournament: Rapport, Van Foreest and Gukesh.

Caruana and Carlsen opened with an anti-Marshall and they followed a game by Wojtaszek for awhile but deviated on move 14. Caruana played the risky 19.e5 but was still ok if he had not played the bad move 22.Bc2 after which he was lost. Another easy win for Carlsen.

Richard Rapport won his first game. On move 8 Rapport was already out of book and he played 8.Nf1 followed by 9.Bg5 and after Ng6 he came with the creative h2-h4. Later in the game White sacrificed a pawn for activity and the position was much easier to play for White. In time trouble Rapport managed to convert to a full point.

Van Foreest and Arjun faced each other after both having lost yesterday. They played the Kings Indian opening where Black decided to go for 7…h6, a rare move compared to the main lines. It seemed as a main line where the moves Rb1 and h6 were included, which might benefit White. The game was around equal for a long time but exploded on move 33 where Arjun had safe options but allowed a piece sacrifice from White. Objectively this was still equal but it was in practice dangerous for Black and he soon lost.

Gukesh won his first game today. Maghsoodloo choose with Black against him the rare move 3…,h6 and soon the players were in a kind of Nimzo Indian where it’s not clear whether this pawn is better on h6 or h7, but White did seem to have a nice advantage. Black tried to complicate things with 21…,g5 but White remained on top until he played 29.Nb2 and it was equal again before time trouble hit. There were crazy complications and Black could have gained some advantage with 41…,Nxg3. In the game he missed White’s g4 trick (he thought Ng3+ was possible but this fails to Qxg3!) and then White was winning.

Abdusattorov played against Aronian a topical line in the Spanish that tries to avoid a quick draw via the Berlin. The move 8.Nb3 was already rare and one move later the players were on new territory. On move 23 Black seemed to offer a draw by move repetition but White decided to play on. However, the game was soon drawn anyway.

Giri started with the Italian opening against Keymer and played the rare 11.b4. Keymer had looked at this line awhile ago but behind the board he mixed up. He should have played 20…,Bg6 and then after 21.Bb5 c6 22.Bc4 Nf4 23.Bxf4 exf4 24.Qf1 Rxe1 25.Rxe1 g4 26.Ng1 Nxc4 27.Nxc4 Qf6 Black is ok. In the game Black should have taken back with his g-pawn (which in above line bad for Black, so that’s why Keymer did not consider this during the game) 21…,gxf4 because in the game after 21.exf4 Giri could have played 22.Qf1 and after 22…,Rxe1 23.Rxe1 g4 24.Ng1 Qf6 25.d4 White has a clear advantage. Giri did not calculate this far, he didn’t like the look of all his pieces on the back rank and in general he was looking for a draw because he felt he was out-prepared during the game. So Giri went for a queen exchange resulting in an endgame where Black based on his pair of bishops and space advantage had sufficient compensation for the pawn deficit but no more and Giri’s draw offer was accepted.

So and Ding Liren went for he advanced variation in the Caro Kann where Black plays 3..,c5 (which is less popular than 3…,Bf5). On move 8 Black went for nd7 where normally first a7-a5 is played and only after b4-b5 the knight comes to d7. So said after the game he thought both he and Ding struggled a bit to remember their preparation. In the game White achieved a small advantage, but it never became serious and the game ended peacefully.

Tata Steel Chess Commentary

85th Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee (NED), 13-29 i 2023																cat. XX (2741)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2713	*	.	.	½	½	½	1	.	1	1	1	.	.	½	6	2936
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2764	.	*	.	½	½	½	1	.	.	½	½	.	½	1	5	2833
3.	So, Wesley	g	USA	2760	.	.	*	½	.	½	.	½	½	.	½	½	1	1	5	2829
4.	Aronian, Levon	g	USA	2735	½	½	½	*	½	.	½	½	.	.	½	.	1	.	4½	2794
5.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2684	½	½	.	½	*	.	.	1	0	.	½	1	½	.	4½	2775
6.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2766	½	½	½	.	.	*	0	.	½	½	.	1	.	1	4½	2788
7.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2859	0	0	.	½	.	1	*	½	1	.	.	½	1	.	4½	2781
8.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2811	.	.	½	½	0	.	½	*	.	½	½	.	½	1	4	2737
9.	Rapport, Richard	g	ROU	2740	0	.	½	.	1	½	0	.	*	½	.	½	.	½	3½	2695
10.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2719	0	½	.	.	.	½	.	½	½	*	.	1	½	0	3½	2694
11.	Erigaisi, Arjun	g	IND	2722	0	½	½	½	½	.	.	½	.	.	*	0	½	.	3	2643
12.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2681	.	.	½	.	0	0	½	.	½	0	1	*	.	½	3	2659
13.	Keymer, Vincent	g	GER	2696	.	½	0	0	½	.	0	½	.	½	½	.	*	.	2½	2615
14.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	½	0	0	.	.	0	.	0	½	1	.	½	.	*	2½	2603

Round 8 (January 22, 2023)
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	31	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Giri, Anish	- Keymer, Vincent	½-½	28	C50	Giuoco Piano
So, Wesley	- Ding, Liren	½-½	42	C02	French Advance
Caruana, Fabiano	- Carlsen, Magnus	0-1	33	C88	Ruy Lopez Closed
Rapport, Richard	- Praggnanandhaa, R	1-0	40	C53	Giuoco Piano
Van Foreest, Jorden	- Erigaisi, Arjun	1-0	54	E94	King's Indian Classical
Gukesh, D	- Maghsoodloo, Parham	1-0	49	E10	Blumenfeld Counter Gambit

Tata Steel Challengers Wijk aan Zee (NED), 13-29 i 2023																cat. XIV (2580)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2627	*	1	.	½	.	.	½	.	.	1	½	½	1	1	6	2750
2.	Yilmaz, Mustafa	g	TUR	2609	0	*	½	1	½	1	.	1	1	.	.	½	.	.	5½	2749
3.	Ivic, Velimir	g	SRB	2585	.	½	*	½	.	.	½	½	½	1	.	1	.	1	5½	2733
4.	Sindarov, Javokhir	g	UZB	2654	½	0	½	*	.	.	½	.	.	1	½	.	1	1	5	2652
5.	Beerdsen, Thomas	m	NED	2515	.	½	.	.	*	.	½	½	.	½	½	1	1	½	5	2649
6.	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	g	IRI	2686	.	0	.	.	.	*	½	1	½	.	½	½	½	1	4½	2621
7.	Adhiban, Baskaran	g	IND	2610	½	.	½	½	½	½	*	.	.	½	1	.	.	0	4	2592
8.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	.	0	½	.	½	0	.	*	1	.	½	1	0	.	3½	2524
9.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2616	.	0	½	.	.	½	.	0	*	.	½	½	½	1	3½	2541
10.	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	m	IND	2425	0	.	0	0	½	.	½	.	.	*	1	.	½	1	3½	2531
11.	Supi, Luis Paulo	g	BRA	2608	½	.	.	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	*	.	.	.	3	2508
12.	Mishra, Abhimanyu	g	USA	2559	½	½	0	.	0	½	.	0	½	.	.	*	1	.	3	2491
13.	Roebers, Eline	m	NED	2361	0	.	.	0	0	½	.	1	½	½	.	0	*	.	2½	2447
14.	Pechac, Jergus	g	SVK	2637	0	.	0	0	½	0	1	.	0	0	.	.	.	*	1½	2338

Round 8 (January 22, 2023)
Yilmaz, Mustafa	- Sindarov, Javokhir	1-0	38	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
Ivic, Velimir	- Pechac, Jergus	1-0	42	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
L'Ami, Erwin	- Beerdsen, Thomas	½-½	47	D10	Slav Defence
Warmerdam, Max	- Tabatabaei, M. Amin	½-½	17	D73	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Supi, Luis Paulo	- Adhiban, Baskaran	0-1	49	C02	French Advance
Mishra, Abhimanyu	- Donchenko, Alexander	½-½	29	D12	Slav Defence
Roebers, Eline	- Vaishali, Rameshbabu	½-½	40	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov

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