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Michiel Abeln reports from Wijk aan Zee on Tata Steel Round 10 25th Jan

Today was a somewhat strange round in Wijk aan Zee with a few quick draws and another relatively simple win for Magnus Carlsen. He keeps moving up and he may well end up in tie for first place considering the opposition for Abdusattorov, Giri (half a point behind) and Carlsen (one point behind). There is a rest day on Thursday followed by the final three rounds. Besides Carlsen’s win there was also a win for Gukesh who, after an unfortunate start, is making a comeback.

Maghsoodloo played with White and he was surprised when Carlsen played 7...Bg4 in a Queens Gambit declined, a move not seen before at top level. If White would have played 8.Qc2, Black would have probably played c7-c5, which in the game was prevented by playing 8.Qa4+. In the game White went Qc2 on move 11 when c5 followed and it all became complicated. Carlsen said afterwards he was still in his preparation when he played 15...Nxg4. On move 22 White should have gone for a very draws endgame after 22.Kf1 Re4 23.Nxf6+_ Rxf6 24.d5 Nb4 25.Rh3 Ref4 26.d6 Rxf3 27.Rxf3 Rxf3 28.d7 Nc6 29.d8+ Nxd8 30.Rxd8+. In the game White slowly got in trouble. He should have played 27.d5 but after missing that chance it was all over. Another easy victory for Carlsen.

Carlsen interview:

Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa played an aggressive line of the English and they blitzed out their moves, but when they started thinking, they thought for a long time. Praggnanandhaa took nearly 45 minutes on his 16th move, but he missed his best option: 16...fxe4. A few moves later Black made a mistake by playing 20...Be6 but White did not take advantage (21.Nxe6!). Luckily for White on the next move Black sacrificed a piece, which was not correct. On move 25 White played it slightly inaccurate (25.Rxd8 would have been more precise, now Black had the option of Qa2), but after that he won without too much trouble.

Today there was another rook endgame for Keymer and again he did not maximize his winning changes. Against Van Foreest Keymer followed a main line Spanish in which White came out of the opening with a small advantage. He had some pressure against the pawn on d6 and on move 26 he managed to capture it. White then blundered his advantage away with 33.Kh2 after which the position was equal, but Black could try being a pawn up in a rook endgame. Initially White defended well, but then some imprecise moves were played and a real mistake happened with 54.Rh5+ (54.Rd5+ was a must). Next Keymer had twice the chance to win with equal plans: put the pawn on f5 while at the same time bringing the king over to the a-pawn. The first moment was 60...Rd5 61.Ra2 Kc6 62.Ke4 f5+ 63.Kf4 Kb5 64.Ra3 Kb4 and a similar variation was possible at move 61. Most of the advantage was gone when Keymer missed his last chance (66...Re5 keeps some small chances) and after that Van Foreest managed to make a draw.

Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi followed a main line Spanish that till move 17 was similar to the game So against Le, 2021. The game was equal for a long time but around move 30 Black achieved a small advantage, but it was not sufficient for anything more and the players agreed a draw on move 39.

Aronian knew he was going to be surprised by the creative Rapport, but the real surprise today was that Rapport just exchanged everything and made a quick draw.

Abdusattorov played against Ding Liren and right from the start it was clear that they were going for a solid game. As a result the players agreed on a quick draw.

Anish Giri played an old line against Wesley’s So Catalan that, funny enough, was played by So with black against Shankland in 2022. They followed that game till move 15 when Giri deviated with 15...Bxc3. If White wants something in these type of positions it needs to come from Bf1 and then push e2-e4. But in this game it doesn’t work because after 18.Bf1 Bb7 19.Nd2 Black has e6-e5. The game was not very exciting and soon ended in a draw.

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	*	.	1	.	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	.	1	½	7	2894
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2764	.	*	1	½	½	½	½	.	1	1	½	.	½	½	6½	2857
3.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2859	0	0	*	.	½	1	.	1	½	½	1	½	.	1	6	2807
4.	So, Wesley	g	USA	2760	.	½	.	*	½	½	.	½	½	1	½	½	½	1	6	2807
5.	Aronian, Levon	g	USA	2735	½	½	½	½	*	.	½	½	½	.	.	½	½	1	5½	2779
6.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2766	½	½	0	½	.	*	½	½	.	1	½	1	½	.	5½	2772
7.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2684	½	½	.	.	½	½	*	0	1	0	.	1	½	½	5	2735
8.	Rapport, Richard	g	ROU	2740	0	.	0	½	½	½	1	*	.	½	½	½	1	.	5	2736
9.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2811	½	0	½	½	½	.	0	.	*	1	½	.	½	½	4½	2701
10.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	½	0	½	0	.	0	1	½	0	*	1	½	.	.	4	2677
11.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2719	0	½	0	½	.	½	.	½	½	0	*	1	.	½	4	2679
12.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2681	.	.	½	½	½	0	0	½	.	½	0	*	1	½	4	2668
13.	Erigaisi, Arjun	g	IND	2722	0	½	.	½	½	½	½	0	½	.	.	0	*	½	3½	2625
14.	Keymer, Vincent	g	GER	2696	½	½	0	0	0	.	½	.	½	.	½	½	½	*	3½	2634

Round 10 (January 25, 2023)
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	- Ding, Liren	½-½	27	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
So, Wesley	- Giri, Anish	½-½	34	A14	Reti Opening
Caruana, Fabiano	- Erigaisi, Arjun	½-½	39	C84	Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Rapport, Richard	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	31	C67	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Gukesh, D	- Praggnanandhaa, R	1-0	40	A33	English Symmetrical
Maghsoodloo, Parham	- Carlsen, Magnus	0-1	56	D35	QGD Exchange
Van Foreest, Jorden	- Keymer, Vincent	½-½	96	C90	Ruy Lopez

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.	Yilmaz, Mustafa	g	TUR	2609	*	0	1	½	1	½	1	½	.	1	1	½	.	.	7	2739
2.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2627	1	*	½	.	.	½	0	.	½	1	1	½	1	1	7	2719
3.	Sindarov, Javokhir	g	UZB	2654	0	½	*	½	.	½	½	.	½	.	1	1	1	1	6½	2674
4.	Ivic, Velimir	g	SRB	2585	½	.	½	*	½	½	½	.	0	½	1	1	.	1	6	2675
5.	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	g	IRI	2686	0	.	.	½	*	½	1	1	½	½	.	½	½	1	6	2644
6.	Adhiban, Baskaran	g	IND	2610	½	½	½	½	½	*	.	½	1	.	½	.	1	0	5½	2606
7.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	0	1	½	½	0	.	*	½	½	1	.	1	0	.	5	2582
8.	Beerdsen, Thomas	m	NED	2515	½	.	.	.	0	½	½	*	½	0	½	1	1	½	5	2573
9.	Supi, Luis Paulo	g	BRA	2608	.	½	½	1	½	0	½	½	*	½	0	.	.	½	4½	2562
10.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2616	0	0	.	½	½	.	0	1	½	*	.	½	½	1	4½	2545
11.	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	m	IND	2425	0	0	0	0	.	½	.	½	1	.	*	½	½	1	4	2504
12.	Mishra, Abhimanyu	g	USA	2559	½	½	0	0	½	.	0	0	.	½	½	*	1	.	3½	2460
13.	Roebers, Eline	m	NED	2361	.	0	0	.	½	0	1	0	.	½	½	0	*	½	3	2446
14.	Pechac, Jergus	g	SVK	2637	.	0	0	0	0	1	.	½	½	0	0	.	½	*	2½	2375

Round 10 (January 25, 2023)
Yilmaz, Mustafa	- Adhiban, Baskaran	½-½	27	A33	English Symmetrical
Ivic, Velimir	- Supi, Luis Paulo	0-1	78	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Tabatabaei, M. Amin	- Beerdsen, Thomas	1-0	38	D12	Slav Defence
L'Ami, Erwin	- Sindarov, Javokhir	½-½	45	E48	Nimzo Indian
Warmerdam, Max	- Donchenko, Alexander	0-1	40	B53	Sicilian Hungarian
Mishra, Abhimanyu	- Vaishali, Rameshbabu	½-½	78	B40	Sicilian Classical
Roebers, Eline	- Pechac, Jergus	½-½	26	C60	Ruy Lopez

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