Caruana joins a five way tie for the lead after three rounds of Tata Steel Chess

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85th Tata Steel 2023 (3)

Caruana joins a five way tie for the lead after three rounds of Tata Steel Chess

Mark Crowther - Monday 16th January 2023

Ding faced Carlsen for the last time before playing a match for his World Title. Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Ding faced Carlsen for the last time before playing a match for his World Title. Photo © Michiel Abeln. | https://theweekinchess.com

Fabiano Caruana was the only winner in Round 3 of the Tata Steel Masters. Jorden Van Foreest chose a highly unusual if not shocking variation of the Petroff Defence, Caruana had to work hard but eventually exposed the strategic risks he took to win the game. Magnus Carlsen's choice of the London System set only a few problems for Ding Liren before the game was drawn. FM Michiel Abeln comments on all the games below. In the Challengers Group Jergus Pechac looked to be headed for a third loss in a row but mounted a very spirited defence to score his first half point. Erwin L'Ami was too passive yesterday and perhaps a bit too active today and lost to Mustafa Yilmaz when his initiative ran out. In addition Ivic beat Mishra, Sindarov beat Vaishali and there was a final lengthy fight between Max Warmerdam and Eline Roebers which finally ended in a draw. There is a 6 way tie on 2/3 for the lead in the Challengers which looks wide open.

Masters Round 3 Standings: 1st= Caruana, Carlsen, Ding Liren, Giri, Abdusattorov 2pts, 6th= Aronian, Maghsoodloo, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, So 1.5pts, 11th= Keymer, Rapport, Van Foreest 1pt, 14th Gukesh 0.5pts.

Round 4 Tuesday 17 Jan 1pm GMT: So-Aronian, Keymer-Erigaisi, Ding Liren-Praggnanandhaa, Giri-Carlsen, Abdusattorov-Maghsoodloo, Van Foreest-Gukesh, Rapport-Caruana.

Michiel Abeln reports from Wijk aan Zee on Round 3 16th Jan

Round 3 of the Tata Steel Chess tournament was a slower round than the previous two with several games ending peacefully without too many adventures. Today’s sole winner was Fabiano Caruana who now joins the lead together with Carlsen, Giri, Abdusattorov and Ding Liren.

Fabiano Caruana against Jorden Van Foreest in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Fabiano Caruana against Jorden Van Foreest in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln

Van Foreest surprised Caruana by playing the Petroff and especially 8...f5 was new to Caruana. (although it has been played in a high-level correspondence game before) After Van Foreest decided to keep the kingside closed with 15...g4 White obtained a nice advantage. Black should have played 15…Bxe5 16.fxe5 Ne4 with a balanced position. White then played the somewhat inaccurate 20.a4 and Van Foreest was back in the game until he blundered a pawn with 25...h4. Caruana had no problem in converting to a full point. So far it seems Van Foreest is not in great shape this tournament with 1 out of 3 and it could easily have been less.

Magnus Carlsen played the London system against Ding Liren and with 6.Bb5+ and on the next move the capture on c6 he chose a line that has at top level mainly been played in rapid and blitz games. Carlsen wanted a positional fight but he made a small inaccuracy with 17.Qc7 where after 17.Qc3 he could have continued to push a little. Ding said afterwards he was happy with the draw and he felt some slight pressure until he found the idea of Rb5 and Ne8.

Parham Maghsoodloo against Anish Giri in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Parham Maghsoodloo against Anish Giri in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln

Maghsoodloo played against Giri and deviated with 11.Bg5 from a game between So and Carlsen. Both players thought that the sacrifice 13.Nxg5 hxg5 14.Bxg5 Kg7 doesn’t work for White, which is confirmed by the engine. After White played 24.f4 Carlsen looked at the position and thought Giri was going to push despite realizing the engine evaluation was equal. This did not happen: the game ended quickly after Giri offered a draw.

Arjun Erigaisi against Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Arjun Erigaisi against Levon Aronian in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln

Erigaisi deployed the Qc2 Nimzo-Indian against Aronian and played the rare 8.Bf4. Aronian had no problems coming out of the opening and started to push a little around move 15. Slowly his advantage increased until he missed a study-like win close to the end: Black should have played 56..,Kg5 57.Nc5 (on 57.Nb6 Black has 57...Kf5 58.Na4 Be7 59.Nc3 Bf8 60.Na4 Kf4 winning) 57...Kg6 58.Na4 Kf6 59.Nb2 Bf8 60.Na4 Kf5 61.Nb2 Be7 62.Na4 Kf4 The key to the position is that there is zugzwang, Black plays his bishop in such a way that at the right time Kf4 is possible because White’s knight is offside. A missed chance by Aronian, but not an easy one and a great defense by Erigaisi.

R Praggnanandhaa against Vincent Keymer in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln.

R Praggnanandhaa against Vincent Keymer in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln

Praggnanandhaa and Keymer quickly left theory in another Qc2 Nimzo-Indian. Possibly Keymer made a dubious move with 9...c5 where he should have tried to open the center with 9...d5. White had a small advantage but then Black made a strange decision with 25...d3 instead of the obvious 25...Ng6. Now White reached an endgame a pawn up and maybe he could have improved on move 36 with 36.Nf5 g6 37.Ne7 Bb7 38.Ng8 h5 39.Nh6 Bd5 40.g4 but it doesn’t seem to be a very human line. The game continued for many more moves but always stayed well within the drawing margin.

Richard Rapport against Wesley So in Wijk aan Zee Round 3 Photo © Michiel Abeln.

Via an English move order Rapport and So ended up in a line of Panov Caro Kann where Black (temporarily) sacrifices a pawn on d5. This opening was a surprise for So, he had not looked at this theory for many years, but he never got in danger and it quickly became a draw.

Abdusattorov defended with the solid Bogo Indian against Gukesh. The game never really got interesting, Gukesh clearly wanted to get on the scoreboard after his first two losses and played solid chess to reach the 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.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2766	*	.	.	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	2	2844
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2859	.	*	½	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	2	2872
3.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2811	.	½	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	2	2892
4.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2764	½	.	.	*	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	2	2861
5.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2713	½	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	½	2	2868
6.	Aronian, Levon	g	USA	2735	.	½	.	.	.	*	.	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2755
7.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2719	.	.	½	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	1½	2757
8.	Erigaisi, Arjun	g	IND	2722	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	*	½	½	.	.	.	.	1½	2726
9.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2684	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	½	*	.	½	.	.	.	1½	2717
10.	So, Wesley	g	USA	2760	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	½	½	.	1½	2714
11.	Keymer, Vincent	g	GER	2696	.	0	.	.	.	.	½	.	½	.	*	.	.	.	1	2629
12.	Rapport, Richard	g	ROU	2740	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	½	.	*	½	.	1	2593
13.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2681	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	½	*	.	1	2630
14.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	.	.	0	0	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	2489

Round 3 (January 16, 2023)
Caruana, Fabiano	- Van Foreest, Jorden	1-0	46	C42	Petroff's Defence
Carlsen, Magnus	- Ding, Liren	½-½	37	D02	Queen's Pawn Game
Maghsoodloo, Parham	- Giri, Anish	½-½	30	C50	Giuoco Piano
Erigaisi, Arjun	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	61	E39	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Praggnanandhaa, R	- Keymer, Vincent	½-½	78	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Rapport, Richard	- So, Wesley	½-½	25	B14	Caro Kann Panov
Gukesh, D	- Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	½-½	44	E11	Bogo Indian Defence

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.	Ivic, Velimir	g	SRB	2585	*	½	.	½	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	2	2732
2.	Sindarov, Javokhir	g	UZB	2654	½	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	2	2670
3.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2627	.	½	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	2	2688
4.	Yilmaz, Mustafa	g	TUR	2609	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	2	2715
5.	Tabatabaei, M. Amin	g	IRI	2686	.	.	.	.	*	.	½	.	½	.	.	1	.	.	2	2743
6.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2616	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	½	.	1	.	.	2	2660
7.	Adhiban, Baskaran	g	IND	2610	.	.	½	.	½	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	1½	2609
8.	Mishra, Abhimanyu	g	USA	2559	0	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	.	1	.	.	.	.	1½	2518
9.	Supi, Luis Paulo	g	BRA	2608	.	.	.	.	½	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	1½	2643
10.	Roebers, Eline	m	NED	2361	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	0	.	*	.	.	1	.	1½	2600
11.	Beerdsen, Thomas	m	NED	2515	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	½	.	½	1½	2557
12.	Pechac, Jergus	g	SVK	2637	.	.	.	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	½	2332
13.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	*	.	½	2253
14.	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	m	IND	2425	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	½	2325

Round 3 (January 16, 2023)
Sindarov, Javokhir	- Vaishali, Rameshbabu	1-0	37	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Donchenko, Alexander	- Adhiban, Baskaran	½-½	46	B38	Sicilian Maroczy Bind
Tabatabaei, M. Amin	- Supi, Luis Paulo	½-½	49	B90	Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Warmerdam, Max	- Roebers, Eline	½-½	85	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Mishra, Abhimanyu	- Ivic, Velimir	0-1	48	D11	Slav Defence
Beerdsen, Thomas	- Pechac, Jergus	½-½	36	C52	Evans Gambit
L'Ami, Erwin	- Yilmaz, Mustafa	0-1	38	B93	Sicilian Najdorf with 6.f4

View the games on this Page

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