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Home » Chess News » Events » 85th Tata Steel 2023 » Ding and Abdusattorov win in the first round of the Tata Steel Masters 2023

Michiel Abeln reports from Wijk aan Zee 14th Jan.

The first round of the Tata Steel Chess tournament was an exciting one with many interesting games. And all the amateurs were back! Before Viswanathan Anand hit the gong to open the round there were already hundreds of spectators waiting for the Grandmasters to arrive. The special spirit that this tournament used to have is, after two corona-years, back!

On top board Aronian played the slightly unusual 15...Bh7 in an otherwise main line Catalan against Magnus Carlsen. The standard move is to take on f3, as played several times by Wesley So. Afterwards Aronian said he wanted to keep the pieces on the board and not exchange on f3. On the next move the engine doesn’t like 16...Nd7 and instead prefers 16...c6 followed by Qc7 as once played by Nakamura. The difference with the game is that White, after Ne5, often threatens to exchange knights on d7 followed by taking a pawn on a5 with Nxa5. On move 19 Carlsen had an alternative in 19.e4 but even at great depth the engine doesn’t show that this move is stronger than what White played. White had a small edge but it was still within the drawing margins. Magnus was disappointed after the game, he said he couldn’t find anything stronger for White than what he got and that Black played a precise defense. Levon was happy with this as a first game to warm up.

Caruana and Giri played a topical line in the English and Black seemed to have no problem in equalizing. Caruana deviated from a Vincent Keymer internet game with 13.Qc2. Giri should have perhaps continued with the more promising 16...f5. Caruana thought about 22.Nxc5 bxc5 23.Ne5 and now 23...b3 (the engine prefers 24.Nd7 Qb4 25.Nxf8 Kxf8 and he was worried that his position was worse with his queen stuck on the queenside. So instead White took on d4 which surprised Giri. He then had a chance to play for an advantage with 24...a4 25.Nd2 Rxc1 26.Rxc1 Bc5 27.Nff3 Bxf2+ 28.Kh1 a3 29.Qb3 and the engine says Black is better, but he is also a piece down and to the human eye it is not immediately clear why Black would be better here. Giri admiited he had a brief look at this line but didn’t believe in it and saw that with Bf6 he would get his material back. After that the game quickly became a draw.

Gukesh deviated on move 9 from the mainline in Queens Indian by playing Nc3 instead of the usual cxd5 and moving the knight to d3 via e1 on move 12 is a new concept. He was under some slight pressure because of Black’s pair of bishops and he seemed to have gone wrong with 23.Nf4 where he should have sacrificed his queen with 23.Bxc6 Rc8 24.Nf4 Bb5 25.Bxb5 Rxc2 26.Rxc2. Ding broke the position open with 26...f5 and then,in an already bad position, Gukesh blundered with 32.Re1. Overall, Ding made a strong impression in this game!

Van Foreest and Wesley So debated a Catalan where the queens get quickly exchanged. So played the rare move 10...Nd5. It seems that with 20.Kf1 Van Foreest overlooked Black’s tactical resource Nf4! Black was a pawn up, but perhaps 24..,g5 was more precise. In the game Van Foreest was able to hold on and make a draw.

Rapport went for early adventures with 3.f4 in a Vienna against Abdusatarov. The move 5.Qf3 is not the main line and the same is for Black’s answer 5...f5. The players were quickly on their own and White could claim some advantage after the opening despite his king being on d1. On move 14 White had an interesting alternative in the move h4 to slow down Black’s plans on the kingside (on h6 White plays h4-h5). On move 20 Rapport went for the creative h3, Qh2 followed by g4, but the engine is not impressed and thinks the simple 20.Qf2 was necessary to maintain the balance. The resulting endgame was better for Black. Funny is that Abdusatarov missed White’s plan of 26.Bb2 followed by 27.c3 but the engine points out Black actually played the best moves at that phase. Next there was a rook endgame that should have ended in a draw, but Rapport had little time on his clock and he went wrong with 39.Kc4 and 40.Kd4 and after that the endgame is probably lost.

Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi followed one of the main lines of the Grunfeld. The move 14.h4 is still known from a game Gukesh against Svidler. Black deviated with with 14…Na5 but was still in his preparation for a long time as he admitted afterwards. The game stayed in balance without any big adventures and draw was the logical outcome.

Maghsoodloo played a kind of reversed Benoni (via English move order) with White. The setup in the game was not too threatening for Black. In fact White got in some trouble, and perhaps he should have played 17.Qc2 and not exchanged his light-squared bishop. Keymer missed a few chances for a clear advantage: first there was the simple retreat with 23…Rc6 and later there was the more complicated exchange sacrifice 25...Rxd3. Maghsoodloo was a last minute replacement for Jan-Krzysztof Duda who withdrew in early January for personal reasons. He said after the game that with the late invitation his preparation with White is not ready. He went back to this reversed Benoni he used to play about six years ago. And as many amateurs may recognize, during game he realized why he stopped playing it: it is so bad for White; he couldn’t find a good way in the game to create counter play with White.

So a great first round with two winners.

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.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2811	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1
2.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2713	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1
3.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2859	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2735
4.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	USA	2766	.	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2764
5.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2764	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2766
6.	So, Wesley	g	USA	2760	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	½	2681
7.	Aronian, Levon	g	USA	2735	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	2859
8.	Erigaisi, Arjun	g	IND	2722	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	.	.	.	½	2684
9.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2719	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	½	2696
10.	Keymer, Vincent	g	GER	2696	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	½	2719
11.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2684	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	2722
12.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2681	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	½	2760
13.	Rapport, Richard	g	ROU	2740	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	0
14.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	0

Round 1 (January 14, 2023)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Aronian, Levon	½-½	41	E06	Catalan
Caruana, Fabiano	- Giri, Anish	½-½	31	A06	Zukertort Opening
Maghsoodloo, Parham	- Keymer, Vincent	½-½	33	A07	Barcza System
Praggnanandhaa, R	- Erigaisi, Arjun	½-½	40	D87	Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Van Foreest, Jorden	- So, Wesley	½-½	49	E06	Catalan
Rapport, Richard	- Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	0-1	47	C29	Vienna Game
Gukesh, D	- Ding, Liren	0-1	38	E15	Queens Indian

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

Round 1 (January 14, 2023)
Warmerdam, Max	- Pechac, Jergus	1-0	31	C60	Ruy Lopez
Mishra, Abhimanyu	- Roebers, Eline	1-0	33	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Tabatabaei, M. Amin	- Adhiban, Baskaran	½-½	67	D30	Queen's Gambit (without Nc3)
Donchenko, Alexander	- Sindarov, Javokhir	½-½	33	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
L'Ami, Erwin	- Supi, Luis Paulo	½-½	51	E06	Catalan
Yilmaz, Mustafa	- Ivic, Velimir	½-½	45	D33	Tarrasch Defence
Beerdsen, Thomas	- Vaishali, Rameshbabu	½-½	25	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

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