Gukesh and Ju Wenjun winners in Tata Steel Masters Round 5

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86th Tata Steel 2024 (5)

Gukesh and Ju Wenjun winners in Tata Steel Masters Round 5

Mark Crowther - Thursday 18th January 2024

Ju Wenjun beat Alireza Firouzja in Round 5. Photo ©

Ju Wenjun beat Alireza Firouzja in Round 5. Photo © | https://tatasteelchess.com

The fifth round of the Tata Steel Masters saw just two decisive games, wins for Gukesh over Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ju Wenjun over Alireza Firouzja. The latter result meant that Anish Giri extended his lead in the tournament to a point. Giri was under some pressure by Praggnanandhaa but this was gone by first time control. In the remaining games Vidit drew with Max Warmerdam, Alexander Donchenko drew with Jorden Van Foreest, Nodirbek Abdusattorov drew with Wei Yi and Parham Maghsoodloo drew with Ding Liren.

6 out of 7 games in the Challengers were decisive leaving Erwin L'Ami in the lead on 4/5. Eline Roebers beat joint leader Hans Moke Niemann to get off the mark.

Round 5 Standings: 1st Giri 4pts, 2nd= Praggnanandhaa, Abdusattorov, Wei, Firouzja 3pts, 6th= Gukesh Vidit. Ding, Warmerdam. Nepomniachtchi 2.5pts, 11th= Ju Wenjun, Van Foreest 2pts, 13th Donchenko 1.5pts, 14th Maghsoodloo 1pts.

Round 6 Pairings Friday 19th January 1pm: Firouzja-Wei Yi, Ding Liren-Abdusattorov, Giri-Maghsoodloo, Nepomniachtchi-Praggnanandhaa, Van Foreest-Gukesh, Warmerdam-Donchenko, Ju Wenjun-Vidit.

Round 5 Summary

Ju Wenjun beat Alireza Firouzja in a long game where Firouzja got into and out of trouble several times before eventually losing. After an interesting Exchange French which was roughly balance 22...e2? (22...Qb8!=) was the first mistake 23.Nf3 (23.g4!?) Qf7? (a bad idea 23...Bxf3 was roughly equal) 24.Ng4! left white winning. 39.Bd2? undid most of white's good work (39.Na2!) and white should save. 42...Bg2? left white winning again but 49.Re5? (49.Nc3!) returned the favour. 49...g6> (49...Kc6) was losing again 50.Re1? (50.Nc3!) ad finally 52...Rf3? (52...Kc6!) after which there were no more chances and white won in 64 moves.

Gukesh took advantage of a one move blunder by Ian Nepomniachtchi to reach a winning endgame which he converted. There was a spirited tactical battle and Nepomniachtchi got a big advantage on the clock. 34.Rcd1 was played quickly, 34....Bb4 was played after about 3 minutes thought, a minute later the tactic 35.Nxc6! destroyed black's position and there was no recovering. The Bishop that moved to b4 turned out to be a tactical target along with the Queen that had few squares. Later 42.Nc3?! gave Nepomniachtchi a chance (42.Nc5) but 42...Qc2? (42...Qxe3 and black is back in it) didn't take advantage of this.

At the top of the leader board the key struggle was between Praggnanandhaa and Anish Giri and this was a London System drawn in 41 moves. Giri's 10...Ng8!? was a new striking idea, castling had been played before. White at various stages might have been for preference but by first time control a draw was the right result.

Alexander Donchenko drew an interesting English with Jorden van Foreest in 34 moves. Santosh Vidit tried the Delayed Exchange Ruy Lopez against Max Warmerdam but didn't get anything. Nodirbek Abdusattorov was definitely pushing against Wei Yi in a Gruenfeld variation that was heavily used in one of the Karpov-Kasparov title matches. After 43.Qd8 (43.Qc2) the position reached equality and the game was drawn in 63 moves. Parham Maghsoodloo got something against Ding Liren in a Giuoco Piano but this is definitely not his event and after 23.d4?! (23.Qh3) the position became quite level and they drew by repetition on move 31.

86th Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-28 i 2024																cat. XIX (2712)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2749	*	½	.	.	.	1	½	.	.	.	1	.	1	.	4	2920
2.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2743	½	*	½	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	½	3	2819
3.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2727	.	½	*	½	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	3	2813
4.	Firouzja, Alireza	g	FRA	2759	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	½	.	.	0	1	.	1	3	2736
5.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2740	.	½	½	.	*	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	3	2787
6.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	0	.	½	.	1	*	.	.	1	0	.	.	.	.	2½	2753
7.	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	g	IND	2742	½	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	½	½	.	½	.	.	2½	2721
8.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2625	.	.	.	½	.	.	½	*	0	.	½	1	.	.	2½	2700
9.	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2769	.	.	.	.	.	0	½	1	*	.	½	.	½	.	2½	2656
10.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2780	.	0	.	.	.	1	½	.	.	*	.	.	½	½	2½	2718
11.	Ju, Wenjun	g	CHN	2549	0	.	.	1	.	.	.	½	½	.	*	0	.	.	2	2644
12.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2682	.	.	.	0	.	.	½	0	.	.	1	*	½	.	2	2591
13.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2643	0	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	½	½	.	½	*	.	1½	2595
14.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2740	.	½	0	0	0	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	1	2509

Round 5 (January 18, 2024)
Praggnanandhaa, R	- Giri, Anish	½-½	41	D00	Queen's Pawn Game
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	- Wei, Yi	½-½	63	D87	Gruenfeld Botvinnik
Gukesh, D	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	1-0	49	D41	Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	- Warmerdam, Max	½-½	34	C85	Ruy Lopez Steenwijker Defence
Ju, Wenjun	- Firouzja, Alireza	1-0	64	C01	French Exchange
Donchenko, Alexander	- Van Foreest, Jorden	½-½	34	A20	English Opening
Maghsoodloo, Parham	- Ding, Liren	½-½	31	C50	Giuoco Piano

Tata Steel Challengers Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-28 i 2024																cat. XIII (2570)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	*	.	.	.	.	1	½	.	.	½	1	1	.	.	4	2782
2.	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2663	.	*	0	1	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	3½	2670
3.	Salem, A.R. Saleh	g	UAE	2630	.	1	*	.	½	.	.	0	½	1	.	.	.	.	3	2713
4.	Maurizzi, Marc'Andria	g	FRA	2572	.	0	.	*	.	½	.	.	1	.	1	½	.	.	3	2634
5.	Niemann, Hans Moke	g	USA	2692	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	½	.	1	.	.	1	0	3	2605
6.	Mendonca, Leon Luke	g	IND	2608	0	.	.	½	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	1	3	2608
7.	Dardha, Daniel	g	BEL	2602	½	½	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	½	½	.	.	2½	2565
8.	Yilmaz, Mustafa	g	TUR	2665	.	.	1	.	½	.	.	*	0	0	.	.	1	.	2½	2586
9.	Santos Latasa, Jaime	g	ESP	2615	.	.	½	0	.	.	.	1	*	.	.	.	0	1	2½	2533
10.	Vrolijk, Liam	g	NED	2573	½	.	0	.	0	.	.	1	.	*	.	½	.	.	2	2550
11.	Beukema, Stefan	m	BEL	2428	0	.	.	0	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	.	½	1	2	2448
12.	Dronavalli, Harika	g	IND	2500	0	.	.	½	.	0	½	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	1½	2447
13.	Divya, Deshmukh	m	IND	2420	.	0	.	.	0	.	.	0	1	.	½	.	*	.	1½	2463
14.	Roebers, Eline	m	NED	2381	.	0	.	.	1	0	.	.	0	.	0	.	.	*	1	2361

Round 5 (January 18, 2024)
L'Ami, Erwin	- Beukema, Stefan	1-0	21	D10	Slav Defence
Salem, A.R. Saleh	- Vrolijk, Liam	1-0	70	E48	Nimzo Indian
Maurizzi, Marc'Andria	- Santos Latasa, Jaime	1-0	32	E10	Blumenfeld Counter Gambit
Dardha, Daniel	- Korobov, Anton	½-½	43	C11	French Defence
Dronavalli, Harika	- Mendonca, Leon Luke	0-1	62	A10	Dutch, QI and KID Systems
Divya, Deshmukh	- Yilmaz, Mustafa	0-1	46	E01	Catalan
Roebers, Eline	- Niemann, Hans Moke	1-0	56	B12	Caro Kann Advanced