Tata Steel Masters Round 9 in the Hague sees 5 decisive games

Home » Chess News » Events » 86th Tata Steel 2024 » Tata Steel Masters Round 9 in the Hague sees 5 decisive games

86th Tata Steel 2024 (9)

Tata Steel Masters Round 9 in the Hague sees 5 decisive games

Mark Crowther - Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Jorden van Foreest to rejoin the leaders. Photo ©

Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Jorden van Foreest to rejoin the leaders. Photo © | https://tatasteelchess.com

The ninth round of the Tata Steel Masters moved to the AFAS Theatre in the Hague. Five of the seven games in the Masters were decisive and six of seven in the Challengers. At the end of the round four players share the lead with 5.5/9, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa. Wei Yi, Santosh Vidit and Alireza Firouzja are all on 5/9. Abdusattorov beat Jorden van Foreest pretty convincingly in just 24 moves. Praggnanandhaa beat Ju Wenjun taking on the Two Knights with the sharp Ng5. Giri drew with black against Ding Liren and Gukesh drew with Vidit. Alireza Firouzja lost his third game of the event when he allowed Alexander Donchenko a huge attack, Ian Nepomniachtchi lost the thread in a decent position against Wei Yi, and finally Maghsoodloo managed a miracle win against Max Warmerdam, this kind of loss will likely give the Dutchman nightmares, he went from won to equal to lost with moves 51, 52 and 53.

Round 9 Standings: 1st= Abdusattorov, Giri, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa 5.5pts 5th= Wei Yi, Vidit, Firouzja 5pts 8th Nepomniachtchi 4.5pts 9th= Ding Liren, Warmerdam 4pts 11th= Maghsoodloo, Ju Wenjun, Donchenko 3.5pts 14th Van Foreest 3pts

Round 10 1pm: 24th January 2024. Firouzja-Giri, Nepomniachtchi-Ding Liren, Van Foreest-Wei Yi, Warmerdam-Abdusattorov, Ju-Maghsoodloo, Vidit-Praggnanandhaa, Donchenko-Gukesh.

Round 9 Summary

Nodirbek Abdusattorov tonked Jorden van Foreest in one of those 4.d3 Two Knights/Giuoco Pianissimos that have been common in this event. Nothing went right for black after 10...g6 which prevented 11.Qh5+ but was a cure worse than the disease (10...a4 should have been tried according to the engines). The engines suggested 13.Bh6 as being white's best and black sort of started to recover until the plan of 17...Bf5?! (17...Be6 needs to be played and the position is still worse for black) 18.Nfd2 Nd7? a final error after which black's position just collapsed in a few moves, following 24.Qd2 black had seen enough.

Why does no-one play 4.Ng5 against the Two Knights anymore? Asked one commenter on twitter after seeing Abdusattorov play but before seeing Praggnanandhaa had tried it against Ju Wenjun. I know why I don't play the Two Knights as black, 4.Ng5 is a massive memory test and the resulting positions seem irrational to me, the reason top players generally don't play it is that the complications are supposed to fizzle out and black is fine. 10.b3 put Ju on her own and things went more or less fine until 16.Ba6 Be6?! (16...Bxa6) 17. Nc4 Bb4 (maybe 17...Nxc4) 18.0-0-0 Nb7?! (maybe Rae8). Black was now clearly in trouble and after 22...exf3? (22...Kh7) white was winning, the game ending on move 33.

Alireza Firouzja's wild tournament continued with yet another loss, this time against Alexander Donchenko. The opening started as an exchange Queen's Gambit, I suppose they reached a Ragozin of sorts after 5...Bb4. Firouzja was doing fine, indeed after 20.Qe3 Kg7! more than fine, but then he started to drift, 23.Kf1 Qb6?! (23...Bd7 keeps the advantage) but it was 26...Bb5? that was totally misjudged, after 27.Bf5 black was already in trouble but the game ended with a double error. 32...h5 33. Bf3?! (33.Bh3 is still very good for white) 33...Rh6? (33...Qe6 is almost equal) 34.Rc7! and it's over.

Another player who has had an up and down event is Ian Nepomniachtchi, today was another down as he just collapsed against Wei Yi. From a position of rough equality after 20.cxd5 black was lost just 4 moves later. 20...h5 was the way to equality, after 20...Rad8 white was a bit better and after black avoided the Queen exchange with 22...Qg5 white was seriously better and after 24...Kf8 25.Re7! (one has to suppose black thought Kf8 was doing something against this move) black was practically winning and won in 41 moves.

The final game to finish was Parham Maghsoodloo against Max Warmerdam. Warmerdam repeated bis von Hennig Schara Gambit and after 11.Ng5 Nb4 black equalised. Maghsoodloo followed this up with 13.Nge4? (13.a3 is best but 13.Bd2 and 13.Nf3 are playable) and after 13...0-0-0 he was much worse. Things went along in a logical fashion for a long while and then in a position where black had clearly made big progress towards the win he gave up the exchange for no reason I can fathom with 30...Rxe3 (30...Re7 and black will surely win). Maghsoodloo was only the tiniest bit worse but 37.Rd1?! (37.Ra1!) allowing a5 gave black renewed hope of a win. 38.Ra1?! (38.Rb1 was a better try). The black was winning until 51...Ra3?? (51...Ba3 really does finish things) 52.Rxc5 a1=Q 53.e7 and suddenly white is queening too. Not willing to accept that the fate of the game was a draw Warmerdam played 53...Qh8? and after 54.Rc8 (exploiting a knight fork) it is now white who is winning.

Ding Liren tried to sharpen things up against Anish Giri with 7.g4 against the Queen's Gambit, a line that's quite topical, also it's a line that goes all the way back to the World Championship match Botvinnik-Petrosian in 1963. Giri was doing fine throughout and the game was drawn by repetition in 34 moves, even at the end the engines like 34...Rh8 with a small edge for black.

Gukesh against Santosh Vidit was a Petroff. By the time 23...h5 was played, the first new moves, the game was already heading towards a draw.

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.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2727	*	1	½	½	½	.	½	0	½	.	.	1	.	1	5½	2823
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2749	0	*	1	½	½	½	.	.	½	.	1	½	1	.	5½	2789
3.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	½	0	*	.	1	½	.	1	0	1	½	.	.	1	5½	2787
4.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2743	½	½	.	*	½	.	.	½	1	½	1	½	.	½	5½	2786
5.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2740	½	½	0	½	*	.	0	1	½	.	.	1	1	.	5	2780
6.	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	g	IND	2742	.	½	½	.	.	*	1	½	½	½	½	.	½	½	5	2740
7.	Firouzja, Alireza	g	FRA	2759	½	.	.	.	1	0	*	.	1	½	0	1	0	1	5	2735
8.	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2769	1	.	0	½	0	½	.	*	.	1	½	½	½	.	4½	2692
9.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2780	½	½	1	0	½	½	0	.	*	.	.	½	½	.	4	2686
10.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2625	.	.	0	½	.	½	½	0	.	*	½	0	1	1	4	2662
11.	Ju, Wenjun	g	CHN	2549	.	0	½	0	.	½	1	½	.	½	*	.	½	0	3½	2635
12.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2740	0	½	.	½	0	.	0	½	½	1	.	*	.	½	3½	2650
13.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2643	.	0	.	.	0	½	1	½	½	0	½	.	*	½	3½	2630
14.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2682	0	.	0	½	.	½	0	.	.	0	1	½	½	*	3	2569

Round 9 (January 23, 2024)
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	- Van Foreest, Jorden	1-0	24	C55	Two Knights Defence
Gukesh, D	- Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	½-½	31	C42	Petroff's Defence
Praggnanandhaa, R	- Ju, Wenjun	1-0	33	C58	Two Knights Defence
Wei, Yi	- Nepomniachtchi, Ian	1-0	41	C24	Bishop's Opening
Ding, Liren	- Giri, Anish	½-½	34	D31	Semi-Slav Defence
Maghsoodloo, Parham	- Warmerdam, Max	1-0	57	D32	Tarrasch Defence
Donchenko, Alexander	- Firouzja, Alireza	1-0	35	D35	QGD Exchange

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.	Maurizzi, Marc'Andria	g	FRA	2572	*	½	.	.	0	1	1	1	.	½	½	1	1	.	6½	2746
2.	Mendonca, Leon Luke	g	IND	2608	½	*	½	0	1	.	.	1	0	.	1	.	1	1	6	2676
3.	Dardha, Daniel	g	BEL	2602	.	½	*	½	½	½	1	½	.	1	½	.	½	.	5½	2683
4.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	.	1	½	*	½	½	.	0	½	½	1	.	1	.	5½	2674
5.	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2663	1	0	½	½	*	.	0	.	.	.	½	1	1	1	5½	2609
6.	Niemann, Hans Moke	g	USA	2692	0	.	½	½	.	*	½	.	1	½	1	1	.	0	5	2595
7.	Salem, A.R. Saleh	g	UAE	2630	0	.	0	.	1	½	*	½	1	0	.	1	.	1	5	2618
8.	Santos Latasa, Jaime	g	ESP	2615	0	0	½	1	.	.	½	*	.	1	½	0	.	1	4½	2556
9.	Vrolijk, Liam	g	NED	2573	.	1	.	½	.	0	0	.	*	1	½	0	½	1	4½	2550
10.	Yilmaz, Mustafa	g	TUR	2665	½	.	0	½	.	½	1	0	0	*	.	1	.	0	3½	2488
11.	Dronavalli, Harika	g	IND	2500	½	0	½	0	½	0	.	½	½	.	*	.	1	.	3½	2517
12.	Divya, Deshmukh	m	IND	2420	0	.	.	.	0	0	0	1	1	0	.	*	½	1	3½	2499
13.	Beukema, Stefan	m	BEL	2428	0	0	½	0	0	.	.	.	½	.	0	½	*	1	2½	2383
14.	Roebers, Eline	m	NED	2381	.	0	.	.	0	1	0	0	0	1	.	0	0	*	2	2368

Round 9 (January 23, 2024)
Maurizzi, Marc'Andria	- Divya, Deshmukh	1-0	51	D79	Gruenfeld 3.g3
Mendonca, Leon Luke	- Santos Latasa, Jaime	1-0	111	C50	Giuoco Piano
Dardha, Daniel	- Salem, A.R. Saleh	1-0	33	A15	English counter King's Fianchetto
L'Ami, Erwin	- Yilmaz, Mustafa	½-½	31	D38	QGD Ragozin
Dronavalli, Harika	- Niemann, Hans Moke	0-1	43	E00	Catalan
Beukema, Stefan	- Korobov, Anton	0-1	59	A20	English Opening
Roebers, Eline	- Vrolijk, Liam	0-1	31	C37	Muzio Gambit