Tata Steel Masters wide open after 8 rounds

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86th Tata Steel 2024 (8)

Tata Steel Masters wide open after 8 rounds

Mark Crowther - Sunday 21st January 2024

Nepomniachtchi beat Abdusattorov in Round 8. Photo ©

Nepomniachtchi beat Abdusattorov in Round 8. Photo © | https://tatasteelchess.com

Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated the leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the eighth round of the Tata Steel Masters which left the event wide open going into the second rest day. Gukesh, Giri and Firouzja lead on 5/8 but 6 more players are a point or less from the leaders with five rounds to go. Nepomniachtchi inflicted a broken pawn structure on Abdusattorov and whilst this wasn't immediately winning Abdusattorov didn't find a way to organise his pieces and he was soon just lost. Alireza Firouzja beat Ding Liren when the latter miscalculated a tactical sequence and lost material for no compensation. The remaining game were drawn, those were Vidit-Donchenko, Warmerdam-Praggnanandhaa, Ju Wenjun, Giri-Wei Yi and Van Foreest Maghsoodloo.

In the Challengers Marc'Andria Maurizzi leads on 5.5/8 after beating former leader Salem Salah.

Round 8 Standings: 1st= Gukesh, Giri, Firouzja 5pts, 4th= Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, Nepomniachtchi 4.5pts, 8th Wei Yi, Warmerdam 4pts, 10th= Ding Liren, Ju Wenjun 3.5pts, 12th Van Foreest 3pts, 13th= Maghsoodloo, Donchenko 2.5pts.

Round 9 23rd Jan 12pm is the away day at the AFAS Circustheater in Scheveningen Donchenko-Firouzja, Gukesh-Vidit, Praggnanandhaa-Ju Wenjun, Maghsoodloo-Warmerdam, Abdusattorov-Van Foreest, Wei-Nepomniachtchi, Ding-Giri.

Round 8 Summary

Ian Nepomniachtchi further fired the intrigue at the top of the Masters when he defeated the leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov and moved within half a point of the leaders himself. The opening was a d3 Giuoco Piano (started as a Two Knights and I think this may be strictly called the Giuoco Pianissimo) and the key moments were between moves 17 and 24 where the game went from basically balance to basically lost for black. 18.c5!? broke up black's pawns structure, the computers still think black is alright but without dynamic compensation he's going to be worse. 18...dxc5 is probably not the best way, 18...Rad8 is preferred by the engines, 21...Rd8?! (21...Bd8!) seems the next concession from black, 22...Qb4?! (22...Nb5) 23...Nb5?! (23...f6 protecting the pawn) 24...Qc3?! (24....f6 again should be tried). After this white quickly becomes a pawn up and has all the compensation too. Black fought on until move 65 but the game was as good as over.

Alireza Firouzja's rollercoaster tournament continued with a win against World Champion Ding Liren. Ding has been ghostly presence here with just his Round 3 win against Gukesh making an real impact. Today Ding completely equalised before blundering his position away with one bad move in a tactical sequence. 17.Rxe7 Nxe7 18.Rxd4 had to be met by 18... Nfd5 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Nxd5 Bxd5 21. Rxd5 Rac8 22. Qd2 bxa3 (or 22... Rfd8) as it was 18...Qc7?? 19.Ne4 Qxc2 20.Nxf6+ left him completely lost, whilst Ding was entitled to play on it was a bit pointless.

Santosh Vidit against Alexander Donchenko was a Ragozin defence 15.Rad1 (15.Qb3) was the novelty. After 25.Na5 it became clear the position was absolutely equal and the game was drawn in 43 moves.

Max Warmerdam drew against Praggnanandhaa in a Bogo-Indian in 43 moves. After 16...Nbd7 (16...c5) the engines suggest white had a little something, something but 28.Bc4 (28.Bh3!) and 31.Bc4 were inaccuracies that led to a level position again. Anish Giri got absolutely nothing out of the opening against Wei Yi's Schlechter Gruenfeld setup and after 10...c5, which was a novelty pieces were traded steadily until a draw was agreed in 33 moves.

Jorden van Foreest was clearly at least a little better against Parham Maghsoodloo in a Moscow Variation of the Sicilian. 23.a5 (23.b5) was perhaps a step in the wrong direction but so probably was black's 25...Ne8 (25...Nc4=) and then also 26.f4 from white (26.Ng3 is recommended, I think with the idea of a later Nf1-e3-d5). The position became dead level after 38.Nxe4 (38.Bxg7 may have left something to play for) and the game was drawn on move 41.

Ju Wenjun drew against Gukesh in 48 moves. The opening was a Bogo Indian where white was allowed to set up a broad centre before being immediately demolished with 6...d5 and 8...c5. Black flirted with equality until he got it after 17.Be4 Nxe4. Taking Queen's off with 24.Qxf7+ when black had the weaker King was a mistake (24.Qe2 or Qc3 or Qc1, one of those should have been chosen) leaving black with a modest advantage. It's hard to say whether 25...e4 26.f4 exf3 was a good sequence by either side as there were alternatives but they quickly arrived at the key position and Ju found strictly the only move, the cheeky 35.Nf4+ relying on a tactical sequence not to lose a piece, the only real alternative in fact was 35.Nc3 which would have left black better, as it was this was dead equal and the game was soon drawn.

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.	Gukesh, D	g	IND	2725	*	0	.	½	.	1	.	1	1	½	0	1	.	.	5	2797
2.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2749	1	*	.	0	½	.	½	.	½	1	.	.	½	1	5	2796
3.	Firouzja, Alireza	g	FRA	2759	.	.	*	½	0	.	.	½	1	0	1	1	1	.	5	2793
4.	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	g	UZB	2727	½	1	½	*	.	0	½	.	½	.	½	.	1	.	4½	2793
5.	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	g	IND	2742	.	½	1	.	*	½	.	½	.	½	½	½	.	½	4½	2737
6.	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	g	RUS	2769	0	.	.	1	½	*	½	1	.	½	.	.	½	½	4½	2729
7.	Praggnanandhaa, R	g	IND	2743	.	½	.	½	.	½	*	½	½	.	1	½	½	.	4½	2769
8.	Warmerdam, Max	g	NED	2625	0	.	½	.	½	0	½	*	.	½	.	1	.	1	4	2701
9.	Wei, Yi	g	CHN	2740	0	½	0	½	.	.	½	.	*	.	½	.	1	1	4	2733
10.	Ju, Wenjun	g	CHN	2549	½	0	1	.	½	½	.	½	.	*	.	0	.	½	3½	2668
11.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2780	1	.	0	½	½	.	0	.	½	.	*	.	½	½	3½	2684
12.	Van Foreest, Jorden	g	NED	2682	0	.	0	.	½	.	½	0	.	1	.	*	½	½	3	2603
13.	Maghsoodloo, Parham	g	IRI	2740	.	½	0	0	.	½	½	.	0	.	½	½	*	.	2½	2602
14.	Donchenko, Alexander	g	GER	2643	.	0	.	.	½	½	.	0	0	½	½	½	.	*	2½	2563

Round 8 (January 21, 2024)
Giri, Anish	- Wei, Yi	½-½	33	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
Firouzja, Alireza	- Ding, Liren	1-0	43	D40	Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	- Donchenko, Alexander	½-½	43	D38	QGD Ragozin
Nepomniachtchi, Ian	- Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	1-0	65	C55	Two Knights Defence
Warmerdam, Max	- Praggnanandhaa, R	½-½	43	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Ju, Wenjun	- Gukesh, D	½-½	52	E11	Bogo Indian Defence
Van Foreest, Jorden	- Maghsoodloo, Parham	½-½	41	B51	Sicilian Rossolimo

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	*	.	1	½	0	.	1	1	½	.	.	½	1	.	5½	2741
2.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	.	*	.	1	½	½	0	½	1	½	.	.	1	.	5	2680
3.	Salem, A.R. Saleh	g	UAE	2630	0	.	*	.	1	.	½	½	.	1	1	0	.	1	5	2667
4.	Mendonca, Leon Luke	g	IND	2608	½	0	.	*	1	½	.	.	1	0	.	.	1	1	5	2638
5.	Korobov, Anton	g	UKR	2663	1	½	0	0	*	½	.	.	½	.	1	.	.	1	4½	2585
6.	Dardha, Daniel	g	BEL	2602	.	½	.	½	½	*	½	½	½	.	.	1	½	.	4½	2642
7.	Santos Latasa, Jaime	g	ESP	2615	0	1	½	.	.	½	*	.	½	.	0	1	.	1	4½	2592
8.	Niemann, Hans Moke	g	USA	2692	0	½	½	.	.	½	.	*	.	1	1	½	.	0	4	2558
9.	Dronavalli, Harika	g	IND	2500	½	0	.	0	½	½	½	.	*	½	.	.	1	.	3½	2543
10.	Vrolijk, Liam	g	NED	2573	.	½	0	1	.	.	.	0	½	*	0	1	½	.	3½	2528
11.	Divya, Deshmukh	m	IND	2420	.	.	0	.	0	.	1	0	.	1	*	0	½	1	3½	2537
12.	Yilmaz, Mustafa	g	TUR	2665	½	.	1	.	.	0	0	½	.	0	1	*	.	0	3	2473
13.	Beukema, Stefan	m	BEL	2428	0	0	.	0	.	½	.	.	0	½	½	.	*	1	2½	2394
14.	Roebers, Eline	m	NED	2381	.	.	0	0	0	.	0	1	.	.	0	1	0	*	2	2397

Round 8 (January 21, 2024)
Salem, A.R. Saleh	- Maurizzi, Marc'Andria	0-1	59	D43	Anti-Meran Gambit
Santos Latasa, Jaime	- Dronavalli, Harika	½-½	31	C60	Ruy Lopez
Niemann, Hans Moke	- L'Ami, Erwin	½-½	55	D36	QGD Exchange
Korobov, Anton	- Mendonca, Leon Luke	0-1	32	C07	French Tarrasch
Divya, Deshmukh	- Roebers, Eline	1-0	30	C15	French Winawer
Vrolijk, Liam	- Beukema, Stefan	½-½	52	A07	Barcza System
Yilmaz, Mustafa	- Dardha, Daniel	0-1	37	D27	QGA