Gukesh Joins Leaders With g4 French • lichess.org

Tournament Information

The Tata Steel Chess tournament is one of the longest-running chess tournaments in history. It has attracted the world’s top players for decades and is currently celebrating its 87th edition. The Masters section pits 14 players in a big single-player round robin, setting the stage for exhilarating chess battles as the clash of styles and ratings makes for quite the spectacle. The Challengers section is similarly structured, and Tata Steel Chess also includes a well-attended Amateurs section.

The Lichess broadcast coverage can be found here.

Schedule

Leaderboard

GM Gukesh D vs. GM Pentala Harikrishna 1-0

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Gukesh D’s game against GM Pentala Harikrishna was quite reminiscent of Gukesh’s world championship games against GM Ding Liren, who, like Harikrishna, also employed the French Defense against Gukesh’s 1. e4. Similar also to Gukesh’s first world championship game, Gukesh played an early kingside-opening g4. Instead of Harikrishna’s normal 12…Nfe7 reaction, the engine recommends the hair-raising 12…Ncxd4, after which the position remains dynamically balanced. Gukesh played well to punish Harikrishna’s inaccuracy, but, a few moves later, the game was once again equal, at least according to the engine, as Gukesh’s queenside expansion actually relieved some pressure off Harikrishna’s position. With a series of questionable captures in 28…Rxc5?! and 29…Nxe3??, however, Gukesh infiltrated into Black’s weakened king position and converted his advantage in style with a king walk.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/RMu0V38u#0

GM Jorden Van Foreest vs. GM Praggnanandhaa R 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

Joint tournament leader GM Praggnanandhaa R’s wayward knight in the opening, coupled with GM Jorden van Foreest’s very deep preparation, was definitely a scary sight to behold. However, equally as frightening were Praggnanandhaa’s queenside rollers; the position at move 14 indeed makes for a curious impression. As matters clarified, Van Foreest emerged with an extra pawn, but Praggnanandhaa’s activity meant that Van Foreest soon had to give the pawn back, whereafter there was not much left to play for.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/TpLkaI4Q#0

GM Anish Giri vs. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov must have been quite disappointed after yesterday’s encounter with GM Gukesh D, where he failed to convert his winning advantage. Faced with the Black pieces against a clearly very well-prepared GM Anish Giri meant that Abdusattorov had to not take too many unwarranted risks. Giri’s chosen English Opening line, which quickly saw the trade of queens, did not offer much for White either and a draw was quickly agreed.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/3Yi1PSb3#0

GM Vladimir Fedoseev vs. GM Vincent Keymer 1-0

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Vladimir Fedoseev bounced back from his loss yesterday with a crushing positional turned tactical masterclass against GM Vincent Keymer. Fedoseev’s opening queenside space grab may not have been technically correct, but it was difficult to see how Black could make use of Fedoseev’s play. Keymer reacted well enough, but after he accepted Fedoseev’s sacrificed c5-pawn, he was slowly outplayed as Fedoseev’s pieces made inroads into Black’s precarious position.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/c4mykxAL#0

GM Max Warmerdam vs. GM Arjun Erigaisi 1-0

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Arjun Erigaisi’s tournament has gone from bad to worse as he lost again, this time to the tournament’s lowest seed, GM Max Warmerdam, who notched his first win. For today’s game, however, Arjun could have done little to prevent the loss as, simply put, Warmerdam played an astoundingly brilliant game. True to his style, Arjun played a rare and highly aggressive sideline of the Delayed Alapin, attacking White’s kingside with g5-g4. As soon as both sides’ knights were traded, though, it became clear that Arjun’s king, which remained in the center, was far more vulnerable than Warmerdam’s. Arjun tried to create counterplay, but he was far too underdeveloped, and by the time his inactive f8-bishop had entered the playing field, he had already been lost for several moves and could not salvage the position. Due to the accuracy of Warmerdam’s play, it was difficult to tell when exactly Arjun went wrong, but perhaps the entire kingside attack strategy could be put into question as, even though it may be objectively fine, it looked far more difficult for Arjun to play than for Warmerdam.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/YD3GurnA#0

GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Alexey Sarana 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Alexey Sarana’s piece sacrifice against GM Fabiano Caruana was a very practical and well-calculated equalizing move which saw him hold the draw against Caruana. While Caruana was never winning, nor perhaps significantly better, he was on the better side of the draw and pushed his advantage for hours. Sarana’s defense was impeccable, though, and Caruana ultimately could not break through.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/l3JeCxcT#0

GM Wei Yi vs. GM Leon Luke Mendonca 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Wei Yi’s curious c4 plan against GM Leon Luke Mendonca’s Ruy Lopez looked to be both positionally sound and questionable at the same time. On the one hand, such a space grab could greatly stifle Mendonca’s pieces; on the other hand, the b3-bishop could not be all too happy with such a move. As it turned out, Wei’s queenside play put tremendous pressure on Mendonca, who had to contend with a potential dangerous passed pawn on the queenside. Nevertheless, with superbly accurate defensive play, Mendonca was never significantly worse and held on comfortably even after he had sacrificed a pawn.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/vN9cFAUy/TDzs4Uyh#0

Round 8 Pairings