Status Quo Maintained As Caruana and Wei Win • 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 Praggnanandhaa R vs. GM Gukesh D 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Praggnanandhaa R’s Berlin Defense preparation against GM Gukesh D led to a fresh position early on. The careful moves by both sides eventually led to a position with two sets of doubled pawns on the c-file, which seemed to favor Gukesh as Praggnanandhaa’s center required careful observation. With the space-grabbing 18. d5, however, Praggnanandhaa was never significantly worse and a draw was soon agreed.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/t9KDQlLY#0

GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. GM Vladimir Fedoseev 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

Just as Praggnanandhaa in round 6, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov had the advantage of knight vs. bishop in a locked structure. GM Vladimir Fedoseev, who was defending throughout the game, did not provide a single crack, though, and Abdusattorov could do little to increase his advantage.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/eL4Oj3vz#0

GM Vincent Keymer vs. GM Fabiano Caruana 0-1

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

The opening of the tournament has to be the Positional Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Exchange Variation, which was tried yet again in today’s game between GM Vincent Keymer and GM Fabiano Caruana. By move 20, it seemed that Keymer had achieved all that he could hope for in the opening. With all his pieces so well-placed, however, it was time to find another piece improvement plan. Not only did Keymer fail to find such a plan, but he also continued to play passively, blundering with 27. Bc1??, a blunder which, technically speaking, Caruana failed to capitalize on. Nevertheless, with Keymer’s light-squared bishop missing, Caruana put on a dazzling endgame display as his bishop pair slowly but surely broke through Keymer’s position.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/2U1ryl4q#0

GM Max Warmerdam vs. GM Wei Yi 0-1

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

Objectively speaking, GM Max Warmerdam had ample compensation for the exchange he sacrificed against GM Wei Yi: a pawn in the form of a passed c-pawn and the bishop pair. Unsurprisingly, the engine, with its minuscule +0.1’s, even favored White at some point. Having said that, Warmerdam’s decision to trade off his light-squared bishop on move 24 was a portent of doom as he soon found himself facing a tough defensive task when Black’s a8-rook suddenly became active. The game remained balanced, but after a very strong pawn sacrifice by Wei on move 50 with 50…e5!!, Warmerdam’s pieces were uncoordinated and he went on to lose the game without much of a fight.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/hLu7J66K#0

GM Pentala Harikrisna vs. GM Anish Giri 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Anish Giri completely defused GM Pentala Harikrishna’s Ruy Lopez today and did not have any problems equalizing as Black. In fact, it was Harikrishna who had to be careful as Black’s b7-bishop became menacing.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/MtFZRabl#0

GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. GM Alexey Sarana 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

GM Arjun Erigaisi’s style has seen him play far too dangerously, so he decided to take the pragmatic approach today and went for a very even to slightly better, safe opening as White. GM Alexey Sarana, who has not yet lost a game, also did not mind this invitation to solidity and was content to sign the scoresheets on move 23.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/miZ31zJ3#0

GM Leon Luke Mendonca vs. GM Jorden Van Foreest 1/2-1/2

Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess

The 7. Qa4+ Grünfeld Defense is not the most common variation of the Grünfeld, but it is a sign that GM Leon Luke Mendonca came well-prepared to today’s game and was looking to play an enterprising variation to get his first win of the tournament. Indeed, after GM Jorden van Foreest’s inaccurate center-breaking 13…e5, Mendonca had a good chance to play for more, but his normal-looking 14. d5 reaction was not accurate either. From that point onward, the game was very equal; Mendonca had some slight chances to play for more in the endgame, but, ultimately, he decided to play safely and repeat moves.

https://lichess.org/study/embed/ywc5BNQT/C8QLQr3m#0

Round 9 Pairings