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
| Round | Date and Time |
|---|---|
| 11 | January 31, 13:00 UTC |
| 12 | February 1, 13:00 UTC |
| 13 | February 2, 13:00 UTC |
Leaderboard
GM Max Warmerdam vs. GM Gukesh D 0-1
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
World champion GM Gukesh D’s continued proclivity to get into worse positions to make the game more complicated has been quite an effective strategy. Gukesh’s hunger to win was on full display today as he played 1…d6 against 1. e4, a very rare move at the top level and an invitation to various uncommon openings against 1. e4. GM Max Warmerdam clearly did not want to enter the lion’s den unprepared, so, without spending much time on the clock, he fianchettoed his light-squared bishop. Gukesh grabbed space with 2…c5, steering the game into a Closed Sicilian-esque position. With Warmerdam’s ideal central pawns on d4 and e4, though, Gukesh seemed to be on the back foot, but as Warmerdam misplaced his knights, Gukesh was objectively barely worse. Warmerdam’s eagerness to exchange pieces, starting with the positionally-sound, albeit tactically dangerous, 24. Bf1 was a sign of what was to come as Gukesh opened up the f-file and eyed White’s king. Warmerdam was not yet lost, but after he allowed an unpreventable loss of his g3-pawn, starting with 28…Ne4 and 29…Qb8!!, his position crumbled rapidly.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/go9iyU4L#0
GM Praggnanandhaa R vs. GM Vladimir Fedoseev 1-0
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
GM Vladimir Fedoseev clearly misplayed his Tarrasch Defense preparation against GM Praggnanandhaa R, giving the latter a very easy game. It was not solely the opening to blame, however, as Praggnanandhaa’s conversion was not entirely perfect. Fedoseev’s biggest chance came on move 31, when he could have played 31…Rxe4! 32. Rxe4 Bxd1 33. Qxd1, achieving what the engine evaluates as a tenable position. Instead, Fedoseev played 31…Rh5 and was never in the game after that point.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/GYhdW6D0#0
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. GM Alexey Sarana 1-0
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov’s 7. g4 against GM Alexey Sarana’s Sicilian Najdorf was a strategically-minded aggressive pawn push, one which both sides were not all too deeply prepared for as they were spending quite a bit of time in the opening. After 13. f4, White’s pawns looked intimidating, but as Black was not yet castled, and in fact later decided to forego castling altogether, the pawns seemed to be more of a weakness than a strength. Abdusattorov waded through the complications masterfully, though, and a timely 36. e5 pawn push, which was perhaps not objectively best, flustered Sarana. In time pressure, Sarana could not find the best defense and Abdusattorov accurately avoided any semblance of a perpetual with an aesthetically pleasing king march.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/i2K8LZWD#0
GM Pentala Harikrishna vs. GM Fabiano Caruana 1/2-1/2
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
GM Pentala Harikrishna broke the same opening principle multiple times against GM Fabiano Caruana as he moved his queen over half a dozen times in the opening. As the old adage goes, however, to break the rules, you must first master them. In fact, many of Harikrishna’s queen moves were rather precise, and only a couple, and that more so in the middlegame, were inaccurate. It was actually in the endgame where Harikrishna blundered as he did not find the correct plan to counteract Caruana’s queenside pawn push. Harikrishna then went for a pawn race which Caruana had already spectacularly calculated to a win. That is, until Caruana blundered the conversion with 46…Rg3??. Harikrishna blundered right back with 48. Rh1??, missing 48. Rf1! with 49. Kc1 and Kb1 to follow. Caruana then blundered yet again with 49…Rg1??, missing the winning 49…Rf3!. By that point, there was not many tricks in the position left, and the game, much to Harikrishna’s great relief and Caruana’s immense disappointment, ended in a draw.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/po8MBbFc#0
GM Wei Yi vs. GM Jorden Van Foreest 1/2-1/2
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
GM Wei Yi’s 5. Nc3 was already a rare move in the Italian opening, and the game soon went down a more uncommon path as GM Jorden van Foreest followed up with 6…Bg4. The position was certainly more equal than not, and Wei did not want to play on with moves such as 17. Rb1, for example, while van Foreest with the Black pieces was also content with an early draw.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/UtGOdBA6#0
GM Leon Luke Mendonca vs. GM Anish Giri 1/2-1/2
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
GM Leon Luke Mendonca’s king fianchetto was certainly rather odd-looking, but with the king being so well-protected and naturally making use of the f2 square, it was clear that GM Anish Giri could not exploit White’s king sortie. In fact, with the rook on h1, White had the possibility to play for more with 16. h4, but both players decided to call it a day as they went for mass liquidation which saw an equal double rook endgame arise by move 25.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/kOKKlbPB#0
GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. GM Vincent Keymer 1/2-1/2
Photo credit: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess
GM Arjun Erigaisi’s 8. h3 signaled his intention to sidestep his beloved Marshall Gambit and play for a win, but, simply put, GM Vincent Keymer was too well-prepared and effectively neutralized White’s first-move advantage without much trouble. There was still some intrigue left as by move 27, Arjun had barely spent any time on his moves, while Keymer was burning a lot of clock. However, Arjun’s unopposed dark-squared bishop could not attack Black’s camp, and soon enough a pure opposite-colored bishop endgame arose and it was time to shake hands.
https://lichess.org/study/embed/Cxynl5MH/8xBXUSQh#0
Round 11 Pairings
| Player (White) | Player (Black) |
|---|---|
| GM Gukesh D | GM Wei Yi |
| GM Fabiano Caruana | GM Praggnanandhaa R |
| GM Vincent Keymer | GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov |
| GM Vladimir Fedoseev | GM Leon Luke Mendonca |
| GM Anish Giri | GM Max Warmerdam |
| GM Alexey Sarana | GM Pentala Harikrishna |
| GM Jorden van Foreest | GM Arjun Erigaisi |