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Tuesday, 18 Jan 2022 22:46
Tata Steel Masters: Mamedyarov and Praggnanandha win

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa bounced back after yesterday’s defeat and scored his first victory in the Tata Steel Masters 2021 over Nils Grandelius. The Swedish GM is having a very tough tournament so far. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also notched up his first win, outfoxing Jan-Krzysztof Duda in endgame complications. All other games were drawn. Vidit Gujrathi preserved his top position going into the first rest day as a sole leader.

Magnus Carlsen and Jorden Van Foreest played a very exciting and entertaining game in which the World Champion missed a chance to catch up with the leader. The Dutchman did not shy away from complications in a stonewall type position as he boldly sacrificed a pawn and later on another for an active play on the kingside. Jorden did not even hesitate to offer the dark-squared bishop sacrifice (which Magnus declined), but on the move 37, he gave his opponent a golden opportunity to obtain a decisive material advantage. However, Magnus did not venture upon evacuating his king to the centre (38.Ke2!), with the position quickly liquidating into an equal rook + bishop vs queen endgame. A draw was agreed on move 54.   

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov scored his first-ever victory over Jan-Krzysztof Duda in a see-saw game, although at some point, his opponent was in command. In the Queen’s Gambit Declined, the opponents followed the encounter Carlsen – Radjabov (2021) until the move 15, when the Azerbaijani GM introduced a novelty 15.Ng3 (the third line of Stockfish). Duda handled things with confidence, while Mamedyarov overpressed with 26.Re8 and found himself down a pawn in a tough but still very complicated position. Luckily for Shakhriyar, being in severe time trouble,  Jan-Krzysztof, first let his advantage slip away, then missed a draw and capitulated right after reaching time control.

The leader Vidit Gujrathi and Andrey Esipenko tested a popular line of the Italian Opening in which Russian GM steadily held his ground with Black. Andrey even emerged a pawn up, but White had sufficient counterplay. Probably satisfied with a half-point, Esipenko opted not to ask further questions and took a draw.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandha won a fine positional game in Gruenfeld Defense against Nils Grandelius that reminds of masterpieces by Tigran Petrosian in the King’s Indian Defense. After an instructive exchange of his dark-squared bishop for a knight in a closed position, the Indian youngster seamlessly executed a classical plan of playing against the opponent’s so-called bad bishop and pulled out a well-deserved victory in a rook endgame.

After Fabiano Caruana did not manage to pose serious problems for Daniil Dubov on the white side of Anti-Marshall, the opponents gradually steered into a completely drawn endgame and buried the hatchet.

Sergey Karjakin and Anish Giri spent just a few minutes reconstructing a well-known theoretical draw by repetition in Gruenfeld defence, while Sam Shankland and Richard Rapport quickly traded minor pieces and queens in the Petroff Defence and shook hands in an equal rook ending.

Standings after Round 4: 1. Vidit Gujrathi – 3; 2-6. Magnus Calsen, Richard Rapport, Andrey Esipenko, Jorden Van Foreest and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – 2½; 7-9. Fabiano Caruana, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Praggnanandhaa R. – 2; 10-13. Sam Shankland, Sergey Karjakin, Daniil Dubov, Anish Giri, – 1½; Nils Grandelius – ½.

Official website: tatasteelchess.com/

Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022