Alireza Firouzja scored his second straight victory and emerged as the sole leader after Round 2 of the Tata Steel Masters 2024 in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Gukesh D defeated Wei Yi and joined Anish Giri and Ian Nepomiachtchi, who drew their games. This trio is trailing the leader by a half-point. Max Warmerdam came off victorious in a Dutch derby beating Jorden Van Foreest.
Alireza Firouzja – Parham Maghsoodloo | 1-0, 43 moves
The game saw a sharp line of the Ruy Lopez Berlin in which White sacrifices two pawns for the initiative. Most likely, Parham either forgot or mixed up his preparation as a novelty he introduced (20…Be6 instead of 20…c6) will hardly find followers.
After a precise sequence, 19. Bc4! Bd4+ 20. Kh1 Bf7 21. Qe4 Bc5 22. Ne7+ Kf8 23. Qxh7, Alizera gained a considerable advantage.
Black gave up his queen, for which he got almost sufficient material equivalent, but with poorly coordinated pieces and a weak king, his position was defenceless. As soon as White snatched Black’s central pawns and advanced his h-pawn, Parham threw in the towel.
Wei Yi – Gukesh D | 0-1, 33 moves
The opponents followed a recent game, Praggnanandhaa – Vidit (Tata Steel India 2023), in the Giocco Piano up to a certain point, but Black deviated with 12…Qc8 (instead of 12…Rg8). The players manoeuvred in a position with a little edge for White, but around move 21, things went awry for Wei.
Instead of the natural 21.Bd3, the Chinese GM opted for 21.c4?! and after 21...exd4 22. Nd5 Qd8 played 23. Nxd4, which was met with a very strong response 23…Bc5! White ended up in an inferior position with numerous weaknesses and spiralled into self-destruction, sacrificing too much material: 24. Nb3 Ba3 25. Nxc7 Qxc7 26. c5 Bxc1 27. cxd6 Qb6 28. dxe7 Rfc8. After a few moves down the road, it was all over for Wei.
Jorden Van Foreest – Max Wanderdam | 0-1, 40 moves
The game was decided on move 19, when in a roughly equal position, Jorden played the tempting 19.e5? but missed a very strong response.
19…Qc5! It turns out that 20.exf6 fails to 20…Qf5! Taken aback, Van Foreest did not find the most stubborn 20.Rhe1 and opted for 20.Bxe6, but after 20... fxe5 21. Qxc5 Bxc5 22. Bh6? Bd4! 23. Bb3 Rd6! had to give up an exchange (24. Rxd4 exd4). Wanderdam activated his rooks, centralized the king and forced the opponent’s capitulation right after reaching the time control.
Anish Giri – Vidit Gujrathi | ½-½, 35 moves
The players tested a trendy line of the Exchange Variation in Slav Defence in which Black leaves his h7-pawn unprotected for a while. On move 17 Anish introduced a new but quite logical move breaking through in the center, but Vidit was just in time to castle and coordinate his pieces, reaching equality. As soon as the opponents exchanged most of the pieces and treaded weak pawns on d4 and e6, they shook hands, splitting a point.
Ding Liren – Alexander Donchenko | ½-½, 37 moves
After yesterday’s defeat, Alexander boldly essayed the King’s Indian as Black. After Donchenko played the thematic d6-d5, breaking in the center, Ding introduced a new move 14. Qc1, attacking the h6-pawn that allowed Black to solve all the opening problems. At first glance, White still had some edge, but Donchenko accurately traded most of the pieces. A draw was agreed in a dead-equal rook endgame.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov – Praggnanandhaa R | ½-½, 47 moves
The Indian GM demonstrated excellent preparation in the Catalan and completely equalized by move 15. In the rest of the game, the opponents played with great accuracy, gradually traded most of the pieces and signed a piece in an equal rook endgame.
Ian Nepomniachtchi – Ju Wenjun | ½-½, 80 moves
In a long theoretical line of the Catalan, the first original move was 19…c5 by Ju, who equalized. Having a minimal edge in an endgame, Ian tried his best to grind his opponent down, but the Women’s World Champion built an impregnable fortress. White even sacrificed a pawn in a rook endgame, but to no avail. A draw was agreed with only two rooks and kings left on the board.
Standings after Round 2
|
1 |
Firouzja, Alireza |
FRA |
2759 |
2 |
|
2-4 |
Gukesh, D |
IND |
2725 |
1½ |
|
2-4 |
Giri, Anish |
NED |
2749 |
1½ |
|
2-4 |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
FIDE |
2769 |
1½ |
|
5-10 |
Warmerdam, Max |
NED |
2625 |
1 |
|
5-10 |
Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi |
IND |
2742 |
1 |
|
5-10 |
Praggnanandhaa, R |
IND |
2743 |
1 |
|
5-10 |
Abdusattorov, Nodirbek |
UZB |
2727 |
1 |
|
5-10 |
Wei, Yi |
CHN |
2740 |
1 |
|
5-10 |
Ding, Liren |
CHN |
2780 |
1 |
|
11-13 |
Ju, Wenjun |
CHN |
2549 |
½ |
|
11-13 |
Donchenko, Alexander |
GER |
2643 |
½ |
|
11-13 |
Maghsoodloo, Parham |
IRI |
2740 |
½ |
|
14 |
Van Foreest, Jorden |
NED |
2682 |
0 |
Photos: Jurriaan Hoefsmit and Lennart Ootes – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2024
Official website: tatasteelchess.com