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Saturday, 18 Jan 2020 20:00
Tata Steel Masters 2020: Firouzja strikes again

Alireza Firouzja continues his sensational run in Wijk aan Zee - after his fourth win in 7 rounds, the Iranian prodigy took the sole lead again and got a real chance to win the whole tournament. Alireza will face Carlsen, Caruana, and Anand in three consecutive rounds next week, and he is looking forward to these games as "it is always interesting to play against champions".

In Round 7 Firouzja was facing another up-and-coming star Jeffery Xiong from the USA. Actually, it was a game between the two best U20 players in the world. Alireza dodged early exchanges with the Anti-Berlin line in Ruy Lopez and aggressively fought for the center with 7.c3 and 8.d4. Xiong's position was very solid, but he didn't want to defend passively and tried to engineer some active counterplay with 21...c5 and 23...d5. Engines state that 25...g5! would have fully equalized but this move looks extremely risky for the human eye; Xiong's decision to fix the pawn structure on the king's side handed Firouzja a sustainable advantage. The 16-year-old was building up pressure extremely well - the only improvement could have probably been 36.Qb2 instead of 36.Rd2. After the game, Alireza had a hard time explaining where his opponent made a crucial mistake. He was right mentioning that 43...Bb1 was a better defensive option, but Xiong's task was very difficult anyway and he didn't manage to save the game.

Another hero of the tournament is 20-year-old Jorden van Foreest, who couldn't stop smiling during his interview after a win with Black against Nikita Vitiugov. Interestingly enough, it was the first and the only Black's victory in seven rounds. It was achieved in a pretty weird way as Vitiugov inexplicably blundered a central pawn on move 10 which is an extremely rare case in classical chess. The Russian GM put up quite a fight after giving such a handicap and was very close to reaching a draw - Van Foreest lost his concentration with 37...fxg4 (37...Be8 was an easy win as Jorden rightfully mentioned after the game). In a unique endgame where two white bishops were battling Black's bishop and five (!) pawns, Vitiugov hastily took one of them with 44.Bxg4. The correct 44.Bd4! instead could have saved the game that he practically lost on move 10. Van Foreest, who finished in the last place in his debut in 2019, is at 4.5 out of 7 now.

Fabiano Caruana is flying the flag of the "old guards" in Wijk aan Zee as he turns 28 this year. Today he managed to outsmart Daniil Dubov in a very complex endgame. The chances were objectively about equal but it was Caruana who was looking for opportunities to play for a win. A key moment came on move 42 when Black should have thwarted White's plans with 42...Rb7+; 42...Kg7 played by Daniil allowed Caruana to start the knight maneuver Nd3-c1-b3-a5, and suddenly Black found himself in a tight corner. Dubov was trying to escape for 35 moves but to no avail.

Almost all of Magnus Carlsen's games have been following the same scenario: he finds himself in a worse position after the opening but manages to save draw after draw with an accurate defense. His game with Black against his predecessor on the chess throne Vishy Anand wasn't an exception. Anand was better throughout the whole game, and at some point, it looked like he could have scored a big win, but Carlsen sneaked out of danger once again. Even in the final position, Anand could have given it the last try with 56.Rb4 but decided against it.

Three other games were quite unmemorable draws. Artemiev - So and Kovalev - Yu Yangyi were always about equal. Duda and Giri repeated moves right after the opening in the Marshall Attack.

In the Challengers event, Eljanov is still leading the field.

Tomorrow two tournament heroes - Van Foreest and Firouzja - are pit against one another. Jorden will have white pieces and enthusiastic support from the local spectators who will come for a special Chess Festival Weekend.

Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/
Photo: Alina l’Ami

Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 7:
1. Firouzja - 5;
2-4. Caruana, Van Foreest, So - 4½;
5-10. Dubov, Artemiev, Duda, Anand, Carlsen, Giri - 3½;
11. Xiong - 3;
12-13. Vitiugov, Yu Yangyi - 2½;
14. Kovalev - 1½.