Rating analytics: Do ratings help to predict future champions?
Kaspars Migla is the creator and founder of chessratings.top. In his column, he analyzes monthly FIDE standard rating changes, career-high ratings, rating distribution by country, continent, region, and other rating-related statistics. In this edition, he tries to establish a correlation between the rating of juniors with their future achievements. In chess, the title of World Champion is contested by the strongest challengers determined by objective criteria known as rating. The career of the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen illustrates the point. He became #1 in the rating list on January 1, 2010, succeeding Veselin Topalov on the top and three years later in 2013 won the World Champion title. Since then Magnus has been not only an uncontested chess leader but also a role model and a man to beat and surpass. In order to figure out his competitors in the near future, a special option of rating comparison was designed at chessratings.top. Any player can be compared against another rating-wise at a particular age (which is calculated not by the exact day of birth but simply a year when a player reached a particular age). This information is more than enough to identify several up-and-coming young talents whose ratings are higher than that of Carlsen at the same age. Among those who are running ahead of Carlsen’s rating schedule, Alireza Firouzja is the most prominent one. On January 1, 2020, his rating reached 2723 points, whereas Carlsen at the same age had 2690. You can check out the comparison of these players here. Photo: John Saunders Figouzja stands alone in the U-18 category but when it comes to the U-16 group, there are three players outperforming the World Champion – Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan, 2635), Nihal Sarin (India, 2618) and Praggnanandhaa R (India, 2602). All these teenagers reached chess maturity, i.e. became grandmasters. Several youngsters from the U-12 category, namely CM Abhimanyu Mishra (USA, 2397), FM Marco Materia, (France, 2320), FM Liran Zhou (USA,2307) and FM Aldiyar Ansat (Kazakhstan, 2263) also stack up well against Carlsen at their age – all these boys have higher ratings. Abhimanyu Mishra really stands out in this group with rating of more than 300 points higher than that of Carlsen at the age of 11. Magnus got his first rating (2064) in April 2001. He was in the U-12 which is very late by modern standards. Checking out the rating list of April 2001 in the U-12 category we see that the current World Champion was sitting at 61st position, 200 points behind the future Challenger Sergey Karjakin (2262). Interestingly, there were 9 (!) Chinese players in the top 13. We won’t analyze the categories U-8 and U-10 for at least two reasons. Firstly, many boys and girls just start learning chess at this age; secondly, we can’t compare their ratings with that of Carlsen (Magnus got his first rating being in the U-12 category). Photo: Andreas Kontokanis In women’s chess Hou Yifan (China, 2664), the #1 among active players, holds all “youngest-ever” records (rating, titles, various achievements) and is head and shoulders above her closest competitors. It is up to our readers what type of conclusions to draw from these statistics. It is clear that rating is a good indicator of chess strength, but in order to become the best not only among juniors but also in open competitive chess mere raw talent is not enough. In order to make progress, one has to constantly work on his or her chess development. Only this approach guarantees good results in the future. Kaspars Migla, https://www.chessratings.top/
WWCC Game 11: Calm before the storm
Game 11 of the Women’s World Championship Match ends in a draw after 40 moves. Defending champion Ju Wenjun is leading 6-5. In the final game on Jan 23, the challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina has White in a must-win situation. With just two games remaining in the match, World Champion Ju Wenjun (playing white) today had a decision to make. Go for everything and finish Aleksandra Goryachkina off, or save some much-needed energy, and play calm, solid, risk-off chess. Goryachkina, who prior to losing Games 9 and 10, had not lost consecutive games in nearly two years, was not sure what her opponent would do either. All of these questions were very quickly resolved. By move 20, the only mystery left in the game was how quickly will the players reach the obligatory 40 moves. They managed to achieve this in just over an hour — by far the quickest game of this match. The first 10 games averaged 67 moves and nearly all were well into the fifth hour of play. After the game, Goryachkina said that the rest day helped her to restore some much-needed equilibrium. Game 12 Notes: – Playing white, Goryachkina needs a win to force tie-breaks. – Ju has had major problems with black the whole match. If this pattern continues, Goryachkina should be able to have serious chances to equalize. – Last game heroics aren’t new to World Championship Matches. In modern history, Kramnik vs. Leko (2004), and more famously Kasparov vs. Karpov (1987) both ended in dramatic decisive games. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Eteri Kublashvili Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
FIDE Congress and Extraordinary General Assembly 2020 in Abu Dhabi
FIDE is pleased to communicate the following information regarding the FIDE Congress and Extraordinary General Assembly 2020 in Abu Dhabi: DATES: The dates of the Congress are 26 February (arrival) – 1 March (departure) 2020. This is the provisional schedule (subject to adjustments): February 26 – Arrivals.February 27 – FIDE Commission meetings (Constitutional, Ethics, Planning and Development and Verification).Seminar on Chess Federation Management for Development Levels 3-5, facilitated by FIDE Planning and Development Commission.February 28 – FIDE Extraordinary General AssemblyZonal and/or Continental Meetings.February 29 – FIDE Executive Board.Additional meetings (if necessary), Seminar on Chess Federation Management Levels 3-5 by FIDE Planning and Development Commission (if necessary).March 1 – Departures We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that all FIDE meetings, including the EGA, will be based on electronic desktop documentation. Therefore, we advise you to make your own arrangements, should you prefer having printed documents. VENUE: The venue of the FIDE Congress and Official hotel is Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi 5*. The cost of the rooms in Dusit Thani per night with full board is: Single room – 160 USD Double room – 100 USD per person VISA More than 70 different countries are eligible for a 30-day or 60-day UAE visa on arrival. You can check the complete list and requirements in the following link by Emirates. In case you require a visa, the cost is $50 per person. For visa application and hotel bookings, please send the following documents to Mr. Casto Abundo at casto.abundo@gmail.com with cc to office@asianchess.com – Digital scanned color passport copy. – Passport size color photo in .jpg format. – Flight details. – UAE FIDE Congress registration form (download) The documents should be submitted by the deadline of 30th January to confirm hotel booking and visa purposes. TRANSFER FROM/TO AIRPORTS The fee of $100 covers registration and transportation back and forth from Abu Dhabi Airport. For those arriving at Dubai and Sharjah airports, fee is $160 for registration and transportation from Dubai and Sharjah airports, pick up and drop off. All payments should be done to the ACF bank account (Please state your name when making the transfer): Account Name: Asian Chess FederationUS Dollar Account Number: 11381190Bank: Abu Dhabi Islamic BankAddress: Al Murabba Branch, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates P.O.Box: 68739SWIFT Code: abdiaeadIBAN: AE640500000000011381190
Tata Steel Masters 2020: Caruana and Carlsen top the leaderboard
Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana are the two best players in classical chess. They have been at the top of the FIDE rating list for the last few years, taking first prizes most of classical chess tournaments in recent history and faced each other in the last World Championship match. In Round 10 of Tata Steel Masters Magnus and Fabiano proved their toughness winning key games and forging into the lead in Wijk aan Zee. Caruana had White against a tournament sensation Alireza Firouzja right after the latter lost his game versus Carlsen – the tournament schedule wasn’t kind to the youngster. Firouzja didn’t seem to be shaken though – he surprised Caruana twice, first time with a double-edged King’s Indian and then with a very rare move 6…Nc6. Fabiano was out of the book quickly and felt a bit worried as his opponent kept blitzing moves. It looks like only 11…b6 was a novelty, and the key moment occurred on move 14 when Caruana boldly played 14.g5 provoking a tempting piece sacrifice by Black. Engines approve on this and agree with Caruana who felt that he was at least not worse in the arising position with a bishop against 4 pawns. American GM puzzled out the secret of the position – Black’s pawn on d6 was a clog for his rooks, and it was very important not to take it with the queen. Caruana also was right that Black’s advancing his pawn army would expose the king. This exact scenario happened in the game and White’s attack was short and convincing. Firouzja probably could have played better around move 30 (30…h5! preventing h3-h4 was worth considering), but in general, he has nothing to blame himself for. He gambled a bit, and Caruana was just a better player tonight. Magnus Carlsen had a much easier task today as he was practically winning against Vladislav Kovalev right after the opening. Spectators and opponents started to forget how dangerous the World Champion could be after the first 7 games/draws, but the lion is back now. 13…a6 was definitely too slow, and after that Carlsen was unstoppable. When he broke through in the center with 18.e4! we could start writing this part of the report as the World #1 is ruthless in these positions. After 10 rounds the order is restored in the chess kingdom. Caruana is leading with 7 points – actually, it’s already his best score in Wijk aan Zee, and there are still three rounds to go. Carlsen is in clear second and only half a point behind. There is practically no doubt that one of them will lift the trophy on Sunday when the event is over. Apart from two Big C’s, Jeffery Xiong was the only winner today as he kind of recovered after his mid-tournament troubles. He got a classical endgame advantage against Vladislav Artemiev as his rook was much more active – his opponent from Russia sacrificed a pawn to activate his rook, but White managed to get connected passed pawns on “a” and “b” files and the game got beyond the point of no return for Black. In a few drawn games today the curtain fell a bit too early. Daniil Dubov was slightly better against Anish Giri and could have tortured him for a while without any risk but decided against testing the Dutchman’s legendary defensive technique. Nikita Vitiugov is probably very disappointed with his performance in Tata Steel as he missed several very good opportunities and made a horrible blunder against van Foreest – that is the reason he probably didn’t believe himself when he got a clear edge playing with Black against Vishwanathan Anand. He got an extra pawn with no compensation for White in sight, but just forced a draw by repetition. Yu Yangyi also had an extra pawn for the biggest part of the game against Wesley So and tried everything to get his first tournament win but Wesley So is just too good of a defender to let this happen. As always, Jorden van Foreest played one of the most entertaining games of the round – this time with a clear help of his adversary, Jan-Krzystof Duda. The Dutchman played 2.c3 against the Sicilian, but Duda had no troubles equalizing and then securing some advantage thanks to the pair of bishops. Feeling that something went wrong van Foreest sacrificed a pawn with 27.b4!? but if Duda had reacted with 30…a5 the 20-year-old from Utrecht would still have had serious problems. 30…Kh7 allowed White to escape with a nice queen sacrifice that lead to a perpetual check. Thursday will be the last day off; the tournament will continue on Friday. Both leaders will have Black – Caruana versus Kovalev and Carlsen is facing Duda. Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/ Photo: Alina l’Ami Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 10: 1. Caruana – 7; 2. Carlsen – 6.5; 3-4. Van Foreest, So – 6; 5-6. Duda, Firouzja – 5.5; 7-8. Dubov, Giri – 5; 9-11. Artemiev, Anand, Xiong – 4.5; 12-13. Vitiugov, Yu Yangyi – 3.5; 14. Kovalev – 3
Regulations for Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled
FIDE publishes the Regulations for Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled. FIDE is happy to announce that the first Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled will take place from July 28th till August 5th, 2020 in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia. Please check the Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled in the FIDE Calendar 2020. All FIDE National Federations are requested to provide FIDE with the list of the disabled chess players of their respective federations. The selection of teams for the 1st World Chess Paralympiad will be made based on the rating system (See Point 2 of the Regulations). A federation with higher rated players has more chances to participate in the Chess Olympiad 2020, Competition for disabled. FIDE has already received disabled players’ lists from most of the federations. Please check the lists here: http://dis.fide.com/. Should you have additional players, please fill in the Disabled Players’ Form and send it to the FIDE Vice President Akaki Iashvili at iashvili.fide@gmail.com. Before sending the Form, please make sure that your disabled players have FIDE IDs. The deadline for receipt of Disabled Player’s Form is February 10th, 2020. Looking forward to your participation.
Fier and Ter-Sahakyan win national championships
Photo: Andreas Kontokanis Two national championships ended almost simultaneously on the opposite sides of the Earth. The Brazilian absolute championship brought together 16 players contesting for the title in playoff format. The event, held in Hotel Othon Suites in Natal, did not attract all the best – only four out of nine 2500+ Brazilain players participated. The final saw the battle between GMs Alexandr Fier and Andre Diamant who beat Luis Paulo Supi and Darcy Lima respectively in very close semifinal matches. It suffices to say that Alexandr and Luis Paulo had to play seven games to determine the winner. The first two games of the final were drawn but then it was all Fier who won two encounters in a row and deservedly took the title of Brazilan Champion, third in his career. Photo: www.thinkingsquares.com In the women’s section, WIM Juliana Terao won her sixth title. From January 12 to January 20 the capital of Armenia Yerevan hosted the national championship, a 10-player round-robin tournament. No one was able to able to avoid a defeat, including the eventual winner Samvel Ter-Sahakyan who overcompensated his only loss with four victories. Samvel Martirosyan and Robert Hovhannisyan finished a half-point behind the champion with former taking silver thanks to better tiebreaks (Sonnebor-Berger). Maria Gevorgyan scored impressive 8 out of 9 in the women’s event became the champion of Armenia for the fourth time in her career. Photo: Mediamax Final standings: 1. Samvel Ter-Sahakyan – 6 2. Samvel Martirosyan – 5½3. Robert Hovhannisyan – 5½4. Arman Pashikian – 55. Mamikon Gharibyan – 4½6. Aram Hakobyan – 4½7. Zaven Andriasian – 4½8. Shant Sargsyan – 49. Mikaelyan Arman – 3½10. Gabuzyan Hovhannes – 2
Tata Steel Masters 2020: World Champion outclasses Firouzja
The first classical game between two of the biggest chess talents of the XXI century, 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja and the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, was a pinnacle not only of the 9th round but of the whole tournament. Playing with Black Carlsen completely outplayed his young opponent in Ruy Lopez and secured a historic win in the first game of an epic match-up that will inevitably last for at least a decade. January 21, 2019, will be an important date in modern chess history as Firouzja and Carlsen played in classical chess for the first time. Their last blitz encounter ended with a scandal and that added some zest to the clash in Wijk aan Zee. Firouzja had a certain advantage as he was a point ahead and played with White. Carlsen admitted after the game that he was not frightened, but worried as he knew how dangerous his opponent could be in “his type of positions”. Anyway, Magnus had no choice but to strive for a complex position as he was trailing the leaders. He went for an interesting psychological twist – Carlsen played Berlin Defense as he was sure that Firouzja wouldn’t choose the main line with early queens’ exchange. He guessed right and got what he wanted – a “playable” position with a number of options for both sides. Alireza was drifting as Carlsen pointed out after the game. The youngster couldn’t find a clear plan and you can’t afford it when facing Magnus. After move 20 Black was already better and kept progressing. In a strategically lost position, Firouzja tried to complicate the matters with 32.g3 and 34.h4, but the remedy was worse than the disease. Ironically when Carlsen decided to win a piece with 39…Bxf1 it was objectively a mistake that gave White some minuscule chances to escape, but Firouzja was so disappointed that he just resigned immediately. Tough one for a young Iranian, playing under FIDE flag, but this was definitely an important lesson for him. It looks like everyone else was aware of the importance of the moment as the other 6 games were drawn. Actually, it was the round with the fewest decisive outcomes in the entire tournament. Anand’s game against Dubov ended first – Vishy was slightly better, but understandably not in a fighting mood after a drama in Round 8 game vs Caruana. Nikita Vitiugov played the lucky winner of that battle and went for the line in which Giri had tested the tournament leader in Round 2 – Fabiano Caruana came up with a slight improvement that triggered massive exchanges. Another quick draw was registered in So – Giri game – Anish sacrificed a pawn in the opening but seized control over the only open file leaving White no real chance for a win. Jorden van Foreest who is having the time of his life in Wijk aan Zee missed a real opportunity to join Caruana on the top of the leaderboard. In his game with Black against Kovalev he faced a very rare line as Vladislav chose 6.Qe2!? against Najdorf. Valiant van Foreest went for an early queen sacrifice, but Kovalev suddenly changed his mind and didn’t take the queen (10.Ne6 was mandatory) though he was forced into a very gloomy endgame after that. Soon White was down an exchange, but somehow managed to build a fortress – there is a strong feeling that Black was winning, but is not completely clear where van Foreest stumbled. Artemiev – Yu Yangyi and Duda – Xiong became the two longest games of the round. Artemiev had a huge, probably decisive advantage after the opening, but failed to convert. Duda and Xiong have already had some history between them as they played a crazy match full of twists and turns in the Round of 16 at the latest World Cup. Xiong prevailed in blitz play-off and Duda was looking for revenge today – he tried to break Xiong’s defense for 79 moves, but to no avail. After Round 9 Caruana moved to a sole lead but Carlsen, So, van Foreest and Firouzja are only half a point behind. Caruana will have White against Firouzja on Wednesday. Carlsen has a much easier pairing as he plays with Kovalev – it’s worth mentioning though that last time these two played each other (in the Grand Swiss) Carlsen was completely lost and miraculously saved a draw. Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/Photo: Alina l’Ami Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 9: 1. Caruana – 6;2-5. Firouzja, Van Foreest, So, Carlsen – 5½;6. Duda – 5;7-9. Dubov, Artemiev, Giri – 4½;10. Anand – 4;11. Xiong – 3½;12-14. Vitiugov, Yu Yangyi, Kovalev – 3.
Gibraltar International Chess Festival 2020 gets underway
One of the best open tournaments in the world, Gibraltar International Chess Festival kicked off today. The schedule of the festival includes several tournaments for amateurs and professionals. More than 500 players are taking part this year. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Wang Hao, Veselin Topalov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Kirill Alekseenko and others will fight for the first prize of £30,000 in the ‘Masters’ section. Among those who skip it this year are last year’s winner Vladislav Artemiev who chose Wijk aan Zee and one of the regulars on the rock Hikaru Nakamura, who won this event four times. High prizes for women traditionally attract a very strong field of female participants to the rock too. Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Lei Tingjie, Tan Zhongyi, and others are in the race for £20,000. Curiously, in 2012 the first place was shared by GM Nigel Short and women’s world champion GM Hou Yifan. The legend of British chess claimed the trophy by winning in the playoff. These days Nigel Short and Hou Yifan are commenting on the Women’s World Championship Match live broadcasts are available on our YouTube channel. Official site: https://www.gibchess.com/Photo: John Saunders and Niki Riga Key results of Round 1: Raahil Mullick (2382) – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2770) 0-1Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2770) – Sukandar Irine Kharisma (2402) 1-0Martin Percivaldi (2403) – Wang Hao (2758) 0-1 Veselin Topalov (2738) – Sankalp Gupta (2400) 1-0 Jovanka Houska (2401) – Navara David (2717) 0-1 Le Quang Liem (2713) – Lawrence Trent (2383) 1-0Peter Lombaers (2383) – Kirill Alekseenko (2704) 0-1Vassily Ivanchuk (2698) – Xander Wemmers (2380) 1-0Erik Hedman 2376 – Maxim Matlakov (2698) ½-½Michael Adams (2694) – Mieles Palau Daniel (2374) 1-0Evgenios Ioannidis (2373) – Ivan Cheparinov (2686) 0-1
WWCC Game 10: Ju Wenjun spurts into the lead
“Avoid euphoria: draw after a loss, also draw after a win” —Tigran Petrosian After decisive outcomes in Games 8 and 9, with just three games left in the match, what could we expect to see today? Despite a heartbreaking loss in Game 9, should we still consider Aleksandra Goryachkina to be the favorite? After all, she had two games left with White, compared to Ju Wenjun‘s one. Would the Russian player’s lack of experience in such high profile matches become a factor? Will Goryachkina attempt to take back what she felt was hers in the previous game? Oleg Gumenyuk, mayor of Vladivostok, and Alexander Verkhovsky, Chairperson of the Board of directors of the main sponsor Gidrostroy (the Vladivostok leg of the match), made the first symbolic moves in Game 10. The game began in an auspicious manner for Goryachkina, as the opponents mirrored Ganguly – L’Ami encounter that was played just yesterday at Wijk aan Zee. Goryachkina’s (playing White) first opportunity to question Ju’s preparation came on move 21. She could have opted for a natural Re5!, forcing Black to react with 22…f6, weakening the bishop on g6, and setting up dangerous play along the g-file for her rook. Instead, Goryachkina played a more pedestrian 21. Re3. It looked all but certain that the game was heading for a short draw, with players struggling to find sensible moves to reach the required 40-move minimum. What happened to Goryachkina next had more to do with sports psychology than with chess itself. Starting around move 25, the game was a dead draw—a result she could have forced at any point all through the first time control. Instead, she made moves like 26. b5 and 38. Bd5, probing for an advantage that was simply not there. Aleksandra did not appear to realize that she needed to be more careful and the position was not as one-sided in her previous games with White. At the press conference, Goryachkina admitted that she “blundered” 42…Be6 that in itself is still fine for White, but while chess engines continued to show zeros, the position suddenly became unpleasant to defend, especially against such a fine technical player as is Ju. By move 50, Goryachkina had to be extremely precise, something she was not able to keep up with in the approaching time trouble. Aleksandra collapsed with 53. Kb4?? whereas any other retreat left her some chances for a draw. Ju won and now is one point away from retaining her title. Was it Goryachkina’s lack of match experience? Was it Aleksandra’s well-documented stubbornness that her coaching team couldn’t overcome? Tomorrow’s day off could not have come sooner for the challenger. Does she have it in her to get herself together and pull out a miracle come back in the last two rounds? We will find out this week. Tomorrow, Tuesday, is a rest day. Play will be resumed on Wednesday 22. The 11th game will begin at 15:30 local time. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Eteri Kublashvili Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
Tata Steel Masters 2020: First win for Carlsen
The World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who is currently holding titles in classical, rapid and blitz chess, finally won his first Wijk aan Zee game in Round 8. In the fight for pole position, Caruana caught up with Firouzja after prevailing over Anand in a dramatic and irrational encounter. Carlsen had his first chance to score in eight rounds and he didn’t let it slip through his fingers. Nikita Vitiugov replaced Nepomniatchiy at the last moment and it definitely won’t be the case of Team Denmark in Euro 1992. In the last few rounds he was not playing his best, and it’s a sure recipe for disaster before a game against Carlsen. After the opening Vitiugov got a set-up where according to Magnus White has more psychological than a real advantage, but was playing quite passive and his position started to deteriorate. Anyway, it was far from over had Nikita played 29…Nd4. 29…f6 was definitely wrong and after 30.Bd5 Vitiugov was “fed up” with his position (this term was used by Carlsen) and just resigned immediately. Fabiano Caruana – Vishwanathan Anand game was a miracle for the American and a real chess tragedy for Anand who lost the game he was extremely close to winning. Anand playing with Black stirred up action by sacrificing his central pawn with 11…a4. It took Caruana by surprise and he decided to part with an exchange to keep his pawn structure intact. In a very complicated position, both players were playing top-notch chess (Anand’s 24…Rc1! was especially good as at that moment Caruana believed he was winning) until Fabiano panicked in the time trouble and blundered with 37.Qf6+?? (after 37.Nf6 White still had full compensation). The resulting endgame was winning for Black, but suddenly things went terribly wrong for Vishwanathan Anand. First, Vishy missed a clear win (44…Nb3) and then let his opponent keep his dangerous f7-pawn alive on several occasions. As a result, gradually Black’s position became dangerous. 52…Ra1 was the final straw that broke camel’s back – after that Caruana was playing for a win and eventually scored a full point. A painful loss for Anand, and even such a great professional will need a rest day to come through it. Jorden Van Foreest – Alireza Firouzja game was a bit overshadowed by Carlsen’s win and Caruana – Anand encounter, but the youngsters still managed to entertain spectators both in the playing hall and online. Van Foreest chose a rare 6.Rg1 in Najdorf Sicilian and then surprised the audience with 11.Kd1!? voluntarily giving up his castling option. The game transposed into a complex endgame where opponents were well-matched and a draw came as a logical outcome. Black finally had two victories in Round 8 (the score was 17-1 in favor of White before this day). Jan-Krzysztof Duda gradually outplayed Yu Yangyi in an equal rook endgame – the Chinese GM is clearly struggling in Wijk aan Zee. Vladislav Kovalev scored his first win after outlasting Jeffery Xiong. It was a typical come-from-behind victory – Xiong had a clear advantage after the opening and was looking for the moment to deliver a final blow. Then out of nowhere, he made the weirdest move of the tournament – 28.Nxa7? grabbing a triply protected pawn. It was definitely a result of some hallucination, but White’s position was so overwhelming that even being a piece down Xiong could have made a draw. Unfortunately, Jeffery was still chasing this elusive win and after 42.Rd3? fxg3 43.fxg3 h4! everything turned upside down. Kovalev realized that he had got a chance and did not let it go. Anish Giri drew his game with Vladislav Artemiev where at some moment he was even on a “worse end of a draw” as he said himself; Daniil Dubov – Wesley So was practically a no-game as a draw was agreed on move 15. Tomorrow is the rest day. Round 9 will be played on Tuesday. All eyes will be on an epic Firouzja – Carlsen encounter especially after their last game in World Blitz Championship where Firouzja was winning, lost on time and filed a protest against Carlsen’s behavior during the game that was rejected by the Appeals Committee. Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/Photo: Alina l’Ami Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 8: 1-2. Firouzja, Caruana – 5½;3-4. Van Foreest, So – 5;5-6. Duda, Carlsen – 4½;7-9. Dubov, Artemiev, Giri – 4;10. Anand – 3½;11. Xiong – 3;12-14. Vitiugov, Yu Yangyi, Kovalev – 2½.