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.
WWCC Game 9: Ju Wenjun delivers a counterpunch
Ju Wenjun strikes back, wins the 9th game and evens up the score: 4½-4½. In a game with plenty of twists and turns, the World Champion emerged victorious after 62 moves. Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Primorye region, made the first symbolic move of Game 9. Under-prepared, lethargic, uninspiring, imprecise, unintuitive are just some of the words, which have been used to describe Ju Wenjun‘s play in the first 8 games of her title defense match. Her Russian opponent appears to be better prepared, seven years younger, hungrier, more motivated, and determined to fulfill every chess player’s ambition—to become a World Champion. Ju is down a point with just four games left. She just suffered a bitter defeat, in which she was wiped off the board in a lopsided fashion. The match is in Russia and the home crowd is buzzing with expectations. What would you do, if you were in Ju’s place? Ju Wenjun showed up wearing a black bomber jacket with “Whatever” embroidered on the back and she played like it. Her second move, 2.b3, startled Aleksandra Goryachkina. For the next 40 moves, Ju just kept bringing it. Was her play perfect? Of course not. Was it sound chess? Not really. Did it work? Yes, it did. For the first time in this match, Goryachkina was on the ropes. The Russian kept going in and out of trouble, with dubious sequences (11..Kxe5 and 12..d4) followed by excellent machine-like moves (20.. Bg1 and 22..Qc8). By move 28 it appeared as if the match was over. Goryachkina was able to refute Ju’s disjointed and very opportunistic play. 28…Qb4 would have likely led to Goryachkina’s becoming the new World Champion. Experts agreed. Fans in Vladivostok and online were beginning to celebrate. It was not to be. In approaching time-trouble, Goryachkina went astray with dubious Qg2?. Three hours of ‘Whatever’ worked. Goryachkina cracked and lost her way. After the time control, Ju finally showed her class and converted a complicated endgame with Karpovian (45. Bf4!) precision. The World Champion showed her mastery and won. Game 10 will be played on Monday, January 20. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Michael Friedman and Eteri Kublashvili Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
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.
Tata Steel Masters 2020: Dubov and Giri win on a quiet day
A calm and short game between two best chess players in the world set the tone for Round 6 of Tata Steel Masters 2020. As in a few earlier rounds, White won two games, and the other five encounters ended in draws. After six rounds Black hasn’t had a single victory which is pretty unique for a chess tournament in the new era. Carlsen – Caruana game was potentially a jewel of the round, but with the champion being clearly out of form a short draw was definitely one of several possible scenarios. Unfortunately, this was the case today. Caruana chose a very solid line in the Queen’s Gambit Declined and though Carlsen was slightly pressing, Fabiano never felt he was in any real danger. “We made a lot of draws before, this was not the most spectacular,” Caruana admitted. “First five draws were the problem, this one – not so much” was Carlsen’s comment. He expressed hope that his drawing streak won’t be as long as his “no-losing” streak which is still very much alive. Both leaders – Wesley So and Alireza Firouzja – also had a peaceful day. So had White against Jan-Krzystof Duda and put some pressure in the Catalan. It isn’t easy to spot where he made an inaccuracy, but after massive exchanges, the knight endgame was already completely drawn. Firouzja, on the other hand, was in real danger in the game with Yu Yangyi. The Chinese GM chose a positional approach against Najdorf and got almost everything White dreams about in the line mastered by Efim Geller and Anatoly Karpov. Even after queens’ exchange Firouzja’s position still looked dangerous, but somehow move after move White’s advantage started evaporating – the final position was a dead draw with the opposite-colored bishops. Holding such a position is definitely an achievement for the 16-year-old. 23-year-old Daniil Dubov and 21-year-old Vlad Aremiev played numerous games against each other and they’re always fun to follow as both players are usually extremely aggressive especially with White. Today’s round went to the older one. Artemiev played Caro-Cann again but this time he chose a different set-up in the same variation with 6…Be7 (6…Ne7 against Firouzja brought him nothing, but troubles). This time the result of the opening was not that disastrous, but White still obtained a more pleasant position having control over the c-file. Dubov outmaneuvered his opponent and after Artemiev seemingly missed or underestimated 27.g4! his position became hopeless. Known for his tactic tricks Dubov didn’t miss a chance to finish the game with a nice little combo 31.Ra5! though for the player of his caliber it was a cakewalk. After this victory, the World Rapid Champion 2018 is only half a point behind the leaders. Anish Giri came back after yesterday’s disappointing loss at the expense of the tournament’s outsider Vladislav Kovalev. It was Gioco Piano only on paper as Kovalev went for an ambitious and very risky assault on the kingside. 22…f5?! was definitely too much as White didn’t do anything wrong. It looks like Black’s gutsy onslaught was doomed from the very start. Engines insist that 26.Bg1 could have just finished the game, but it’s not the move a human can easily make, though 26.Ra2 was definitely findable. Giri went for a natural 26.Nf5+ and the game went to a slightly better endgame for White. It is important to note, that Kovalev was in time trouble once again and failed to find the best defense. When the opponents reached the time control, it was already all over for Black. Xiong – Vitiugov was a completely different game in the same line – Black defended tenaciously and secured a half-point. Jorden Van Foreest and Vishy Anand who are entertaining the viewers with their games almost every day didn’t disappoint once again. In Four Knights Opening which is rarely played nowadays, Anand went for a gambit line – he sacrificed not one, but two pawns to grab the initiative and forced the white king to stay in the center. Van Foreest decided to give up his material advantage to transpose into a drawn endgame and it’s hard to blame him for that. Meanwhile, in Tata Steel Challengers Pavel Eljanov grabbed the sole lead after 6 rounds with 4.5 points. Tomorrow’s Round 7 will feature Anand – Carlsen game. Caruana – Dubov encounter will be interesting to follow also as both players are chasing the leaders. Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 6:1-2. So, Firouzja – 4;3-5. Dubov Caruana, Van Foreest – 3½;6-11. Artemiev, Xiong, Duda, Anand, Carlsen, Giri – 3;12. Vitiugov – 2½;13. Yu Yangyi – 2;14. Kovalev – 1 Official site: https://www.tatasteelchess.com/Photo: Alina l’Ami
WWCC Game 8: Goryachkina scores a crucial victory
Aleksandra Goryachkina wins the 8th game and leads the Women’s World Chess Championship by one point: 4½-3½. The World Champion Ju Wenjun only has four games left to overturn the score and retain her title. Regardless of the outcome, it has become increasingly clear that Alexandra Goryachkina is punching above her rating. In this match, she has demonstrated enviable grit, patience, and perseverance. Will it be enough to become the next World Champion? In today’s Carlsbad variation of Queen’s Gambit, Ju Wenjun (playing Black) opted for an unorthodox 8…Ne4. A quick database search showed that White scored 71% in over 70 games played. It is unclear why Ju went for this line. At the press conference, the World Champion admitted that after 17.dxc5 she felt that the game was getting out of hand and she struggled to come up with an equalizing plan. Goryachkina continued to push, while Black seemed to always go for safer, more passive moves when presented with an option to either play intuitively or defend. A good example of this was 25… Qg7, protecting a dead-weight h-pawn, instead of a much more dynamic and intuitive Nd7 — a reflection of how Ju has played this match. Game after game, around move 30, Ju has a choice between going with her gut and intuition, she seems to be choosing a much safer, less opportunistic option. Presented with a golden opportunity, Goryachkina played extremely accurately. She was not perfect: 32.b5! would have ended the game on the spot, before the time control. Nevertheless, 32.Be4 was good enough and Aleksandra was still winning. Goryachkina felt that after 37.e6 this was a game she was not going to let go. The next game is a test for Goryachkina. For the first time in the match, she is the hunted. Suddenly, this is her World Championship match to lose. In a huge psychological shift, we’ll now see what Goryachkina is truly made of. Will she be nervous? How will today’s result impact her opening preparation? What about Ju? Does she have it in her to play winning chess? A player known for aggressive, tactical brilliance, how will she react to being four games away from losing her title? Game 9 will be played on Sunday, January 19, at 15:30 local time. Ye Jiangchuan, President of the Chinese Chess Association and FIDE Vice-President, together with Efim Zvenyatsky, Art Director of the Gorky Drama Theatre made the first symbolic moves in Game 8. Former World Champion Hou Yifan joined Nigel Short. She will be a co-commentator for the remaining games of the match. Aleksandra always follows the same ritual, setting up the pieces after the game is over – regardless of the result. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Michael Friedman and Eteri Kublashvili Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.
Tata Steel Masters 2020: The Return of the King
One of the chess greatest Viswanathan Anand was the hero of Round 5 in Wijk aan Zee as he played an almost perfect game against young American Jeffery Xiong. It is Anand’s first win since he turned 50 a month ago. Round 5 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament was played at the PSV Stadium in Eindhoven. A PSV player Daniel Schwaab officially opened proceedings with a hit on the gong. It looked like Anand was poised to score right out of the gates. In a classical line of the French Defense Black gave up an opportunity to castle on move 7 and got prepared for a lengthy defense hoping to exploit White’s pawn weaknesses later in the game. Probably Xiong was not fully aware of the subtleties of this adventurous line as he chose a rare move 8…h5 and then made an obvious mistake with 11…cxd4 – after that White had a clear plan of an onslaught on the King’s side while Black was definitely struggling. Anand was attacking energetically and the only time he missed the best continuation came on move 22 when he opted for a bit slow 22.Ne2. It didn’t really change the outcome, but Xiong grabbed an opportunity to activate his pieces at the cost of a pawn. Psychology and experience helped Anand to finish the game – he offered queen exchange, and Xiong declined as he didn’t want to suffer in a worse endgame. But it was a mistake – after 31.c4! Black’s position fell apart and Jeffery was forced into a completely lost rook endgame anyway. Nice win by Anand – he is back to 50% after the drama in Round 2 versus So. Alireza Firouzja returned to the top of the leaderboard after he beat Anish Giri. Giri was doing completely fine in one of the most double-edged lines of the Queen’s Gambit Declined which was first introduced in 2011 in Grischuk – Aronian Candidates match and became popular after that, and until he lost a key tempo with 17…Be5 (the immediate 17…Qe7 that favors Black is strongly recommended by engines). Still, there was no real danger for Giri and the game was heading for a draw but Anish erroneously went for exchanges – first, he traded his bishop for a knight and then erred in the evaluation of a pawn endgame that turned out to be winning for White. A huge disappointment for Anish and Dutch fans. Fabiano Caruana was also close to catching up with the leader Wesley So as he finally found a hole in Jorden Van Foreest’s opening preparation. In a sharp line of the English Opening (David Anton scored a spectacular victory versus Alexander Grischuk in this variation at the Grand Swiss) World #2 sacrificed a piece but got an overwhelming compensation for it. Had Fabiano played a natural 19.h3 move, most likely he would have scored his second victory but after 19.Rc4 van Foreest managed to spark much-needed chemistry between his pieces and timely reminded his opponent that he had an extra piece. In the final position, Van Foreest could have played for a win, but he was happy with a draw after such a bumpy start of the game. The leader Wesley So didn’t have any chance for a win today as his opponent Vlad Kovalev was looking for a calm draw with White after a disastrous start and comfortably attained his goal. Duda – Artemiev game was a completely different affair, a real thriller where both opponents missed their chances at some point. Jan-Krzystof Duda put the board on fire by sacrificing a bishop on move 21. Stockfish doesn’t approve and recommends 24…fxg4 as a refutation of the White’s plan. It’s hard to blame Vladislav Artemiev though who opted for a more human-like 24…Bf6. Duda’s attack continued and after an inaccurate 26…Qd7 he found 27.d5! to consolidate the advantage. Polish #1 missed a chance to win when he exchanged queens as pawn endgame was easy to hold for Artemiev. Nikita Vitiugov is definitely disappointed with his result against Yu Yangyi. He had an excellent opportunity to take revenge for a tragic loss to the same opponent in the World Cup quarterfinals that is definitely still haunting the GM from Saint-Petersburg. In the Catalan, Vitiugov got the type of position to dream about but then went astray. Nikita will probably have hard time explaining why he offered a queen exchange letting his clear advantage go. The World Champion’s Magnus Carlsen troubles continue in his game against his second Daniil Dubov. Dubov helped Carlsen in his preparation for the last World Championship match against Caruana, and it definitely influenced the opening choices of both opponents. Still, Magnus told in the interview that he was happy with the results of the opening, but made a horrible mistake with automatic 17.Nc4 (17.Nf1 was the right path for the knight) and after 17…Qe6 had to switch to fighting for a draw once again. He made a “defensive pawn sacrifice” as he explained in the post-mortem and managed to save a half-point. Carlsen admitted that his “no-losing” streak had an effect on his play in the first rounds, but he was just not getting the positions he wanted after the opening. Tomorrow the tournament is returning back to Wijk aan Zee for an epic game Carlsen – Caruana. Tata Steel Masters 2020 Standings after Round 5: 1-2. So, Firouzja – 3½; 3-5. Artemiev, Caruana, Van Foreest – 3; 6-10. Dubov, Xiong, Duda, Anand, Carlsen – 2½;11-12. Giri, Vitiugov – 2;13. Yu Yangyi – 1½;14. Kovalev – 1.
WWCC Game 7: Tension builds up in Vladivostok
The 7th game of the Women’s World Championship, played in Vladivostok, ends in a draw. Ju Wenjun, with white, put some pressure on Goryachkina, but the challenger defended well and was never in serious trouble. The score is now 3½-3½ with 5 games left. Wang Xue Chun, Deputy General Consul of China in Vladivostok and Zhan Kuznetsov, Minister of Sport of Primorsky region made the first symbolic moves in Game 7. After a near-disaster in Game 6, Ju Wenjun (playing White again) probably needed to have a game in which she would only be playing for two results — a win or a draw, with little chance of losing. With 4.d3 (Anti-Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez), Ju achieved just that — a very comfortable position with some space advantage and minimum risk. Aleksandra Goryachkina (playing Black) was reduced to sitting back: however, her position had no glaring weaknesses. Therefore, computer evaluations rarely moved past +0.50 for White. Nevertheless, it must have been extremely unpleasant for Goryachkina to be at the board for so long, maneuvering without any real counterplay. The Challenger had to show a lot of character to defend a bland, slightly worse position without giving in. Such positions are often lost when a player on the passive side loses his or her patience. Aleksandra defended extremely accurately, especially after the knights came off the board. Goryachkina probably was relieved after Ju played 37.Nf5. With just four minutes on the clock, Ju was unable to work out all the complications that could have arisen from the more dynamic alternatives such as 37.h4. Despite 4 hours and 40 moves of exerting steady pressure, Ju never appeared to have a clear path to victory. Games 4-7 were going to be a real test for the challenger. Despite having one White and losing Game 4, she emerged from this stretch even, proving her highest chess level and readiness to be on the biggest stage. There are still five games left in the match and it is a bit early to be thinking about a tiebreak. However, given how tight the encounters have been so far, it seems very likely for the match to go the full distance. Official website: https://wwcm2020.fide.com Text: Michael Friedman Photos: Michael Friedman and Eteri Kublashvili Contact: press@fide.com Photos in high resolution are available for the press at our official Flickr account.