The 83rd edition of the strong and prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament got going at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands on Jan. 16with 14 of the world’s top players competing in a single round robin classical competition under strict COVID-19 protocols.
The twelve platers are world champion Magnus Carlsen (2862), Fabiano Caruana (2823), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2784), Anish Giri (2764), Alireza Firouzja (2749), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2743), Pentala Harikrishna (2732), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2705), Andrey Esipenko (2686), David Anton Guijarro (2675), Jorden van Foreest (2671), Alexander Donchenko (2668), Nils Grandelius (2663), and Aryan Tari (2618). The event is a Category 19 (average Elo: 2724) tournament with a time control of 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves and 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increments per move.
The opening round saw three decisions and four fighting draws, with Carlsen beating Firouzja, Giri defeating Tari and Grandelius winning over Donchenko. Incidentally, Donchenko is a last-minute replacement for Daniil Dubov who was a contact trace of a COVID-19 infected friend. The matches Caruana-van Foreest, Wojtaszek-Anton Guijarro, Harikrishna-Vachier-Lagrave and Esipenko-Duda all wound up point-splitters.
Carlsen, M (2862)-Firouzja, A (2749) [D37]
Wijk aan Zee (1.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 Be7 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.e4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.Bd3 c5 12.0-0 cxd4 13.cxd4 b6 14.a4 Bb7 15.a5 bxa5 16.Rxa5 Nf6 17.Re1 Rfd8 18.Qa1 Qc7 19.h3 a6 20.Rc5 Qf4 21.Re5 Nd7 22.Ra5 Nf6 23.d5 exd5 24.e5 Ne4 25.Qd4 Rdc8 26.Raa1 a5 27.Rab1 Bc6 28.e6 fxe6 29.Ne5 Qf6 30.f3 Ng5 31.Rb6 Be8 32.Qe3 a4 33.Ng4 Qd8 34.Rxe6 Nxe6 35.Qxe6+ Bf7 36.Nxh6+ gxh6 37.Qxh6 Qc7 38.Qh7+ Kf8 39.Qh8+ Bg8 40.Qh6 1-0
Grandelius, N (2663)-Donchenko, A (2668) [C50]
Wijk aan Zee (1.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.0-0 d6 6.c3 a6 7.Re1 Ba7 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Nf1 Na5 10.Bb3 Nxb3 11.axb3 c6 12.Ng3 h6 13.h3 Be6 14.d4 Re8 15.Be3 d5 16.exd5 exd4 17.Bxd4 Qxd5 18.Bxf6 Qxd1 19.Raxd1 gxf6 20.b4 Red8 21.Ne4 Kg7 22.Nc5 Bxc5 23.bxc5 f5 24.Nd4 Kf6 25.Ra1 a5 26.Ra4 Rd5 27.b4 Ra6 28.Nxe6 fxe6 29.Rea1 Ke5 30.Re1+ Kf6 31.Rea1 Ke5 32.Rxa5 Rxa5 33.Rxa5 Ke4 34.Ra7 Rd1+ 35.Kh2 Rd7 36.Ra1 Rd2 37.Re1+ Kd3 38.Re3+ Kc4 39.f4 h5 40.Kg3 Rd3 41.Rxd3 Kxd3 42.Kh4 Ke3 43.g3 Kf2 44.g4 hxg4 45.hxg4 fxg4 46.Kxg4 Ke3 47.Kg5 1-0
Caruana, F (2823)-Van Foreest, J (2671) [D32]
Wijk aan Zee (1.6) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c5 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.g3 c4 8.Bg2 Bb4 9.Bd2 0-0 10.b3 Bf5 11.0-0 Bd3 12.Re1 Nc6 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Bxc3 15.Bxc3 Ne4 16.Bb4 Re8 17.f3 a5 18.Ba3 Nc3 19.Qd2 Nb5 20.Bb2 a4 21.f4 a3 22.Bc3 Qb6 23.Bb4 Red8 24.Rac1 Be4 25.Be7 Re8 26.Bxe4 dxe4 27.bxc4 Rxe7 28.Qb4 Rc7 29.Qxb5 Qxb5 30.cxb5 Rac8 31.Rxc7 Rxc7 32.Rd1 g5 33.b6 Rc6 34.Rd8+ Kg7 35.Ra8 Rc1+ 36.Kg2 Rc2+ 37.Kh3 gxf4 38.gxf4 Rxa2 39.Kg4 Rxh2 40.Rxa3 Rb2 41.f5 Rg2+ 42.Kf4 h5 43.Kxe4 h4 44.Ra1 h3 45.Kf3 Rb2 46.Rh1 h2 47.Kg3 Rb5 48.Kf4 Rb2 49.Kf3 Kh6 50.Kf4 Rf2+ 51.Kg4 Re2 52.Kf3 Rb2 53.Kg3 Kg5 54.e6 fxe6 55.fxe6 Rxb6 56.Rxh2 Rxe6 ½-½
Giri, A (2764)-Tari, A (2625) [C65]
Wijk aan Zee (1.7) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 6.0-0 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Nxg4 9.hxg4 Bxg4 10.Be3 Be7 11.Kg2 f5 12.Qe1 Bxf3+ 13.Kxf3 f4 14.Bd2 g5 15.Bc3 Bf6 16.Nd2 Qe7 17.Rh1 h5 18.Ke2 g4 19.f3 g3 20.Kf1 h4 21.Rh3 a5 22.a4 b6 23.Kg2 c5 24.Qb1 Kf7 25.b3 Rad8 26.Nc4 Kg6 27.Qb2 Rh5 28.Rah1 Rdh8 29.Qa1 Kg7 30.Bb2 Kg6 31.Qb1 Rd8 32.Qe1 Kg7 33.Qa1 Rdh8 34.Na3 Kg6 35.Nb5 Bg7 36.Nc3 Qd8 37.Ne2 R8h7 38.Qe1 Qd6 39.Qc3 c6 40.Qc4 Rh8 41.Ba3 Qf6 42.Qa6 Rb8 43.Bc1 Bh6 44.Qa7 Qd8 45.Bb2 Qc8 46.Qe7 Bf8 47.Nxf4+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qa2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc5/c4 2.dxe8=S#; 1…Re5/e4 2.dxc8=S#; 1…Sc7 2.Qa3#; 1…Se7 2.Qe6#./PN
