Pentala Harikrishna dealt Nils Grandelius a beating in Round 3 of the Tata Steel Chess Masters Tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, to forge a five-way tie for the lead of the Category 19 (average Elo: 2724) classic single round robin event.
The impressive victory with the black pieces gave Harikrishna a share of the lead along with Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana and Grandelius. The only other decisive game of the round saw Aliresa Firouzja profiting from a missed opportunity to win by opponent David Anton Guijarro and then converted when Guijarro fumbled near then end to clinch the victory. The other Round 3 games were drawn. Alexander Donchenko finally broke into the scoring column by holding Giri; Aryan Tari played a solid defense to also hold Carlsen; Caruana was probably winning against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but time pressure enabled Duda to hold; Andrey Esipenko and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played an interesting Sicilian that petered into a draw while Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Jorden van Foreest halved the point.
Round 3 standings: 1-5. Harikrishna, Carlsen, Giri, Caruana, Grandelius, 2; 6-10. Vachier-Lagrave, van Foreest, Esipenko, Firouzja, Wojtaszek, 1½; 11-13. Duda, Anton Guijarro, Tari, 1; 14. Donchenko, ½.
Giri, A (2764)-Donchenko, A (2668) [E21]
Wijk aan Zee (3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bd2 b6 6.e3 Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Ne4 8.Rc1 Bb7 9.Bd3 d6 10.0-0 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 Nd7 12.d5 e5 13.e4 a5 14.Bc2 Nc5 15.g3 c6 16.dxc6 Bxc6 17.Qe2 Qe7 18.Qe3 g6 19.Re1 Rae8 20.b3 Kh8 21.Nh4 Rb8 22.a3 Ne6 23.b4 axb4 24.axb4 Nd4 25.Bd1 Ba8 26.Nf3 Ne6 27.Ra3 f5 28.exf5 Rxf5 29.Nd2 Rf7 30.f4 Nd4 31.fxe5 dxe5 32.Qxe5+ Qxe5 33.Rxe5 Nc6 34.Re1 Nxb4 35.Nf3 Bxf3 36.Rxf3 Rxf3 37.Bxf3 b5 38.cxb5 Rxb5 39.Rb1 Rb8 40.Rd1 Rf8 41.Be4 Na6 42.Rc1 Rf7 ½-½
Caruana, F (2823)-Duda, J (2743) [C42]
Wijk aan Zee (3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nd7 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 Nf6 10.Bd3 c5 11.Rhg1 b5 12.g4 Bb7 13.Qe2 c4 14.Bf5 Re8 15.Nd4 Nd5 16.Ne6 Qa5 17.Qf3 Bf6 18.g5 Bxc3 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.g6+ fxg6 21.Ng5+ Kh8 22.Bd4 Bxd4 23.Rxd4 Nf6 24.Qxb7 Rab8 25.Qf7 Re1+ 26.Rd1 Rxg1 27.Rxg1 Re8 28.Ne6 Rxe6 29.Qxe6 Qxa2 30.Qh3+ Kg8 31.Qe6+ Kh7 32.Qh3+ Kg8 33.Qa3 Qxa3 34.bxa3 Kf7 35.Kd2 a6 36.Ke3 Nd5+ 37.Kd4 Ne7 38.Re1 Ke8 39.a4 Kd7 40.axb5 axb5 41.Rg1 Kc6 42.h4 Nf5+ 43.Kc3 Nxh4 44.Kb4 Nf3 45.Rxg6 Nd4 46.c3 Ne2 47.Rxg7 Nf4 48.Ka5 Ne2 49.Kb4 Nf4 50.Ka5 Ne2 51.Kb4 ½-½
Grandelius, N (2663)-Harikrishna, P (2732) [C02]
Wijk aan Zee (3) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Bb5 8.0-0 Bxe2 9.Qxe2 Nc6 10.Nc3 Nge7 11.Qd3 Rc8 12.Rd1 h6 13.Bd2 Ng6 14.h4 Bb4 15.Na4 Qc7 16.h5 Nge7 17.Bf4 Qa5 18.b3 b5 19.Nb2 Ba3 20.Qe2 0-0 21.Rab1 Rc7 22.Nd3 Qb6 23.b4 a5 24.bxa5 Nxa5 25.Bc1 Bxc1 26.Rdxc1 Rxc1+ 27.Nxc1 Nc4 28.Nb3 Ra8 29.Rc1 Nc6 30.g3 Ra3 31.Kg2 Qa7 32.Rc2 Nb4 33.Rc3 Nxa2 34.Rd3 Rxb3 35.Rxb3 Nc1 36.Qc2 Nxb3 37.Qxb3 Qa4 38.Qb1 b4 0-1
Esipenko, A (2677)-Vachier Lagrave, M (2784) [B53]
Wijk aan Zee (3) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 Nf6 6.Be2 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Rd1 0-0 9.Nc3 Be6 10.Nd5 Rc8 11.c3 Re8 12.Qf4 Qa5 13.Qh4 Nxd5 14.exd5 Bxd5 15.b4 Bxf3 16.bxa5 Bxe2 17.Rd5 Bxc3 18.Rb1 Nb4 19.Rd4 Bxd4 20.Qxd4 Nc6 21.Qd5 Ba6 22.Bg5 Ne5 23.Be3 Rc3 24.Rb3 Rc2 25.Rb1 Rc3 26.Rb3 Rc2 27.Rb1 Rec8 28.h3 R2c3 29.Rb3 Rc2 30.Rb4 R2c3 31.Rb3 Rc2 32.Rb4 R2c3 33.Rb3 ½-½
Firouzja, A (2749)-Anton Guijarro, D (2679) [D02]
Wijk aan Zee (3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 cxd4 6.exd4 Bf5 7.Bb5 Rc8 8.c3 e6 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.h4 a6 11.Bd3 Bxd3 12.Qxd3 Be7 13.Kf1 Qb6 14.Rb1 Qb5 15.Qxb5 axb5 16.a3 h5 17.Nb3 f6 18.Re1 Kf7 19.Nc1 Nf8 20.Nd3 Ng6 21.Bg3 Na5 22.Kg1 Nc4 23.Re2 Rhe8 24.Kh2 Bf8 25.Rhe1 b6 26.Kg1 Ra8 27.Bf4 Rac8 28.g3 Rc6 29.Kg2 Be7 30.Ng1 Bf8 31.Nh3 Be7 32.Ng1 Bf8 33.Nf3 Be7 34.Kh3 Ra8 35.Bc1 Re8 36.g4 hxg4+ 37.Kxg4 Rh8 38.h5 Nf8 39.Nf4 Bd8 40.Rh1 Rg8 41.Nh4 Bc7 42.Nfg6 Nd7 43.Rhe1 Re8 44.Bf4 Bxf4 45.Nxf4 Rd6 46.Kh3 Nf8 47.Nfg6 Nh7 48.f4 Rdd8 49.Rg1 Nd6 50.Reg2 Rg8 51.Ne7 Ng5+ 52.fxg5 Kxe7 53.gxf6+ Kxf6 54.Rg6+ Kf7 55.Nf3 Rdf8 56.Ne5+ Ke7 57.Rxg7+ Rxg7 58.Rxg7+ Kf6 59.h6 Rh8 60.Kg4 Rxh6 61.Rd7 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rd8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sxd8/d6 2.Qh8#; 1…Se5 2.Qg1#; 1…Bxd8 2.Bc5#; 1…Sc3 2.Rd2#./PN
