All the Round 4 matches of the Tata Steel Chess Masters Tournament at Wijkaan Zee, Netherlands, ended peacefully and the standings with five grandmasters sharing the lead were unchanged.
This meant Pentala Harikrishna, Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana and Nils Grandelius remained on top of the leaderboard, half-a-point ahead of Maxime Vacier-Lagrave, Jorden van Foreest, Andrey Esipenko, Aliresa Firouzja and Radoslaw Wojtaszek who shared sixth to 10th places.
But while drawn, some of the games could have produced decisions if only time induced errors didn’t intervene. Such was the case in the Esipenko-Grandelius, Aryan Tari-Firouzja and the Alexander Donchenko-Wojtaszek matches. The rest were drawn-out encounters featuring tenacious defenses.
Round 4 standings: 1-5. Harikrishna, Carlsen, Giri, Caruana, Grandelius, 2½; 6-10. Vachier-Lagrave, van Foreest, Esipenko, Firouzja, Wojtaszek, 2; 11-13. Duda, Anton Guijarro, Tari, 1½; 14. Donchenko, 1.
Van Foreest, J (2671)-Carlsen, M (2862) [C78]
Wijk aan Zee (4.1) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7 7.d3 Be7 8.Nc3 0-0 9.a3 Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.Ne2 c5 12.Bg5 d5 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.Bxd5 Bxd5 15.exd5 Qxd5 16.Ng3 c4 17.Re1 Rae8 18.a4 Rxe1+ 19.Qxe1 cxd3 20.cxd3 bxa4 21.Qd1 Qb5 22.Ne4 Be7 23.Qc2 Rb8 24.Rxa4 Qxb2 25.Qxb2 Rxb2 26.g4 Rb6 27.Rxd4 Kf8 28.Rd7 Rg6 29.Kf1 Rxg4 30.Ra7 f5 31.Ng3 g6 32.Rxa6 Rh4 33.Kg2 Rd4 34.Ne2 Rxd3 35.Ng1 Rd7 36.Nf3 Kg7 37.h3 Bf6 38.Kg3 Rb7 39.Kg2 Re7 40.Ra5 Rc7 41.Rd5 Ra7 42.Rb5 Be7 43.Nd4 Rd7 44.Nf3 Rd6 45.Rb7 Kf6 46.Ra7 h6 47.Nh4 Bd8 48.Rh7 Rd2 49.Rxh6 Kg7 50.Rxg6+ Kh7 51.Nf3 Rxf2+ 52.Kxf2 Kxg6 53.Kg2 Kh5 54.Nd4 f4 55.Ne6 Bg5 56.Nxg5 Kxg5 57.Kf3 Kh4 58.Kxf4 Kxh3 ½-½
Duda, J-K (2743)-Giri, A (2764) [D87]
Wijk aan Zee (4.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 b6 11.dxc5 Qc7 12.Nd4 Ne5 13.Nb5 Qb8 14.Be2 bxc5 15.Bxc5 a6 16.Na3 Qc7 17.Bd4 Rd8 18.Qc1 Ng4 19.Bxg4 Bxg4 20.Qe3 Rac8 21.e5 Qc6 22.Nc2 Bf5 23.Nb4 Qe4 24.Qxe4 Bxe4 25.Rfe1 Bb7 26.Rab1 e6 27.Nd3 Bd5 28.Nc5 Bf8 29.Nxa6 Bxa2 30.Rb6 Bc4 31.h3 Bxa6 32.Rxa6 Bc5 33.Ra4 Bxd4 34.cxd4 Rc2 35.g3 Rd2 36.Re4 Rd7 37.Kg2 Kg7 38.h4 h6 39.Kf3 ½-½
Esipenko, A (2677)-Grandelius, N (2663) [B92]
Wijk aan Zee (4.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f4 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Kh1 Re8 11.Qd3 b5 12.Nd5 Nc6 13.c3 exf4 14.Bxf4 Ne5 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Qc2 Qb7 17.Nd2 Rac8 18.Bg5 Nfd7 19.Rf2 d5 20.exd5 Bxd5 21.Rg1 Re6 22.Nf1 h6 23.Bf4 Nf6 24.Ne3 Be4 25.Qd1 Ng6 26.Bg3 Bc6 27.Nf5 Ne4 28.Rff1 Nxg3+ 29.hxg3 Qc7 30.Qd4 Re5 31.Bg4 Rd8 32.Qf2 Rdd5 33.Rd1 Qd8 34.Rgf1 Qg5 35.Rd4 f6 36.Bh3 Bd7 37.Rxd5 Rxd5 38.Qf3 Rd2 39.Qa8+ Kh7 40.Qe4 Kh8 41.Nh4 Ne5 42.Qa8+ Kh7 43.Qe4+ Kh8 44.Qa8+ Kh7 ½-½
Harikrishna, P (2732)-Caruana, F (2823) [C78]
Wijk aan Zee (4.5) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.a4 Rb8 8.c3 d6 9.d4 Bb6 10.a5 Ba7 11.h3 Bb7 12.Re1 0-0 13.Be3 exd4 14.cxd4 Ne7 15.Nbd2 Ng6 16.d5 Bxe3 17.Rxe3 c6 18.dxc6 Bxc6 19.Bc2 Re8 20.Re1 Bb7 21.b4 Nh5 22.Ra3 Nhf4 23.Nf1 Qf6 24.Ng3 Rbd8 25.Rae3 Ne5 26.Bb3 g6 27.Nh2 h5 28.Ne2 Nc4 29.Bxc4 bxc4 30.Nxf4 Qxf4 31.Qc2 d5 32.exd5 Rxe3 33.Rxe3 Bxd5 34.Nf3 Be6 35.Ne5 Qd4 36.Nxg6 Qd1+ 37.Qxd1 Rxd1+ 38.Kh2 c3 39.Rxc3 fxg6 40.Rc6 Kf7 41.Rxa6 Rd2 42.Kg1 Rd1+ 43.Kh2 Rd2 44.Kg1 Rd1+ ½-½
Tari, A (2625)-Firouzja, A (2749) [B12]
Wijk aan Zee (4.7) 2021
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.c3 Ng6 7.0-0 Nd7 8.Ne1 h5 9.Be3 Qb6 10.b3 f6 11.Bxh5 fxe5 12.g4 Rxh5 13.gxh5 Nf4 14.dxe5 Nh3+ 15.Kg2 c5 16.f4 Qc6 17.Nf3 0-0-0 18.Nbd2 Nb6 19.Qe1 Be7 20.Rc1 d4 21.cxd4 Nd5 22.Nc4 Ndxf4+ 23.Bxf4 Nxf4+ 24.Kg1 Bg4 25.Rc3 Rxd4 26.Nd6+ Kb8 27.Qe3 Bg5 28.Rxc5 Qxc5 29.Nxg5 Ne2+ 30.Kg2 ½-½
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qg7!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sc7 2.dxc7#; 1…Rg8 2.Qxg8#; 1…Rf8 2.Qxf8#; 1…Re8 2.Rxe8#; 1…Bf6 2.Qxf6#; 1…Be7 2.dxe7#./PN
