Anish Giri allowed Aliresa Firouzja to escape with a draw in Round 12, but continued to keep his slim half-point lead over his closest pursuers at the Tata Steel Chess Masters Tournament with a round to go.
The only notable developments in the Category 19 (average Elo: 2724) event since our last report is the Jorden van Foreest’s climb to a share of second to fourth places, made possible after Aryan Tari derailed Andrey Esipenko’s bid for the crown with a win in Round 11.
It was the worst classical tournament finish for Magnus Carlsen who has a dismal 1-1-9 win-loss-draw slate and an Elo 2737 performance rating so far, as well as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s even more dispiriting record of 1-3-7 play record.
Round 12 standings: 1. Giri, 8; 2-4. Van Foreest, Firouzja, Caruana, 7½; 5. Esipenko, 7; 6. Carlsen, 6½; Van Foreest, 6; 6. Carlsen, 5½; 7-8. Harikrishna, Grandelius, 6; 9. Tari, 5½; 10-11. Duda, Vachier-Lagrave, 5; 12-13. Wojtaszek, Anton Guijarro, 4½; 14. Donchenko, 3½.
Tari, A (2625)-Esipenko, A (2677) [C79]
Wijk aan Zee (11.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Re1 Bd7 7.c3 g6 8.d4 Bg7 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Bc2 Nh5 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Nf1 Nf4 13.Ne3 Kh8 14.Nd5 Ne6 15.h4 h5 16.Be3 f6 17.b4 Ne7 18.Qe2 Nc8 19.c4 Qe8 20.c5 a5 21.a3 Na7 22.Bb3 Nb5 23.Bc4 axb4 24.axb4 Rxa1 25.Rxa1 f5 26.exf5 gxf5 27.Ng5 Nxg5 28.hxg5 f4 29.Ra8 Qg6 30.Rxf8+ Bxf8 31.Bd2 Na3 32.Bd3 Qxg5 33.Qe4 1-0
Van Foreest, J (2671)-Harikrishna, P (2732) [C53]
Wijk aan Zee (11.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.Nbd2 a6 9.a4 Ng4 10.Re2 Kh8 11.h3 f5 12.d4 exd4 13.hxg4 d3 14.Bxd3 fxg4 15.Nd4 Nxd4 16.cxd4 Bxd4 17.Nf1 Qf6 18.Qc2 c5 19.Be3 Be5 20.Bc4 Bd7 21.Bd5 Rab8 22.Ng3 b5 23.axb5 Rxb5 24.Qd1 a5 25.Ra2 Rfb8 26.Rd2 Qh4 27.b3 R5b6 28.Rxa5 Bc6 29.Bxc6 Rxc6 30.Nf1 Rcb6 31.g3 Qh3 32.Bxc5 dxc5 33.Rd8+ Kh7 34.Rxb8 Rxb8 35.Rxc5 Re8 36.Qd7 Qh5 37.Ne3 Ra8 38.Qb5 Re8 39.Qa5 Qg5 40.Rd5 Qe7 41.Nxg4 Bb2 42.f3 Rc8 43.Qd2 Qa3 44.Rd7 Qxb3 45.Qxh6+ Kg8 46.Qh5 Qe6 47.Qd5 Qxd5 48.Rxd5 Rc2 49.Kf1 Bc1 50.Rd7 Kf8 51.e5 Bb2 52.f4 g5 53.Ne3 Rc5 54.e6 gxf4 55.gxf4 Rc1+ 56.Ke2 Ba3 57.Nf5 Rc8 58.Rf7+ Kg8 59.Kf3 Re8 60.Nh6+ 1-0
Caruana, F (2823)-Anton Guijarro, D (2679) [D37]
Wijk aan Zee (12.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.e5 Qd8 11.Ne4 0-0 12.Qc1 Qc7 13.Nf6+ Kh8 14.Rd1 Nd7 15.Rxd4 Be7 16.Qf4 Bc5 17.Qe4 Nxf6 18.exf6 gxf6 19.Rdd1 f5 20.Qe2 Be7 21.Rac1 Bf6 22.Qd2 Kg7 23.Bxe6 Qb6 24.Bb3 Be6 25.Bxe6 Qxe6 26.Nd4 Qe4 27.Nb5 Rad8 28.Nd6 Qe6 29.Qb4 Rd7 30.Nc4 Bd4 31.Re1 Qf6 32.Qb3 Rc8 33.a4 Rc5 34.Rc2 Qh4 35.g3 Qf6 36.Rce2 f4 37.Nd2 Rf5 38.Ne4 Qg6 39.Qf3 fxg3 40.Qxg3 Bb6 41.Kf1 Kh7 42.Rc1 Rd4 43.Qxg6+ Kxg6 44.b3 Rf3 45.Rc8 Kg7 46.Ng3 Rd8 47.Rxd8 Bxd8 48.b4 Ra3 49.a5 Ra4 50.Re4 b6 ½-½
Giri, A (2764)-Firouzja, A (2749) [C11]
Wijk aan Zee (12.4) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.a3 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bc5 10.Qd2 0-0 11.Be2 Qc7 12.0-0 b6 13.Nxc6 Qxc6 14.b4 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 Bb7 16.Bd3 d4 17.Qe4 Qxe4 18.Nxe4 Bd5 19.Ng5 g6 20.Nf3 Bxf3 21.Rxf3 b5 22.Be4 Rad8 23.Rd3 Nb6 24.Bb7 Na4 25.Bxa6 Nc3 26.Bb7 Ne2+ 27.Kf2 Nxf4 28.Rd2 d3 29.c3 Ne2 30.Ke3 Nxc3 31.Rxd3 Rxd3+ 32.Kxd3 Na4 33.Rc1 Rd8+ 34.Ke2 Kg7 35.Bc6 Rb8 36.Rc2 Kf8 37.Kd2 Ke7 38.Kc1 f6 39.exf6+ Kxf6 40.Kb1 Ke5 41.Ka2 Kd4 42.Kb3 Kd3 43.Rf2 e5 44.Rf7 Nb6 45.Bxb5+ Kd4 46.a4 Nd5 47.Rxh7 e4 48.Rf7 e3 49.Rf1 Nc3 50.Rf4+ Ke5 51.Rf3 Nxb5 52.Rxe3+ Kd4 53.Rg3 Nd6 54.Rxg6 Ne4 55.a5 Kd5 56.a6 Nc5+ 57.Ka3 Nd3 58.a7 Ra8 59.Rg7 Kc6 60.h4 Nf4 61.g4 Ne6 62.Rf7 Nc7 63.g5 Rxa7+ 64.Kb2 Ra8 65.g6 Ne6 66.h5 Rh8 67.Rh7 Rg8 ½-½
Harikrishna, P (2732)-Donchenko, A (2668) [E21]
Wijk aan Zee (12.7) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 Ne4 6.Qd3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Nc5 9.Qf3 d6 10.Bg2 Nbd7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Nb3 Qc7 13.Rd1 Nb6 14.Nxc5 Qxc5 15.Be3 Qc7 16.Bxb6 axb6 17.Qd3 Rd8 18.a4 Ra5 19.Rdb1 Bd7 20.Rb4 Bc6 21.Qd4 Bxg2 22.Kxg2 Rc5 23.Rab1 h6 24.Qd3 Rc6 25.a5 bxa5 26.Rxb7 Qc8 27.Qf3 Rf8 28.Rb8 Qd7 29.R1b7 Rc7 30.Rxf8+ Kxf8 31.Rb8+ Ke7 32.Rg8 Qc6 33.e4 g6 34.Qe3 g5 35.h4 Qc5 36.Qf3 Qe5 37.hxg5 hxg5 38.Ra8 Qc5 39.Qh5 Ra7 40.Rg8 Qe5 41.Qg4 a4 42.Rxg5 Qf6 43.c5 dxc5 44.Rxc5 a3 45.e5 Qh8 46.Qb4 Qa8+ 47.Kh2 Ke8 48.Rb5 Qc6 49.Rb8+ Kd7 50.Qd4+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qh8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…exd6 2.Sd7#; 1…Bxd3 2.Rxd3#; 1…Qxe3 2.Sf3#. /PN
