The main contenders for the championship of the 84th Tata Steel Chess Tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, took no risks and played safe draws in Round 10, so the players in the lower half of the provided the excitement and the fireworks of the round.
Magnus Carlsen kept his slim half-point lead after a quick 17-move draw with Sergey Karjakin, while Anish Giri played to a 38-move draw versus Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov halved the point with Sam Shankland.
The decisive games were produced by Richard Rapport, who defeated Fabiano Caruana with black in 42 moves of a complex English Opening; Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who took advantage of some weak moves by Santosh Gujrathi Vidit to snatch the upperhand and later the game against his more eminent compatriot; Andrey Esipenko, who defeated Jorden Van Foreet in 60 moves of a Guioco Piano; and Nils Grandelius, who finally scored his first win in the event with a conquest of Daniil Dubov in 82 moves of a sharp rollercoaster Sicilian Rosolimo Attack.
The standings after Round 10: 1. Carlsen, 7; 2. Giri, 6Ā½; 3-4. Mamedyarov, Rapport, 6; 5-7. Esipenko, Karjakin, Vidit, 5Ā½; 8. Caruana, 5; 9-10. Duda, Van Foreest, 4Ā½; 11. Shankland, 4; 12-13. Dubov, Praggnanandhaa, 3Ā½; 14. Grandelius, 3.
Vidit,SG (2727)-Praggnanandhaa,R (2612) [E32]
Wijk aan Zee (10.4) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Bg5 c5 8.dxc5 d4 9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.e3 h6 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.0-0-0 e5 13.Ne2 d3 14.Nc3 Bg4 15.Rxd3 Qa5 16.Qg3 Qxc5 17.Rd2 Be6 18.b4 Qc8 19.Qxe5 Bxc4 20.Kb2 a5 21.b5 Bxf1 22.Rxf1 Qc4 23.Rc1 a4 24.Nb1 Qb3+ 25.Ka1 Rac8 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.Qf5 Qc4 28.Rd4 Qc7 29.g3 b6 30.Rxa4 Nd7 31.Re4 g6 32.Qf4 Qc5 33.Qxh6 Qxb5 34.a4 Qc6 35.Qf4 Nc5 36.Rc4 Rd8 37.Rc2 Qh1 38.Qb4 Nxa4 39.Rd2 Rc8 40.Qe7 Qa8 41.Ra2 b5 42.Qb4 Qh1 43.Ra3 Qxh2 44.Qd2 Qh5 45.f4 Qf5 46.Qd3 Qf6+ 47.Qd4 Qe7 48.Rb3 Ra8 49.Ra3 Rd8 50.Qe5 Qxe5+ 51.fxe5 Re8 52.Rb3 Rxe5 53.Na3 Nc5 54.Rxb5 Rxe3 55.Nc4 Re1+ 56.Kb2 Ne4 57.g4 Re2+ 58.Kc1 Nf2 59.g5 Kg7 60.Nd2 Re8 61.Kb2 Rc8 62.Rd5 Nd1+ 63.Ka3 Ne3 64.Rd3 Nc4+ 65.Kb4 Nxd2 66.Rxd2 Rc1 67.Ra2 Kg8 68.Ra8+ Kh7 69.Ra2 Kg7 70.Ra5 Kf8 71.Ra7 Ke8 72.Ra5 Kd7 73.Ra6 Ke7 74.Ra2 Ke6 75.Ra5 Rf1 76.Ra6+ Ke5 77.Ra5+ Kf4 78.Kc3 Kg4 0-1
Caruana,F (2792)-Rapport,R (2763) [A19]
Wijk aan Zee (10.5) 2022
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 c5 4.e5 Ng8 5.d4 cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qf4 d6 8.Nf3 Nh6 9.exd6 Bxd6 10.Qg5 Qxg5 11.Bxg5 f5 12.0-0-0 Bc5 13.Ne5 Nf7 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Be3 Bxe3+ 16.fxe3 Ke7 17.Be2 g5 18.Na4 h5 19.Nc5 h4 20.g4 Ne5 21.Rd4 Nxg4 22.Bxg4 e5 23.Rd2 fxg4 24.Nd3 Rh6 25.Nxe5 Re6 26.Nxg4 Re4 27.Nf2 Rxc4+ 28.Rc2 Rxc2+ 29.Kxc2 Be6 30.Rg1 Rf8 31.Nd3 g4 32.Nf4 Bf5+ 33.Kd2 Rd8+ 34.Ke2 Kf6 35.b3 a5 36.Ke1 Ke5 37.Ng2 Rh8 38.Nf4 g3 39.Rg2 Be4 40.Rd2 h3 41.a3 Rd8 42.Rb2 Bf3 0-1
Esipenko,A (2714) – Van Foreest,J (2702) [C50]
Wijk aan Zee (10.6) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Nc3 h6 6.Be3 Bb6 7.Nd5 d6 8.h3 Bxe3 9.fxe3 Na5 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.Bb3 Nxb3 12.axb3 0-0 13.0-0 Qe7 14.Qe1 f5 15.exf5 Rxf5 16.Qb4 c5 17.Qe4 Be6 18.Nh4 Rg5 19.Qf3 a6 20.e4 Rd8 21.Rf2 Kh7 22.Kh2 Qc7 23.Qe2 a5 24.Raf1 b5 25.Rf8 a4 26.bxa4 bxa4 27.c4 Qe7 28.Qf3 Bg8 29.Rxd8 Qxd8 30.Qf8 Qa5 31.Rf2 Be6 32.Re2 a3 33.bxa3 Qxa3 34.Qxd6 Bxc4 35.dxc4 Qg3+ 36.Kh1 Qxh4 37.Qxc5 Qf4 38.Qe3 Qf1+ 39.Kh2 Rg6 40.c5 Rc6 41.Rc2 Qd1 42.Qf2 Qd3 43.Qf5+ Rg6 44.Rf2 Qc3 45.Rf3 Qxc5 46.h4 h5 47.Rg3 Qd6 48.Rg5 Qc6 49.g3 Qa6 50.Kh3 Qc6 51.Rxh5+ Kg8 52.Qxe5 Rd6 53.Qc5 Qd7+ 54.Qf5 Re6 55.Qd5 Qxd5 56.exd5 Re4 57.Rg5 Rd4 58.h5 Rd3 59.Kh4 Kf7 60.Rf5+ 1-0
Dubov,D (2720)-Grandelius,N (2672) [B52]
Wijk aan Zee (10.7) 2022
1.Nf3 c5 2.e4 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.c3 Ngf6 6.Qe2 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 d5 9.e5 Bb4+ 10.Bd2 Bxd2+ 11.Nbxd2 Ng8 12.0-0-0 Ne7 13.Kb1 Nc6 14.h4 Qb6 15.Qe3 Rc8 16.h5 h6 17.g4 Qb5 18.Rc1 0-0 19.a3 Ne7 20.Nh4 Nb6 21.Ka2 Nc4 22.Qb3 Qa6 23.Nhf3 Rc6 24.Qd3 Qb5 25.Qb3 Qa6 26.Qd3 Rfc8 27.Rc3 Nxd2 28.Qxd2 Rxc3 29.bxc3 Qc4+ 30.Kb2 Qb5+ 31.Ka2 Qc4+ 32.Kb2 Rc6 33.Qc2 Rb6+ 34.Kc1 Ra6 35.Kb2 Rb6+ 36.Kc1 Qb3 37.Qxb3 Rxb3 38.Kc2 Rxa3 39.Kb2 Ra4 40.Nd2 Nc6 41.Nb3 b5 42.Rc1 Na5 43.Nd2 b4 44.cxb4 Rxb4+ 45.Kc3 Nc6 46.Kd3 Nxd4 47.Rc8+ Kh7 48.Rc7 a5 49.Rxf7 Nc6 50.f4 a4 51.Rc7 Rb6 52.Rc8 a3 53.Ra8 Nb4+ 54.Kc3 Na6 55.Nb3 a2 56.Na1 Rb1 57.Nc2 a1Q+ 58.Nxa1 Rxa1 59.f5 exf5 60.gxf5 Rc1+ 61.Kd2 Rf1 62.f6 Nc5 63.Ra7 Kg8 64.Rxg7+ Kf8 65.Rc7 Ne6 66.Rb7 Ng5 67.Ke3 Rf5 68.Rb8+ Kf7 69.Rb7+ Kf8 70.Rb8+ Kf7 71.Rb7+ Ke8 72.Re7+ Kf8 73.Kd4 Nf7 74.Kxd5 Rxh5 75.Ke4 Rg5 76.Kf4 Nh8 77.Ke4 Ng6 78.Rh7 Rxe5+ 79.Kd4 h5 80.Rg7 Rg5 81.Rh7 Ne5 82.Rg7 Nf7 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf7!, and Blackās futile options are: 1…Rxd4 2.Rxe5#; 1…Bg2 2.Qxg4#; 1…Rxf4 2.Rxe5#.
