World champion Magnus Carlsen emerged the champion of the 84th Tata Steel Masters Chess Tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, after beating Fabiano Caruana in Round 12 and earning a forfeit win in Round 13 versus Russian Daniil Dubov, who was not allowed to continue by organizers after testing positive for Covid-19.
Carlsen has 8½ points and a full point lead at the close of Round 12, and the only players capable of catching up were Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Richard Rapport. Unfortunately, the full point gift from Dubov has rendered any meaningful chase useless. Mamedyarov trounced Santosh Vidit Gujrathi in 38 moves of a Guioco Piano in a painful turn around for the Indian GM who had better chances of winning the game. Rapport, on the other hand, was held by Andrey Esipenko in 36 moves of a Ruy Lopez Berlin.
Meanwhile, Sergey Karkakin walked right into the opening preparation of Sam Shankland and found himself resigning after only 26 moves of a Nimzo-Indian. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won by forfeit over Dubov, while the rest of the matches were drawn.
The standings after Round 12: 1. Carlsen, 8½; 2-3. Mamedyarov, Rapport, 7½; 4. Giri, 7; 5. Esipenko, 6½; 6-9. Karjakin, Vidit, Van Foreest, Caruana, 6; 10-11. Duda, Shankland, 5½; 12, Praggnanandhaa, 4½; 13. Grandelius, 4; 14. Dubov, 3½.
Van Foreest,J (2702)-Giri,A (2772) [E24]
Wijk aan Zee (11.2) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 Nc6 7.e4 Na5 8.Bd3 Ba6 9.Qe2 d6 10.f4 Qd7 11.Nf3 Qa4 12.Nd2 e5 13.0-0 0-0 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Rb1 c5 16.Rxf6 gxf6 17.Qf3 Qc6 18.d5 Qd6 19.Nf1 Kh8 20.Ne3 Bc8 21.Bd2 Rg8 22.Be1 Rg6 23.Bh4 Rh6 24.Qf2 Bd7 25.Rf1 Kg7 26.Be2 Rg6 27.h3 Bxh3 28.Bh5 Bd7 29.Bxg6 fxg6 30.Bxf6+ Kg8 31.Qh4 Rf8 32.Rf3 Rf7 33.Qg5 Qf8 34.Qxe5 Nb7 35.Qf4 Nd6 36.e5 Ne8 37.d6 Nxf6 38.exf6 Qe8 39.Nd5 Qe1+ 40.Kh2 Qd1 41.Ne7+ Kh8 42.Rh3 1-0
Caruana,F (2792)-Carlsen,M (2865) [B31]
Wijk aan Zee (12.1) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c3 Nf6 6.Re1 0-0 7.d4 d5 8.e5 Ne4 9.Be3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qb6 11.Qe2 Bd7 12.Ba4 Rac8 13.Nc3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 Qd8 15.Bb3 Na5 16.Rac1 Nxb3 17.axb3 Qb6 18.Qa2 a5 19.Qa3 Rfe8 20.c4 dxc4 21.bxc4 Qa6 22.c5 Bc6 23.Rb1 a4 24.Rec1 Rcd8 25.Nd2 Qe2 26.f3 Rxd4 27.Bxd4 Qxd2 28.Rd1 Qf4 29.Qb4 e6 30.Bc3 Qxb4 31.Bxb4 Bxe5 32.Ba3 Bf6 33.Kf2 Be7 34.Rb6 Rc8 35.Rd2 f6 36.f4 e5 37.fxe5 fxe5 38.Re2 Rf8+ 39.Ke1 Rf5 40.Rb1 e4 41.Rc1 Bh4+ 42.g3 Bg5 43.Rb1 Rf3 44.Bc1 Bf6 45.Rb6 Rf5 46.Ba3 Kf7 47.Rf2 Rf3 48.Rxf3 exf3 49.Kf1 Bd4 0-1
Vidit,SG (2727)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) [C53]
Wijk aan Zee (12.3) 2022
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 Bb6 9.h3 Ne7 10.d4 Nc6 11.a4 exd4 12.cxd4 d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.b3 Be6 15.Ne4 Re8 16.Bb2 Na5 17.Ne5 c6 18.Qf3 f6 19.Nd3 Bf7 20.Re2 Bc7 21.Rae1 b6 22.Bc1 Re6 23.Bd2 Nxc4 24.bxc4 Ne7 25.Bxh6 Qxd4 26.Qg4 f5 27.Bxg7 Qxg7 28.Qxg7+ Kxg7 29.Ng5 Rxe2 30.Rxe2 Ng6 31.Ne6+ Bxe6 32.Rxe6 Rd8 33.Rxc6 Bb8 34.Ne1 Ne5 35.Re6 Kf7 36.Rh6 Rd1 37.Kf1 Nxc4 38.Rh4 Ne3+ 0-1
Shankland,S (2708)-Karjakin,S (2743) [E20]
Wijk aan Zee (12.5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.e4 d6 7.Bd2 a6 8.a4 bxc4 9.Bxc4 Nbd7 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.Bxe6 Ne5 12.Bxc8 Qxc8 13.Bf4 c4 14.Bxe5 dxe5 15.Nh3 Bc5 16.Qe2 Rb8 17.Nf2 Qb7 18.0-0 Qxb2 19.Qxc4 Bxf2+ 20.Kh1 Qb3 21.Qc7 Qb6 22.Qxe5+ Kf7 23.Nd5 Nxd5 24.Qxd5+ Ke7 25.Qe5+ Kf7 26.Rac1 1-0
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c5 2.Ned6#; 1…Rg3 2.Nf2#; 1…Rd3 2.Nd2#; 1…Rh5/h7/h8, Nc3 2.Na3#; 1…Nb4 2.Nbd6#; 1…Rg1 2.Ng3#.
