It’s another rest day at the Masters Section of the 84th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, so we’ll be giving an update of the Challenger’s Section.
India GM Arjun Erigaisi has built an almost insurmountable lead after Round 8 of the Challengers Section of the 84th Tata Steel Chess Tournament now ongoing in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
The 19-year old Erigaisi crushed 18-year old GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre in 30 moves of a Sicilian Classical, building up a whopping 1½-point lead over his closest pursuers with only 5 rounds to go. Behind Erigaisi, who now has 7 points, are GMs Rinat Jumabayev and Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who each has 5½ points. And barring any unforeseen disaster like losing consecutive games, Erigaisi may well be on the way to bagging the Challengers crown and a ticket to the Masters Section next year. To be clear, though, any player who has 4 points has a mathematical chance of catching up with Erigaisi
Round 8 Standings: 1. Erigaisi, 7; 2-3. Jumabayev, Nguyen, 5½; 4-7. Van Foreest, Warmerdam, Murzin, Bjerre, 4½; 8-9. L’Ami, Ganguly, 4; 10. Dardha, 3½; 11-12. Shuvalova, Zhu, 2½; 13. Vogel, 2; 14. Maurizzi, 1½.
Erigaisi,A (2632)-Bjerre,JB (2586) [B40]
Wijk aan Zee (8.1) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.0-0 Nf6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.h3 0-0 10.Be3 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bf5 12.Nc3 Ne4 13.Re1 Bf6 14.Bxf6 Nxf6 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Qxd5 Qxd5 17.Bxd5 Bxc2 18.Re7 Rad8 19.Bxb7 a5 20.Rae1 a4 21.Bc6 Rd4 22.Rd7 Rb4 23.Rd2 Bf5 24.a3 Rb6 25.Bxa4 Bxh3 26.Re5 Rfb8 27.Rb5 Kf8 28.Rd8+ Rxd8 29.Rxb6 Be6 30.Bb3 1-0
Ganguly,SS (2627)-Jumabayev,R (2631) [C53]
Wijk aan Zee (8.3) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.a4 a5 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3 Be6 9.Bb5 Na7 10.d4 Nxb5 11.dxc5 Na7 12.Qe2 Nc6 13.Rd1 Bb3 14.Rd2 d5 15.exd5 Bxd5 16.Qd1 Qd7 17.Ng5 h6 18.c4 hxg5 19.cxd5 Nd4 20.Rd3 Nxd5 21.Bxg5 Qf5 22.Nc3 Nb4 23.Rg3 Ra6 24.Be3 Rd8 25.Rg5 Qe6 26.Nb5 Rc6 27.Nxd4 exd4 28.Bxd4 Qh6 29.h4 Rg6 30.Ra3 Rxg5 31.hxg5 Qh4 32.g4 Qxg5 33.Rh3 Qf4 34.Qb1 Qxg4+ 35.Kh2 Rxd4 36.Qh7+ Kf8 0-1
Dardha,D (2532)-Shuvalova,P (2516) [D32]
Wijk aan Zee (8.6) 2022
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 c4 8.Ne5 Qa5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nf3 Nc6 11.g3 Bf5 12.a3 0-0-0 13.Nh4 Be6 14.Bg2 Be7 15.0-0 f5 16.Nf3 Kb8 17.b4 Qc7 18.Rb1 Ka8 19.Qa4 Nb8 20.Nb5 Qb6 21.Qxa7+ Qxa7 22.Nc7# 1-0
Vogel,R (2452)-Zh (2478) [D05]
Wijk aan Zee (8.7) 2022
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 d5 3.e3 e6 4.b3 c5 5.Bb2 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.a3 0-0 8.Bd3 b6 9.0-0 Bb7 10.Qe2 a5 11.Ne5 Qc7 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.a4 Rac8 14.f4 Ne4 15.dxc5 Bxc5 16.Kh1 Nxd2 17.Qxd2 f6 18.Qe2 Qe7 19.e4 d4 20.f5 Kh8 21.Qh5 exf5 22.exf5 Rfe8 23.Rf4 Qb7 24.Qg4 Rcd8 25.Rg1 Re5 26.Bc1 Rde8 27.Qh3 Re1 28.Bd2 R1e2 29.Bxe2 Rxe2 30.Rh4 Rxd2 31.Rxh7+ Kg8 32.Rh8+ Kf7 33.Qg4 Bxg2+ 34.Rxg2 Qxg2+ 35.Qxg2 Rd1+ 36.Qg1 Rxg1+ 37.Kxg1 d3+ 0-1
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nd5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Bb7 2.Qxe6#; 1…Nf6 2.Nxe7#; 1…Kxd5 2.Qd7#; 1…exd5 2.Bd7#; 1…e5 2.Qxa8#; 1…Bh4/f6 2.Bb8#; 1…Bxf4 2.Bxf4#.
