It’s a rest day at the 84th Tata Steel Masters Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, so we’ll just give you developments from the Challengers Division which is running simultaneous with the Masters.
The Challengers Division is a Category 13 (average Elo: 2561), 14-player, sengle round robin, classical event with a time format of 100 minutes plus 50 minutes plus 15 minutes plus 30 seconds increment per move. The participants are (GM unless otherwise indicated) Arjun Erigaisi (2632), Rinat Jumabayev (2631), Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2627), Erwin L’Ami (2622), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (2613), Max Warmerdam (2607), Jonas Buhl Bjerre (2586), Lucas Van Foreest (2539), Daniel Dardha (2532), IM Volodar Murzin (2519), IM Polina Shuvalova (2516), Marc`Andria Maurizzi (2502), WGM Jiner Zhu (2478) and IM Roven Vogel (2452).
Like the Masters Division, a grandmaster from India is leading the event after four rounds of play. India’s Santosh Gujrathi Vidit is leading the Masters by half-a-point, while Erigaisi leads the Challengers by the same margin.
Round 4 Standings: 1. Erigaisi, 3½; 2-3. Nguyen, Murzin, 3; 4-7. Jumabayev, L’Ami, Bjerre, Ganguly, 2½; 8th-11. Van Foreest, Warmerdam, Vogel, Shuvalova, 1½; 12-13. Dardha, Zhu, 1; 14. Maurizzi, ½.
Bjerre,JB (2586)-L’Ami,E (2622) [D11]
Wijk aan Zee (1.4) 2022
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.d4 d5 4.e3 Bg4 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Ne5 Bf5 7.cxd5 Qxb3 8.axb3 Nxd5 9.Na3 Nd7 10.Nxd7 Bxd7 11.Nc4 e6 12.Bd2 Be7 13.Be2 0-0 14.0-0 Rfd8 15.Rfc1 Be8 16.Na5 Rd7 17.Bf3 Rc8 18.Nc4 b6 19.e4 Nf6 20.Be3 c5 21.d5 exd5 22.exd5 Nxd5 23.Bg4 Rcc7 24.Bxd7 Bxd7 25.Bd2 Be6 26.Rd1 h5 27.Be1 Kh7 28.f3 h4 29.Rd3 Bf6 30.Bf2 Nb4 31.Rd2 Nc6 32.Kh1 g5 33.Re1 Nd4 34.Bxd4 Bxd4 35.Nd6 a5 36.Nb5 Rc6 37.Nxd4 cxd4 38.Kg1 Bxb3 39.Rxd4 Be6 40.Re2 Kg6 41.h3 Rc5 42.f4 Rb5 43.fxg5 Kxg5 44.Rde4 Kg6 45.Rxh4 Rb3 46.Ra4 Kf6 47.Kh2 Ke7 48.Rf2 Kf8 49.g4 Kg7 50.h4 Kg6 51.g5 b5 52.Rxa5 Kh5 53.Rg2 Rb4 54.Kg1 Bh3 55.Rh2 Be6 56.Ra8 Kg4 57.h5 Rd4 58.Rg2+ Kxh5 59.g6 1-0
Dardha,D (2532)-Murzin,V (2519) [D45]
Wijk aan Zee (1.6) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 b6 7.cxd5 cxd5 8.Nb5 Bb4+ 9.Bd2 Bxd2+ 10.Nxd2 0-0 11.Be2 Ba6 12.a4 Qe7 13.0-0 Rfc8 14.Qb3 Ne8 15.Bd3 Bb7 16.Nc3 a6 17.Rfc1 Nd6 18.a5 b5 19.Qa3 Qf8 20.b3 Rc7 21.Na2 Rac8 22.Rxc7 Rxc7 23.Rc1 Qb8 24.Bf1 Rxc1 25.Nxc1 h6 26.Nd3 Ne4 27.Qe7 Nxd2 28.Qxd7 Qc8 29.Qe7 Qc2 30.Qc5 Qxb3 31.Qc1 Nxf1 32.Nc5 Qa2 33.Kxf1 b4 34.Qd1 Bc6 35.h4 Qxa5 36.g4 Qd8 37.Kg2 a5 38.Kg3 a4 39.f4 b3 40.g5 hxg5 41.hxg5 b2 42.Nd3 Qb6 43.g6 b1Q 44.gxf7+ Kf8 0-1
Nguyen,TDV (2613)-Bjerre,JB (2586) [A35]
Wijk aan Zee (2.3) 2022
1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e5 5.d4 e4 6.d5 exf3 7.dxc6 dxc6 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.gxf3 g6 10.b3 Bg7 11.Bb2 b6 12.a4 a5 13.0-0-0+ Kc7 14.Ne4 Nh5 15.Ba3 Bd7 16.Kc2 Rad8 17.Bd3 Nf6 18.Ng3 Bh3 19.Rhg1 Rd7 20.Bb2 Rhd8 21.Be5+ Kc8 22.Be2 Nh5 23.Rxd7 Rxd7 24.f4 Bxe5 25.fxe5 Ng7 26.Kc3 Re7 27.f4 Ne8 28.Ne4 Bf5 29.Ng5 h6 30.Nf3 Ng7 31.Bd3 Bd7 32.e4 Nh5 33.f5 Be8 34.Kd2 Rd7 35.Ke3 Kd8 36.Be2 gxf5 37.exf5 f6 38.e6 Rg7 39.Rd1+ Ke7 40.Bf1 Rg8 41.Bh3 Rg7 42.Nd2 Ng3 43.Kf2 Nh5 44.Kf3 Rg8 45.Ne4 Ng7 46.Rg1 Bh5+ 47.Kf2 Be8 48.Bf1 Bh5 49.Bd3 Be8 50.Be2 1-0
Warmerdam,M (2607)-Erigaisi,A (2632) [E06]
Wijk aan Zee (2.4) 2022
1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.d4 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nfd2 Nd5 10.Nxc4 c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.e4 Nb6 13.Ncd2 N8d7 14.a5 Ba6 15.axb6 Rc8 16.Rxa6 Bxf2+ 17.Kxf2 Rxc2 18.bxa7 Nb6 19.Kg1 Qc8 20.Rxb6 Qc5+ 21.Kh1 Qxb6 22.Nf3 Qxa7 23.Bf4 Rxb2 24.Nbd2 Qa2 25.Rc1 Rd8 0-1
Erigaisi,A (2632)-Dardha,D (2532) [B32]
Wijk aan Zee (3.2) 2022
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Be7 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Nc2 Bg5 10.Be2 Bxc1 11.Rxc1 Nf6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.Nc3 Qb6 16.Rfd1 Rac8 17.b3 Rfd8 18.h3 Qa7 19.Bf1 Ne7 20.Ne3 Qb8 21.Qd3 h5 22.h4 Qa7 23.Be2 Kf8 24.Bf3 g6 25.Qd2 Kg7 26.Ne2 b5 27.Ng3 bxc4 28.bxc4 Kh7 29.Rc3 Rc6 30.Nef5 Neg8 31.Qg5 Bxf5 32.exf5 Rcc8 33.Be4 Nxe4 34.Nxe4 Qe7 35.Rg3 Qxg5 36.Nxg5+ Kg7 37.fxg6 Nh6 38.gxf7 Rd7 39.Ne4+ Kf8 40.Rg8+ Nxg8 41.fxg8Q+ Kxg8 42.Nf6+ 1-0
Vogel,R (2452)-Erigaisi,A (2632) [E94]
Wijk aan Zee (4.2) 2022
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Bg4 8.d5 a5 9.Ne1 Bd7 10.Nd3 Na6 11.Bg5 h6 12.Be3 b6 13.Qd2 Kh7 14.f4 exf4 15.Rxf4 Qe7 16.Raf1 g5 17.R4f2 Rae8 18.Bf3 Ng4 19.Bxg4 Bxg4 20.h3 Bh5 21.e5 Bg6 22.Rf5 Nb4 23.Nxb4 axb4 24.Ne4 Bxf5 25.Rxf5 Bxe5 26.Qc2 Kg8 27.Nf2 Bg7 28.Ng4 Qe4 29.Qf2 h5 30.Rxg5 hxg4 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Rf2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rf8 2.Re6#; 1…Bd4 2.Qxd4#; 1…g5 2.Qf5#; 1…Nd5 2.Bc2#; 1…Nd3 2.Qc6#; 1…exf2 2.Nd2#; 1…Nf3 2.Bxf3#.
