The 84th edition of the prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament started over the weekend at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, with three decisive games produced in the opening round.
Fourteen of the world’s top players are taking part in this Category 20 (average Elo rating: 2737) event, and they are world champion Magnus Carlsen (2856), Fabiano Caruana (2792), Anish Giri (2772(, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2767), Richard Rapport (2763), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2760), Sergey Karjakin (2743), Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2727), Daniil Dubov (2720), Andrey Esipenko (2714), Sam Shankland (2708), Jorden Van Foreest (2702), Nils Grandelius (2762) and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (2612).
The opening round winners were Duda, who subdued Rapport in 41 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Game; Vidit, who outlasted Shankland in 73 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined; and Van Foreest who beat Grandelius in 44 moves of a Ruy Lopez. The games Caruana vs Karjakin and Dubov vs Mamedyarov almost ended decisively, but Caruana and Mamedyarov who had their opponents in the ropes, played the wrong moves that allowed Karjakin and Dubov to escape with draws.
Carlsen drew with Esipenko in just 21 moves of an Anti Meran, as did Giri wo was held in 44 moves of an English Opening by Praggnanandhaa.
The standings after Round 1: 1-3. Duda, Vidit, Van Foreest, 1; 4-11. Carlsen, Caruana, Mamedyarov, Giri, Karjakin, Dubov, Esipenko, Praggnanandhaa, ½; 12-14. Rapport, Shankland, Grandelius, 0.
Dubov,D (2720)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) [D43]
Wijk aan Zee (1.4) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.g3 dxc4 6.Bg2 b5 7.Ne5 a6 8.0-0 Bb7 9.b3 b4 10.Na4 c3 11.Nc4 a5 12.a3 Ba6 13.Bf4 Bb5 14.e4 Be7 15.Nab6 Ra6 16.a4 Rxb6 17.axb5 Rxb5 18.Ra2 0-0 19.Qa1 Qxd4 20.Rd1 Qa7 21.Nxa5 Bc5 22.Nxc6 Bxf2+ 23.Kh1 Qb6 24.Bxb8 Qxc6 25.e5 Ne4 26.Bd6 Rd8 27.Re2 f5 28.exf6 c2 29.f7+ Kxf7 30.Rf1 ½-½
Duda,J-K (2760)-Rapport,R (2763) [D02]
Wijk aan Zee (1.5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qb3 Bd6 7.Bg3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Rb8 9.Nc3 b5 10.Be2 0-0 11.Rd1 Qe7 12.Ne5 b4 13.Na4 Bxe5 14.dxe5 Ne4 15.f3 Nxg3 16.hxg3 Nc5 17.Nxc5 Qxc5 18.Kf2 Qxe5 19.Rd7 a5 20.Rhd1 h5 21.e4 Bg6 22.R1d2 h4 23.gxh4 Qh2 24.Bf1 Qxh4+ 25.g3 Qh5 26.Qe3 c5 27.Kg2 a4 28.Bc4 a3 29.b3 Qe5 30.Qf4 Qxf4 31.gxf4 Bh5 32.Kg3 g6 33.R2d3 Rbe8 34.Kh4 Kg7 35.Kg5 Rh8 36.Rc7 Rc8 37.Re7 Rce8 38.Red7 Rhf8 39.Rc7 Rh8 40.Rdd7 Rhf8 41.f5 1-0
Vidit,SG (2727)-Shankland,S (2708) [D35]
Wijk aan Zee (1.6) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Be7 7.Bd3 0-0 8.h3 Ne8 9.Bf4 Bd6 10.Qf3 Qf6 11.Nge2 Bxf4 12.Nxf4 Nd6 13.h4 Re8 14.0-0-0 Bf5 15.Bxf5 Qxf5 16.g4 Qf6 17.g5 Qf5 18.Qh3 Qxh3 19.Rxh3 Nd7 20.b3 Ne4 21.Nxe4 Rxe4 22.Kd2 Rae8 23.Ne2 R4e6 24.Ng3 g6 25.h5 c5 26.Rdh1 R8e7 27.Rc1 cxd4 28.exd4 Nf8 29.Rc5 Rd6 30.Rc8 Red7 31.Ne2 Rd8 32.Rxd8 Rxd8 33.Nf4 f6 34.gxf6 Kf7 35.hxg6+ hxg6 36.Nd3 Kxf6 37.Rf3+ Ke7 38.Ne5 Ke6 39.a4 a5 40.Kd3 Rb8 41.Rf7 g5 42.Rg7 Kf5 43.Ke3 b6 44.Kf3 g4+ 45.Nxg4 Ne6 46.Ne3+ Kf6 47.Rg4 b5 48.Nxd5+ Kf7 49.Ke4 bxa4 50.bxa4 Rb2 51.f3 Rb3 52.f4 Ra3 53.Nb6 Rb3 54.Nd5 Ra3 55.Ke5 Rxa4 56.f5 Nf8 57.Kd6 Nh7 58.f6 Kf8 59.Ke5 Ra1 60.Nf4 Re1+ 61.Kf5 Ke8 62.Rg8+ Nf8 63.d5 Rf1 64.d6 Rd1 65.Ng6 Rf1+ 66.Ke5 Re1+ 67.Kd5 Rd1+ 68.Kc6 Rc1+ 69.Kb5 Kd7 70.Rxf8 Kxd6 71.f7 Rc5+ 72.Ka4 Ke6 73.Nh8 1-0
Van Foreest,J (2702)-Grandelius,N (2672) [C77]
Wijk aan Zee (1.7) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Nbd2 Re8 10.Nf1 b5 11.Bc2 a5 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 a4 14.Ne3 Bb7 15.c4 Nb4 16.cxb5 Qd7 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Bxa4 Nxd3 19.Qxd3 Rxa4 20.Nd1 Rb4 21.a4 d5 22.Qd2 Qd6 23.exd5 e4 24.Qxh6 Qf8 25.Qxf8+ Kxf8 26.Nd2 Bxd5 27.Re3 Bd4 28.Rea3 f5 29.g3 g5 30.Ne3 Bxe3 31.fxe3 Rxb2 32.Nf1 Bc4 33.Rc3 Be2 34.Rac1 Ra8 35.R3c2 Rxc2 36.Rxc2 Bf3 37.Rc4 Ke7 38.Rxc7+ Ke6 39.Rc4 Be2 40.Rb4 Rc8 41.Nd2 Bd3 42.b6 Rc1+ 43.Kf2 Rc2 44.b7 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Nf6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…dxc6 2.Qf8#; 1…d6 2.Rc3#; 1…Kxc6 2.Nxd7#; 1…Rg7 2.Qe3#.
