India GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit maintained his half-point after a tough draw against Andrey Esipenko of Russia in Round 4 of the 84th Tata Steel Chess Tournament now ongoing at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
Vidit pressed Esipenko at the outset of a Giuoco Piano game, but had to relent later and settle for the draw after 32 moves. There were two decisive games of the round. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov managed o turn a losing game into victory against Jan-Krzysztof Duda when the latter’s time trouble played a crucial factor in producing less than ideal moves in the sharp Semi-Tarrasch Game they were playing. Duda gave up after 41 moves. Meanwhile, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa took advantage of an off-form Nils Grandelius to hack out a win in 64 moves of a Gruenfeld Defense.
The other games were drawn. Top seed Magnus Carlsen was held by Jorden Van Foreest who played in a rather adventurous manner to earn the draw after 52 moves of another Gruenfeld. Fabiano Caruana and Daniil Dubov was drawn after 38 moves of a Ruy Lopez Closed, while Sergey Karjakin vs Anish Giri and Sam Shankland vs Richard Rapport were short grandmaster draws that ended in 14 and 21 moves, respectively.
The standings after Round 4: 1. Vidit, 3; 2-6. Esipenko, Carlsen, Mamedyarov, Rapport, Van Foreest, 2½; 7-9. Duda, Caruana, Praggnanandhaa, 2; 10-13. Giri, Dubov, Karjakin, Shankland, 1½; 14. Grandelius, ½.
Carlsen,M (2865)-Van Foreest,J (2702) [D78]
Wijk aan Zee (4.1) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 c6 7.b3 Bf5 8.Bb2 Nbd7 9.e3 Ne4 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Be4 12.Qe2 e6 13.Rfd1 a5 14.Bf1 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 Nc5 16.Be1 Ne4 17.Bd3 f5 18.Rac1 g5 19.Qe2 g4 20.Bxe4 fxe4 21.Qxg4 Qe8 22.cxd5 exd5 23.Rc5 h5 24.Qh3 Qf7 25.Qg2 a4 26.b4 Qd7 27.b5 h4 28.Rdc1 Rf6 29.bxc6 bxc6 30.g4 h3 31.Qxh3 Raf8 32.Qg2 Rg6 33.g5 Rf5 34.h4 Bf8 35.R5c2 Be7 36.Rb2 Bxg5 37.Kf1 Qa7 38.Qg4 Qa6+ 39.Kg1 Rg7 40.Rb8+ Bd8 41.Rxd8+ Rf8 42.Rxf8+ Kxf8 43.Bb4+ Kg8 44.Qxg7+ Kxg7 45.a3 Kg6 46.Kg2 Kh5 47.Rh1 c5 48.Bxc5 Qg6+ 49.Kf1 Qa6+ 50.Kg2 Qg6+ 51.Kf1 Qa6+ 52.Kg2 ½-½
Vidit,SG (2727)-Esipenko,A (2714) [C50]
Wijk aan Zee (4.2) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 h6 7.Re1 0-0 8.h3 Bb6 9.a4 a5 10.Nbd2 Ne7 11.Bb3 c6 12.Nf1 Ng6 13.Ng3 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.d4 exd4 16.Nxd4 Re8 17.Rxe8+ Qxe8 18.Bxd5 cxd5 19.Be3 Bc7 20.Qd2 Bd7 21.b3 Bxg3 22.fxg3 Qe5 23.Qf2 Rc8 24.Rf1 f6 25.Re1 Qd6 26.Nf5 Bxf5 27.Qxf5 Ne7 28.Qg4 Rxc3 29.Bf4 Qc5+ 30.Kh2 Kh7 31.h4 d4 32.Qe6 ½-½
Mamedyarov,S (2767) – Duda,J-K (2760) [D41]
Wijk aan Zee (4.3) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.e4 dxe4 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Ng5 Be6 10.Nxe6+ fxe6 11.Bg5 h6 12.0-0-0+ Ke7 13.Bxf6+ gxf6 14.Nxe4 f5 15.Ng3 h5 16.Bc4 Nd7 17.Kb1 Ne5 18.Bb3 Kf6 19.Rhe1 Re8 20.Ba4 Re7 21.h4 Ng6 22.Rd4 Rc7 23.Bb3 e5 24.Rd8 Nxh4 25.Re8 Ng6 26.Re6+ Kg5 27.Bc2 h4 28.Re3 e4 29.Nxf5 Kxf5 30.R3xe4 Rxc2 31.Kxc2 Bc5 32.g4+ Kg5 33.f4+ Nxf4 34.R6e5+ Kxg4 35.Rxc5 Kf3 36.Rb4 h3 37.Rc3+ Kg4 38.Rcc4 Rf8 39.Rxb7 h2 40.Rh7 Kg3 41.Kb3 1-0
Caruana,F (2792)-Dubov,D (2720) [C88]
Wijk aan Zee (4.5) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.c3 Na5 11.Ba2 c5 12.Bg5 Qd7 13.Nbd2 bxa4 14.Bb1 Bc6 15.d4 cxd4 16.cxd4 h6 17.Bh4 Nh5 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Bc2 Nb3 20.Nxb3 axb3 21.Bxb3 Nf6 22.Bc2 Rfb8 23.b3 Bb5 24.Qd2 Nh7 25.Rad1 Ng5 26.Nxg5 Qxg5 27.Re3 Rc8 28.dxe5 dxe5 29.Bd3 Bxd3 30.Rxd3 Qxd2 31.R1xd2 Rc1+ 32.Rd1 Rxd1+ 33.Rxd1 Rb8 34.Rd3 Rb4 35.f3 a5 36.h4 h5 37.Rd5 f6 38.Rxa5 Rxb3 ½-½
Praggnanandhaa,R (2612)-Grandelius,N (2672) [D85]
Wijk aan Zee (4.7) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Qa4+ Nd7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Qa3 c5 10.Be2 b6 11.h4 e5 12.d5 Nf6 13.Bg5 Qe8 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.h5 Bg4 16.Nd2 Bd7 17.c4 Qe7 18.Qc3 Bg7 19.Qe3 f5 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.a4 Bf6 22.a5 Bg5 23.Qh3 Qg7 24.Qc3 Qf6 25.Bd3 Qe7 26.Nf3 Bf6 27.Qc2 Rac8 28.axb6 axb6 29.0-0 f4 30.Ra7 Qd6 31.Be2 Bd8 32.Nh2 Bc7 33.Rfa1 Kg7 34.Bg4 Bxg4 35.Nxg4 Rf7 36.f3 Rh8 37.Qb2 Rh5 38.Rb7 Qd8 39.Raa7 Kg8 40.Kf2 Rh1 41.Ra1 Rh4 42.Rxc7 Rxc7 43.Qxe5 Rf7 44.Qe6 Rxg4 45.Qxg4 Kg7 46.Qe6 Qh4+ 47.Ke2 Qg5 48.Kf1 Qh4 49.Kg1 Qf6 50.Qxf6+ Kxf6 51.Kf2 Ke5 52.Ke2 Kd4 53.Rd1+ Ke5 54.Ra1 Kd4 55.Rd1+ Ke5 56.Kd3 Ra7 57.Kc3 g5 58.Kb3 g4 59.d6 gxf3 60.gxf3 Ke6 61.d7 Rxd7 62.Rxd7 Kxd7 63.Ka4 Kc6 64.e5 1-0
******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qd7, and Black’s futile options are: 1…a5 2.Qb5#; 1…e5 2.Qg4#; 1…gxh5 2.Bxh5#; 1…b3 2.Nxc3#; 1…e3 2.Qd3#; 1…c2 2.Qd2#; 1…Nf4/h4/e3/e1 2.Rd(x)e1#; 1…Ng3/f2 2.R(x)f2#.
