A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.
Iranian GM Alireza Firouzja, playing under the FIDE flag, emerged the only winner among his four co-leaders in the previous round to seize the solo leadership after Round 3 of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
The 16-year old Firouzja defeated Vladislav Artemiev in 57 moves of a Caro-Kann Advance, and was one of three Round 3 winners. The other decisions were made by Fabiano Caruana who crushed Yangyi Yu’s Petroff Defense in 47 moves, and Jorden Van Foreest who demolished Daniil Dubov’s Sicilian Defense with the Rossolimo Variation in 47 moves. Artemiev and Dubov were among the Round 2 co-leaders.
Firouzja’s other two co-leaders – Wesley So and Jeffery Xiong – drew their respective matches. Wesley was held by Nikita Vitiugov, while Xiong drew with world champion Magnus Carlsen. The other matches – Viswanathan Anand vs Anish Giri and Vladislav Kovalev vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda – were also drawn.
The standings after Round 3: 1. Firouzja, 2½; 2-5. Xiong, So, Caruana, Van Foreest, 2; 6-10. Giri, Carlsen, Duda, Artemiev, Dubov, 1½; 11-12. Vitiugov, Anand, 1; 13-14. Yu, Kovalev, ½.
Vitiugov,N (2747)-So,Wesley (2765) [C83]
Wijk aan Zee (3.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Be7 10.Be3 0-0 11.Nbd2 Bg4 12.Nxe4 dxe4 13.Qd5 Qxd5 14.Bxd5 exf3 15.Bxc6 fxg2 16.Rfe1 Rad8 17.a4 b4 18.cxb4 Bxb4 19.Rec1 Bd2 20.Bxd2 Rxd2 21.b4 f6 22.b5 a5 23.Bxg2 fxe5 24.Rxc7 Bf3 25.Bxf3 Rxf3 26.Rf1 Rf4 27.b6 Rb2 28.b7 Rf7 29.Rc8+ Rf8 30.Rxf8+ Kxf8 31.Re1 Rxb7 32.Rxe5 Rb4 33.Rxa5 Kf7 34.Kg2 h5 35.Kg3 Rg4+ 36.Kf3 Rh4 37.Kg3 Rg4+ 38.Kf3 Rh4 39.Kg3 ½-½
Firouzja,A (2723)-Artemiev,V (2731) [B12]
Wijk aan Zee (3.5) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.c4 e6 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.Nge2 Nd7 8.Ng3 Bg6 9.Bg5 Qb6 10.Rc1 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Nf5 12.0-0 Be7 13.Nxf5 Bxf5 14.Bxe7 Kxe7 15.Qd2 Qd8 16.Nd1 Nb6 17.Ne3 Kf8 18.Nxf5 exf5 19.Bb3 Qxh4 20.Rfe1 Rh6 21.e6 fxe6 22.Bxe6 Re8 23.Bxf5 Rxe1+ 24.Rxe1 Qd8 25.Qd3 Kf7 26.Qf3 Qf6 27.Qb3+ Kf8 28.Qa3+ Qd6 29.Qe3 Qd8 30.Qe4 Rf6 31.Bg6 Kg8 32.Qh4 Qd5 33.Re8+ Rf8 34.Qe7 Nd7 35.Bc2 Qxd4 36.Rxf8+ Nxf8 37.Bb3+ Kh7 38.Qxf8 Qxb2 39.Bg8+ Kh6 40.Qf4+ g5 41.Qd6+ Kg7 42.Bb3 Qa1+ 43.Kh2 Qf6 44.Qxf6+ Kxf6 45.Kg3 b5 46.Bd1 h4+ 47.Kg4 c5 48.f4 gxf4 49.Kxf4 Ke6 50.Kg4 a5 51.Kxh4 a4 52.g4 c4 53.g5 a3 54.Be2 Kf5 55.Kh5 Ke4 56.g6 c3 57.Bd1 1-0
Van Foreest,J (2644)-Dubov,D (2683) [B30]
Wijk aan Zee (3.6) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 c4 7.Bc2 d5 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.0-0 g6 10.Na3 Bg7 11.b3 cxb3 12.axb3 0-0 13.d4 Bg4 14.h3 Bxf3 15.Qxf3 e5 16.Nb5 Qd7 17.Rd1 a6 18.d5 Nb4 19.Na3 Nxc2 20.Nxc2 Rac8 21.c4 f5 22.Ba3 Rf7 23.Rac1 Re8 24.c5 e4 25.Qe2 Nc8 26.Qc4 Na7 27.Nd4 f4 28.Ne6 Nb5 29.Bb4 e3 30.Ng5 exf2+ 31.Kxf2 Qf5 32.Nxf7 Re4 33.c6 Kxf7 34.cxb7 Rxc4 35.bxc4 Qe5 36.cxb5 Qb2+ 37.Kf1 Be5 38.d6 f3 39.gxf3 Qb3 40.Ke2 Qe6 41.Rc7+ Kf6 42.b8Q Bf4+ 43.Kd3 Qd5+ 44.Kc2 Qa2+ 45.Kc3 Be5+ 46.Kd3 Qb3+ 47.Ke2 1-0
Caruana,F (2822)-Yu,Y (2726) [C43]
Wijk aan Zee (3.7) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.0-0 Nxe5 7.dxe5 Nc5 8.Be3 c6 9.f4 Nxd3 10.Qxd3 g6 11.Nc3 b6 12.Rad1 Bg7 13.b4 Bf5 14.Qe2 Qc8 15.h3 0-0 16.g4 Be6 17.b5 f5 18.exf6 Bxf6 19.Bd4 Bxd4+ 20.Rxd4 cxb5 21.Nxb5 Bd7 22.Rxd5 Bxb5 23.Rxb5 Qc3 24.Rb3 Qc5+ 25.Kg2 Rae8 26.Qd2 Re4 27.Rf2 Qc6 28.Kg3 Rc4 29.Rd3 Rf7 30.Rd6 Qc5 31.f5 Qe5+ 32.Kg2 Rc3 33.Rf3 Rxf3 34.Kxf3 Re7 35.Rd5 Qe4+ 36.Kg3 Kg7 37.Rd6 Qe5+ 38.Kh4 gxf5 39.Qh6+ Kg8 40.Rd8+ Re8 41.Rd7 Re7 42.Qg5 Kf7 43.Rxe7 Qxe7 44.Qxe7 Kxe7 45.gxf5 Kf6 46.Kg4 Ke5 47.Kg5 b5 48.c3 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bd6!, intending 2.Bd3#. Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxd6 2.Sxd6#; 1…Qxc4 2.Qxc4#; 1…Qa3/b3/xc2 2.Qc6#; 1…Sxe2 2.Sd2#./PN
