Sports

Tata Steel Masters: Caruana wins by a mile

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

THE NINTH FILE

A.E. Boy Espejo Jr.

Fabiano Caruana won his final round game at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands to produce one of the best performances in the tournament’s 82-year history. Caruana, who won the event with a round to spare, authored the only decision of the last round by beating Vladislav Artemiev to raise his winning margin to 2 points over closest pursuer Magnus Carlsen.

Caruana’s margin of victory was only eclipsed by the late chess legend Viktor Korchnoi who won the event in 1968 by a three-point buffer over fellow legends Lajos Portisch, Mikhail Tal and Vlastimil Hort, and equaled the two-point margins of victory by Max Euwe in 1952 and Fridrik Olafsson in 1959.

World champion Magnus Carlsen settled for 2^nd place, while Wesley So took 3^rd place. Carlsen and So drew their final round game, as did the rest of the Round 3 matches.

The final standings: 1. Caruana, 10; 2. Carlsen, 8; 3. So, 7½; 4-5. Van Foreest, Dubov, 7; 6-9. Giri, Anand, Duda, Firouzja, 6½; 10-11. Xiong, Artemiev, 5½; 12. Vitiugov, 5; 13. Yu, 4½; 14. Kovalev, 4.

So,Wesley (2765) – Carlsen,M (2872) [C47]

Wijk aan Zee (13.1) 2020

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.Bd2 0-0 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 dxe4 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Bxe4 Qxb2 13.Bxc6 Rb8 14.Rb1 Qxb1 15.Qxb1 Rxb1 16.Rxb1 Rd8 17.Bf3 Kf8 18.Rb8 Re8 19.h4 Ba6 20.Rb3 Be2 21.Bxe2 Rxe2 22.Rc3 Re7 23.f3 Ke8 24.Kf2 Kd7 25.Ra3 Re5 26.Rxa7 Rc5 27.Ke3 Rxc2 28.g4 h5 29.gxh5 Rc4 30.Ra5 Rxh4 31.Rg5 Ke6 32.Rc5 Ra4 33.h6 gxh6 34.Rxc7 Kf6 35.Rc6+ Kg7 36.Rc2 Kg6 37.Kf2 h5 38.Kg3 Kg5 39.Rc7 h4+ 40.Kh3 f5 41.Rh7 Rc4 42.Rh8 Rc1 43.a3 Kf4 44.Rh5 Ra1 45.a4 Ra2 46.Rxh4+ Kxf3 47.Rb4 f4 48.Rb3+ Kf2 49.Kg4 Rxa4 50.Rf3+ Kg2 51.Rxf4 Rxf4+ 52.Kxf4 ½-½

Artemiev,V (2731)-Caruana,F (2822) [A07]

Wijk aan Zee (13.4) 2020

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nd7 3.c4 dxc4 4.Qa4 a6 5.Qxc4 b5 6.Qc2 Bb7 7.Bg2 Ngf6 8.0-0 e6 9.d3 Be7 10.a4 c5 11.Nc3 Qb6 12.axb5 axb5 13.Rxa8+ Bxa8 14.Bg5 0-0 15.Ra1 h6 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.Nd2 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Rc8 19.Qb3 Rb8 20.Nce4 Be7 21.Kg1 f5 22.Nc3 Ne5 23.h3 h5 24.Nf3 Nxf3+ 25.exf3 Bf6 26.Re1 Kf7 27.Ne2 g5 28.g4 hxg4 29.hxg4 fxg4 30.fxg4 Qd6 31.Ng3 Qd5 32.Qc2 Bd4 33.Qe2 Rh8 34.Ne4 Qe5 35.Qf3+ Kg7 36.b3 Rf8 37.Qe2 Qd5 38.Rf1 Kg6 39.Qd1 c4 40.bxc4 bxc4 41.Kg2 Ba7 42.f3 cxd3 43.Qa1 Be3 44.Rd1 Qc4 45.Qc3 Qa2+ 46.Nd2 Qc2 47.Qe5 Bxd2 48.Qxe6+ Kg7 49.Qe7+ Rf7 50.Qe5+ Kf8 51.Qb8+ Ke7 52.Qe5+ Kd8 53.Qb8+ Kd7 54.Qb7+ Kd6 55.Qb6+ Ke5 56.Qb5+ Kd4 57.Qb6+ Kc4 58.Qe6+ Kc3 59.Qe5+ Kb3 60.Qd5+ Kb2 61.Qb5+ Bb4+ 62.Kg3 Qxd1 63.Qxb4+ Qb3 64.Qd2+ Kb1 65.Qe1+ Kc2 66.Qf2+ d2 0-1

Yu,Y (2726)-Xiong,J (2712) [A57]

Wijk aan Zee (13.7) 2020

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Nf3 g6 5.cxb5 a6 6.b6 d6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.e4 Bg7 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 Nxb6 11.a4 Bg4 12.Nd2 Bxe2 13.Qxe2 Qc7 14.a5 Nc8 15.Nc4 Nd7 16.Bd2 Rb8 17.Na4 Qb7 18.Bc3 Na7 19.Nab6 Nc8 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.b4 Ncxb6 22.axb6 Nxb6 23.Na5 Qc7 24.Nc6 Nd7 25.Nxb8 Rxb8 26.bxc5 Nxc5 27.Rfb1 Qa5 28.e5 Qc3 29.exd6 exd6 30.h3 a5 31.Rxb8 Qxa1+ 32.Kh2 Qd4 33.Ra8 Nd3 ½-½

Giri,A(2768)-Van Foreest,J (2644) [D10]

Wijk aan Zee (13.5) 2020

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Bg5 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.e3 e6 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.Nf3 f5 10.g3 Bd7 11.0-0 Rc8 12.Rc1 0-0 13.a3 Kh8 14.Qe2 Rg8 15.Kh1 Na5 16.Nd2 Qb6 17.b4 Nc4 18.Bxc4 dxc4 19.Kg1 Qa6 20.Ra1 b5 21.Nf3 Qb6 22.e4 a5 23.exf5 axb4 24.fxe6 Bxe6 25.axb4 Bg4 26.Qe3 Rce8 27.Ne5 Bxe5 28.dxe5 Qxe3 29.fxe3 Bh5 30.Nxb5 Rxe5 31.Nd6 Rxe3 32.Nxf7+ Bxf7 33.Rxf7 Re2 34.Rc7 Rd8 35.Rxc4 Rb2 36.Rc7 Rxb4 37.Raa7 h5 38.Rh7+ Kg8 39.Rxh5 Rb2 40.Rg5+ Kh8 41.Rh5+ Kg8 42.Rg5+ Kh8 43.Ra1 Rdd2 44.Rh5+ Kg7 45.Kh1 Rf2 46.g4 Kg6 47.Rg1 Rb8 48.Rh3 Kg5 49.Rhg3 Rbb2 50.Rh3 Rb8 51.Rh7 Kg6 52.Rh5 Rc8 53.Ra1 Rcc2 54.Ra6+ Kg7 55.Rg5+ ½-½

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