The 83rdTata Steel Masters Tournament ended with a surprise victory for unheralded Jorden van Foreest who accomplished the feat after beating Anish Giri in Armageddon on Jan. 31. The two tied for first and second places with 8½ points apiece and, as stipulated, played a blitz (5m + 3s) tiebreak match which tied, leading to the final Armageddon match whom van Foreest won – making the 22-year-old the first Dutch GM to win the event since Jan Timman won it in 1983.
The championship duel erupted after Giri drew from a worst position against David Anton Guijarro, while van Foreest defeated Nils Grandelius to catch Giri on top.
In the battle for third place, Fabiano Caruana lost out to Andrey Esipenko on tiebreak after the world’s number two could only draw against Aryan Tari in the final round, while Esipenko demolished Alexander Donchenko. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen ended the event in what could be his worst tournament finish this year by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and finishing in sixth place.
Vachier-Lagrave, on the other hand, landed on the 13th place in a catastrophic finish. Aliresa Firouzja finished ahead of Carlsen while Pentala Harikrishna wound up in seventh place.
The final standings after applying tiebreaks: 1. van Foreest, 8½; 2. Giri, 8½; 3. Esipenko,8; 4. Caruana, 8; 5. Firouzja 8; 6. Carlsen 7½; 7. Harikrishna, 6½; 8. Tari, 6; 9. Grandelius, 6; 10. Duda 5½; 11. Anton Guijarro, 5; 12. Wojtaszek, 5; 13. Vachier-Lagrave, 5; 14. Donchenko, 3½.
Donchenko, A (2668)-Esipenko, A (2677) [A13]
Wijk aan Zee (13.2) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nbd7 6.Qxc4 a6 7.Qc2 c5 8.Nc3 Qc7 9.0-0 b6 10.d4 Bb7 11.Bf4 Bd6 12.Bxd6 Qxd6 13.Rfd1 0-0 14.e4 Qc7 15.Rac1 cxd4 16.Nxd4 Rad8 17.Qe2 Qb8 18.Rc2 b5 19.Nb3 Ne5 20.Nc5 Bc8 21.Rcd2 Qc7 22.Nd3 Nxd3 23.Rxd3 b4 24.Rxd8 Rxd8 25.Rxd8+ Qxd8 26.Nd1 Bb7 27.e5 Bxg2 28.Kxg2 Qd5+ 29.Kg1 Nd7 30.Ne3 Qxa2 31.Qd1 Nf8 32.Qd4 a5 33.Nc4 h5 34.Nd6 Ng6 35.Qa7 Qb1+ 36.Kg2 Nxe5 37.Qxa5 Qxb2 38.Qa8+ Kh7 39.Qe4+ f5 40.Qh4 Qe2 41.Qxb4 Nd3 42.Qb6 h4 0-1
Carlsen, M (2862)-Vachier-Lagrave, M (2784) [D85]
Wijk aan Zee (13.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Qa4+ Qd7 8.Qa3 b6 9.Nf3 c5 10.Be3 0-0 11.Rd1 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qd6 13.Qxd6 exd6 14.Rc1 Bb7 15.Bd3 Nc6 16.Kd2 Rac8 17.h4 Nb4 18.Bb1 Rce8 19.a3 Nc6 20.Ba2 Rxe4 21.Bd5 Na5 22.Bxe4 Bxe4 23.Rc7 a6 24.h5 b5 25.h6 Bf6 26.Bg5 Bh8 27.Rh4 Bd5 28.Kc3 Nc4 29.Nd2 Nxa3 30.Kb4 Nc4 31.Nxc4 Bxc4 32.Be7 Re8 33.Rf4 f5 34.g4 Kf7 35.Bxd6+ Ke6 36.Bc5 Bf6 37.gxf5+ gxf5 38.Rc6+ Kf7 39.Rxf5 Re6 40.d5 1-0
Van Foreest, J (2671)-Grandelius, N (2663) [B90]
Wijk aan Zee (13.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qd3 Nbd7 7.Be2 b5 8.a4 Nc5 9.Qe3 b4 10.Nd5 Ncxe4 11.a5 Nxd5 12.Qxe4 e6 13.0-0 Bd7 14.Bd2 Be7 15.Bf3 0-0 16.Qd3 Qb8 17.c4 bxc3 18.bxc3 Ra7 19.Rfb1 Qc8 20.c4 Nf6 21.Nb5 axb5 22.cxb5 Bxb5 23.Qxb5 Nd7 24.Bb7 Qd8 25.a6 Bf6 26.Ba5 Qe8 27.Bc7 Bxa1 28.Rxa1 d5 29.Bd6 Qd8 30.Rc1 g6 31.h3 Re8 32.Rc7 Nf6 33.Be5 Ne4 34.Qc6 Rf8 35.Bd4 Qb8 36.f3 Rxa6 37.Bxa6 Qb4 38.Be5 Qe1+ 39.Kh2 Nf2 40.Qc3 Qh1+ 41.Kg3 Qg1 42.Rc8 Nh1+ 43.Kh4 Qf2+ 44.g3 g5+ 45.Kxg5 f6+ 46.Kh6 fxe5 47.Qxe5 1-0
Tari, A (2625)-Caruana, F (2823) [C01]
Wijk aan Zee (13.5) 2021
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bd3 Bg4 6.c3 Bd6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Nbd2 Qd7 9.b4 0-0 10.Re1 Rae8 11.Nf1 Ng6 12.Ne3 f5 13.Nxg4 fxg4 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.Rxe8 Rxe8 16.Ne1 Nd8 17.g3 Nf7 18.Ng2 c6 19.Bd2 Bc7 20.Qc2 Qf5 21.Ne3 Qh5 22.Ng2 Qf5 23.Ne3 Qh5 24.Ng2 Bd8 25.Rf1 Nd6 26.Bf4 Ne4 27.c4 Bf6 28.cxd5 Qxd5 29.Ne3 Qe6 30.Be5 Bxe5 31.Qxe4 Bd6 32.Qb1 Qe4 33.Qb3+ Kh7 34.b5 c5 35.dxc5 Bxc5 36.Rc1 Bxe3 37.Qxe3 Qxe3 38.fxe3 Rxe3 39.Rc7 Ra3 40.Rxb7 Rxa2 41.b6 axb6 42.Rxb6 Kh6 ½-½
Giri,A (2764)-Van Foreest, J (2671) [D00]
Wijk aan Zee (tb/3) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 e6 6.c3 Bd6 7.Bg3 h6 8.Bb5 Be7 9.Ne5 Qb6 10.a4 0-0 11.0-0 a6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.dxc5 Bxc5 14.b4 Be7 15.a5 Qb7 16.Nd3 Nd7 17.Nb3 Qb5 18.Nd4 Qb7 19.Rb1 Nf6 20.Nc5 Bxc5 21.bxc5 Qd7 22.Rb6 Ne4 23.Rxc6 Nxc3 24.Qc2 Nb5 25.Rb6 Na3 26.c6 Nxc2 27.cxd7 Nxd4 28.exd4 Bxd7 29.Rc1 Bb5 30.Bd6 Rfc8 31.Bc5 Rc7 32.Re1 Rac8 33.f4 h5 34.Kf2 Kh7 35.h3 Kg6 36.g4 hxg4 37.hxg4 Rc6 38.Rb7 R8c7 39.Rb8 Rc8 40.Rb7 R8c7 41.Rxc7 Rxc7 42.Re5 Bd7 43.Rg5+ Kh7 44.Bf8 g6 45.Re5 f6 46.Re3 Kg8 47.Bc5 Rb7 48.Bb6 Bb5 49.Rxe6 Kf7 50.Re1 Re7 51.Rc1 Re4 52.Kf3 Be2+ 53.Kg3 Re3+ 54.Kf2 Re4 55.Rc7+ Ke8 56.g5 Rxf4+ 57.Kxe2 fxg5 58.Ra7 g4 59.Rxa6 g3 60.Ra7 g2 61.Ra8+ Kd7 62.Rd8+ Ke7 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bg1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c3 2.Rf4#; 1…Ke3+ 2.Rfb2#; 1…Kc3 2.Qxh8#; 1…Kc5+ 2.Rff6#; 1…d2 2.Rf3#./PN
