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1/24/2015 – It wasn't the prettiest of games, and it should have finished hours before it did, but Giri was able to best So after 111 moves! This win puts Giri half a point behind Carlsen, who drew Ding Liren with some minor problems. Wojtaszek seemed lost on what to do in his defeat against Saric. Meanwhile, in the Challengers, Wei Yi needs but a draw to qualify for next year's Masters.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the 'round robin' system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Tata Steel Masters has 14 participants and the Tata Steel Challengers has 14 participants. Both groups start on January 10th 2015 and the last round is on January 25th. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 25th, which begins at 12.00 hours. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.

Admission to the playing hall in Wijk aan Zee, Rotterdam and The Hague is free of charge

Round twelve - Masters

Round 12 - Saturday Jan. 24 Van Wely, L. - Jobava, B. ½-½ Radjabov, T. - Hou, Y. ½-½ Ivanchuk, V. - Caruana, F. ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave - Aronian, L. ½-½ Ding, L. - Carlsen, M. ½-½ Saric, I. - Wojtaszek, R. 1-0 Giri, A. - So, W. 1-0

The great winners of the past overlooking the Amateur Tournament

Some players are more amateur than others; IM Sopiko Guramashvili hardly fits in that category

Van Wely, Loek ½-½ Jobava, Baadur

The players were able to find a repetition around move 19 and the draw suited both sides.

Radjabov, Teimour ½-½ Hou Yifan

Radjabov seems to really enjoy positions with symmetrical structure in which he holds the tiniest of pressures. This is what happened today in his Catalan against Hou Yifan, but his initiative quickly dissolved into nothing in a rook endgame that was promptly drawn.

Hou Yifan held the pressure without problems and drew comfortably

Ivanchuk, Vasil ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano

A complex Grunfeld saw a few fireworks near the end:

[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.24"] [Round "12"] [White "Ivanchuk, V."] [Black "Caruana, F."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D91"] [WhiteElo "2715"] [BlackElo "2820"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1br2k1/pp2ppb1/2n3p1/7p/3P1B1N/4P2P/P3BPP1/R1R1K3 w - - 0 18"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 18. Bc4 {Black has some problems with development and Nxg6 is now a threat. if he is forced to play e6, there is no doubt he would be worse, but he has a nifty resource at hand.} Nxd4 $1 19. Bc7 (19. exd4 Rxd4 20. Nxg6 Re4+ $1 (20... Rxc4 21. Nxe7+ Kf8 22. Rxc4 Bxa1 23. Nxc8 {does not work.}) 21. Be3 Bxa1 22. Bd5 Rxe3+ 23. fxe3 Bf6 {And Black has no problems, to say the least.}) 19... Rd7 20. exd4 Rxd4 {Both the bishop on c4 and the knight on h4 are hanging! This is the tactical point.} 21. Nxg6 Re4+ $1 (21... Rxc4 22. Rxc4 Bxa1 23. Nxe7+ Kh7 24. Rh4 $14) 22. Kf1 Bxa1 23. Bd5 Bf5 (23... Re6 {was also good enough, but the solution that Caruana chose is more natural.}) 24. Bxe4 Bxe4 25. Nxe7+ Kf8 26. Rxa1 Bd3+ {necessary to avoid the pin on the e-file.} 27. Kg1 Kxe7 28. Re1+ {Sadly, at the end of everything we reached and endgame that is very clearly drawn.} Kf6 29. Bg3 Rc8 30. Bh4+ Kg7 31. Re3 Bg6 32. Bg3 Rc4 33. f3 Bf5 34. Re7 Be6 35. Rxb7 Ra4 36. Rb5 Kg6 37. Be1 Rxa2 38. Ra5 1/2-1/2

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ Aronian, Levon

MVL achieved nothing in this Catalan that slowly steered towards a draw.

Ding Liren ½-½ Carlsen, Magnus

Carlsen had a few issues equalizing with his QGD. He even thought his position was "suspicious". He seemed to come out of it ok, and some tactics at the end were simple for the World Champion to calculate. The game fizzled into a drawn opposite colored bishop endgame.

Had Ding Liren won the game the tournament would

have blown wide open, but he had no chances to do so

Magnus Carlsen finds himself in a relatively comfortable position; half a point ahead of second place and playing the lowest rated player in the tournament with white to finish. That being said, Ivan Saric did beat him the last time they played...

Giri, Anish 1-0 So, Wesley

Talk about making your own life difficult! This game was reminiscent of Giri's duel against Ding Liren - again the Dutch number one (actually, World number five according to the live ratings!) had a great start to the game. It landed them in a queen endgame where White had an extra passed pawn on the a-file, ready to roll forward.

Giri, somehow, again, managed to not find the correct path. He missed several opportunities to help his pawn forward until he messed up the endgame so badly that it was a tablebase draw. That being said, these kinds of queen endgames are almost impossible for a human to play precisely. So was unable to find the exact continuation to draw the game and eventually Giri was managed to promote his pawn.

This is Wesley So's first defeat since April of last year and it puts Giri in a great position in the tournament - with the correct results he could come out as the winner of 2015 Wijk aan Zee!

"Still talking about chess? When are we having dinner...?!" Giri's girlfriend IM Sopiko Guramashvili and

his coach GM Vladimir Tukmakov waited patiently until the marathon game was over.

Saric, Ivan 1-0 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw

This was a rather strange game. The players followed the Caruana-Gelfand game from a couple of years ago, but very oddly they did not seem familiar with it at all. The excellent annotations of that game by Pavlovic can be found on your Megabase and indicate that White's 26th move is bad, and specifically gives the refutation.

Ivan Saric didn't have to do anything special,

simply wait for Radoslaw Wojtaszek to make bad moves

Either way, Wojtaszek managed to get an acceptable position, but he kept making strange decisions; first trading his knight for the bishop on c4 and then not taking the free pawn on h4 when he had a chance. Slowly he self-destructed and Saric simply marched his king and pawns up the board.

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Masters standings after twelve rounds

Round twelve - Challengers

Round 12 - Saturday Jan. 24 Wei, Y. - Haast, A. 1-0 Shankland, S. - l' Ami, E. 1-0 Dale, A. - Klein, D. ½-½ Navara, D. - Sevian, S. ½-½ Timman, J. - Gunina, V. 0-1 Van Kampen, R. - Potkin, V. 1-0 Michiels, B. - Saleh, S. 0-1

Another exciting round, but again it is Wei Yi grabs the headlines. His demolition of Anne Haast was fantastic. Notice how quickly fashion is assimilated! The game followed one of the Masters games that was played only a few days before:

[Event "77th Tata Steel GpB"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.24"] [Round "12"] [White "Wei Yi"] [Black "Haast, A."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B48"] [WhiteElo "2675"] [BlackElo "2352"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2015.01.10"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Ne5 8. Qg3 h5 9. O-O-O h4 10. Qh3 b5 11. f4 Nc4 12. Bxc4 Qxc4 13. f5 Bb7 14. Rhf1 e5 15. Nb3 Qc7 {So far we have been following the game Saric-Giri, played but a few days ago in the same room these two players are battling. Saric continued Bg5, Kb1 seems to be Wei Yi's novelty.} 16. Kb1 (16. f6 Nxf6 17. Rxf6 gxf6 18. Bb6 Bh6+ {is a very, very important check. Now there is no mate on d7 and the queen can take the bishop on b6. When telling my students how to analyze openigs, sometimes it is not so important to memorize your lines - but understand WHY these moves are being played. 16.Kb1 had the threat of f6!}) 16... Rc8 $2 {One move played on her own, and already a decisive mistake! This is not necessarily any fault of hers, but the character of the positoin is incredibly sharp.} (16... Nf6 17. Nd5 Bxd5 18. exd5 Rc8 {is simply complicated. }) 17. f6 Nxf6 18. Rxf6 gxf6 19. Bb6 {Now it is all over. The queen has no good places to go to.} Qc6 20. Na5 Qe6 21. Nxb7 {all this is forced, and White is ahead in material. The two pieces will dominate the rook in any endgame, so Black tries to keep the queens at least.} Rb8 (21... Qxh3 22. gxh3 Rb8 23. Nd6+ Bxd6 24. Rxd6 $18) 22. Nd5 $1 Rxb7 23. Qc3 $1 {However, Wei Yi continues to onslaught.} Qc6 24. Nxf6+ Ke7 25. Bd8+ Ke6 (25... Kxd8 26. Qxc6 {is a nasty pin.}) 26. Qh3# {Oops! Checkmate on the board!} 1-0

Robin Van Kampen also had a very nice victory crushing Vladimir Potkin. In a battle of some of the highest rated players in the event Sam Shankland continues his excellent streak by defeating Erwin l'Ami.

Replay Challengers games

Challengers standings after twelve rounds

Photos by Alina l'Ami for the official website

Schedule and results - Masters group

Round 1 - Saturday Jan. 10 Radjabov, T. - Van Wely, L. ½-½ Ivanchuk, V. - Jobava, B. 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave - Hou, Y. 1-0 Ding, L. - Caruana, F. 0-1 Saric, I. - Aronian, L. ½-½ Giri, A. - Carlsen, M. ½-½ So, W. - Wojtaszek, R. ½-½ Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 11 Van Wely, L. - Wojtaszek, R. ½-½ Carlsen, M. - So, W. ½-½ Aronian, L. - Giri, A. ½-½ Caruana, F. - Saric, I. 1-0 Hou, Y. - Ding, L. 0-1 Jobava, B. - Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Radjabov, T. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ Round 3 - Monday Jan. 12 Ivanchuk, V. - Van Wely, L. 1-0 Vachier-Lagrave - Radjabov, T. ½-½ Ding, L. - Jobava, B. 1-0 Saric, I. - Hou, Y. ½-½ Giri, A. - Caruana, F. ½-½ So, W. - Aronian, L. 1-0 Wojtaszek, R. - Carlsen, M. 1-0 Round 4 - Tuesday Jan. 13 Van Wely, L. - Carlsen, M. 0-1 Aronian, L. - Wojtaszek, R. ½-½ Caruana, F. - So, W. ½-½ Hou, Y. - Giri, A. ½-½ Jobava, B. - Saric, I. 0-1 Radjabov, T. - Ding, L. 0-1 Ivanchuk, V. - Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 Round 5 - Thursday Jan. 15 Vachier-Lagrave - Van Wely, L. ½-½ Ding, L. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ Saric, I. - Radjabov, T. 0-1 Giri, A. - Jobava, B. 1-0 So, W. - Hou, Y. ½-½ Wojtaszek, R. - Caruana, F. 1-0 Carlsen, M. - Aronian, L. 1-0 Round 6 - Friday Jan. 16 Van Wely, L. - Aronian, L. ½-½ Caruana, F. - Carlsen, M. 0-1 Hou, Y. - Wojtaszek, R. ½-½ Jobava, B. - So, W. 0-1 Radjabov, T. - Giri, A. ½-½ Ivanchuk, V. - Saric, I. ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave - Ding, L. 1-0 Round 7 - Saturday Jan. 17 Ding, L. - Van Wely, L. 1-0 Saric, I. - Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 Giri, A. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ So, W. - Radjabov, T. ½-½ Wojtaszek, R. - Jobava, B. 0-1 Carlsen, M. - Hou, Y. 1-0 Aronian, L. - Caruana, F. ½-½ Round 8 - Sunday Jan. 18 Van Wely, L. - Caruana, F. 0-1 Hou, Y. - Aronian, L. ½-½ Jobava, B. - Carlsen, M. 0-1 Radjabov, T. - Wojtaszek, R. 1-0 Ivanchuk, V. - So, W. 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave - Giri, A. 1-0 Ding, L. - Saric, I. 1-0 Round 9 - Tuesday Jan. 20 Saric, I. - Van Wely, L. ½-½ Giri, A. - Ding, L. 1-0 So, W. - Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Wojtaszek, R. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ Carlsen, M. - Radjabov, T. 1-0 Aronian, L. - Jobava, B. 1-0 Caruana, F. - Hou, Y. ½-½ Round 10 - Wednesday Jan. 21 Van Wely, L. - Hou, Y. 1-0 Jobava, B. - Caruana, F. 0-1 Radjabov, T. - Aronian, L. ½-½ Ivanchuk, V. - Carlsen, M. ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave - Wojtaszek ½-½ Ding, L. - So, W. ½-½ Saric, I. - Giri, A. 0-1 Round 11 - Friday Jan. 23 Giri, A. - Van Wely, L. 1-0 So, W. - Saric, I. 1-0 Wojtaszek, R. - Ding, L. 0-1 Carlsen, M. - Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Aronian, L. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ Caruana, F. - Radjabov, T. ½-½ Hou, Y. - Jobava, B. 1-0 Round 12 - Saturday Jan. 24 Van Wely, L. - Jobava, B. ½-½ Radjabov, T. - Hou, Y. ½-½ Ivanchuk, V. - Caruana, F. ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave - Aronian, L. ½-½ Ding, L. - Carlsen, M. ½-½ Saric, I. - Wojtaszek, R. 1-0 Giri, A. - So, W. 1-0 Round 13 - Sunday Jan. 25 So, W. - Van Wely, L. Wojtaszek, R. - Giri, A. Carlsen, M. - Saric, I. Aronian, L. - Ding, L. Caruana, F. - Vachier-Lagrave Hou, Y. - Ivanchuk, V. Jobava, B. - Radjabov, T.

Schedule and results - Challengers group

Round 1 - Saturday Jan. 10 Shankland, S. - Wei, Y. ½-½ Dale, A. - Haast, A. ½-½ Navara, D. - l' Ami, E. ½-½ Timman, J. - Klein, D. ½-½ Van Kampen, R. - Sevian, S. 1-0 Michiels, B. - Gunina, V. ½-½ Saleh, S. - Potkin, V. ½-½ Round 2 - Sunday Jan. 11 Wei, Y. - Potkin, V. 1-0 Gunina, V. - Saleh, S. 1-0 Sevian, S. - Michiels, B. 0-1 Klein, D. - Van Kampen, R. ½-½ l' Ami, E. - Timman, J. ½-½ Haast, A. - Navara, D. 0-1 Shankland, S. - Dale, A. ½-½ Round 3 - Monday Jan. 12 Dale, A. - Wei, Y. ½-½ Navara, D. - Shankland, S. ½-½ Timman, J. - Haast, A. 0-1 Van Kampen, R. - l' Ami, E. ½-½ Michiels, B. - Klein, D. 0-1 Saleh, S. - Sevian, S. ½-½ Potkin, V. - Gunina, V. 1-0 Round 4 - Tuesday Jan. 13 Wei, Y. - Gunina, V. 1-0 Sevian, S. - Potkin, V. 1-0 Klein, D. - Saleh, S. 0-1 l' Ami, E. - Michiels, B. 1-0 Haast, A. - Van Kampen, R. 0-1 Shankland, S. - Timman, J. ½-½ Dale, A. - Navara, D. 0-1 Round 5 - Thursday Jan. 15 Navara, D. - Wei, Y. ½-½ Timman, J. - Dale, A. 1-0 Van Kampen - Shankland, S. 0-1 Michiels, B. - Haast, A. 1-0 Saleh, S. - l' Ami, E. 0-1 Potkin, V. - Klein, D. 1-0 Gunina, V. - Sevian, S. 0-1 Round 6 - Friday Jan. 16 Wei, Y. - Sevian, S. 1-0 Klein, D. - Gunina, V. 1-0 l' Ami, E. - Potkin, V. ½-½ Haast, A. - Saleh, S. ½-½ Shankland, S. - Michiels, B. 1-0 Dale, A. - Van Kampen, R. 0-1 Navara, D. - Timman, J. 1-0 Round 7 - Saturday Jan. 17 Timman, J. - Wei, Y. 0-1 Van Kampen, R. - Navara, D. 0-1 Michiels, B. - Dale, A. 1-0 Saleh, S. - Shankland, S. ½-½ Potkin, V. - Haast, A. 1-0 Gunina, V. - l' Ami, E. 1-0 Sevian, S. - Klein, D. 1-0 Round 8 - Sunday Jan. 18 Wei, Y. - Klein, D. 1-0 l' Ami, E. - Sevian, S. ½-½ Haast, A. - Gunina, V. 1-0 Shankland, S. - Potkin, V. ½-½ Dale, A. - Saleh, S. 0-1 Navara, D. - Michiels, B. 1-0 Timman, J. - Van Kampen, R. 0-1 Round 9 - Tuesday Jan. 20 Van Kampen, R. - Wei, Y. ½-½ Michiels, B. - Timman, J. ½-½ Saleh, S. - Navara, D. 0-1 Potkin, V. - Dale, A. ½-½ Gunina, V. - Shankland, S. ½-½ Sevian, S. - Haast, A. 1-0 Klein, D. - l' Ami, E. ½-½ Round 10 - Wednesday Jan. 21 Wei, Y. - l' Ami, E. 1-0 Haast, A. - Klein, D. ½-½ Shankland, S. - Sevian, S. ½-½ Dale, A. - Gunina, V. ½-½ Navara, D. - Potkin, V. ½-½ Timman, J. - Saleh, S. 0-1 Van Kampen, R. - Michiels, B. 1-0 Round 11 - Friday Jan. 23 Michiels, B. - Wei, Y. 0-1 Saleh, S. - Van Kampen, R. 1-0 Potkin, V. - Timman, J. 1-0 Gunina, V. - Navara, D. ½-½ Sevian, S. - Dale, A. ½-½ Klein, D. - Shankland, S. 0-1 l' Ami, E. - Haast, A. ½-½ Round 12 - Saturday Jan. 24 Wei, Y. - Haast, A. 1-0 Shankland, S. - l' Ami, E. 1-0 Dale, A. - Klein, D. ½-½ Navara, D. - Sevian, S. ½-½ Timman, J. - Gunina, V. 0-1 Van Kampen, R. - Potkin, V. 1-0 Michiels, B. - Saleh, S. 0-1 Round 13 - Sunday Jan. 25 Saleh, S. - Wei, Y. Potkin, V. - Michiels, B. Gunina, V. - Van Kampen, R. Sevian, S. - Timman, J. Klein, D. - Navara, D. l' Ami, E. - Dale, A. Haast, A. - Shankland, S.

Venues

The tournament has a slight change this year. Most of the rounds will be played in the traditional De Moriaan Community Centre in Wijk aan Zee, but two of the rounds will be played elsewhere. Last year the tournament traveled to the National Museum in Amsterdam and the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven.

This year the fifth round will be held in De Rotterdam. De Rotterdam is a building on the Wilhelminapier in Rotterdam, designed by Rem Koolhaas in 1998.

Rotterdam is ready to host Tata Steel!

The tenth round will be played in the International Press Cnetre Niewuspoort in the Hague. Councillor Karsten Klein of The Hague had this to say: "The Hague is honored to be able to host the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2015 at the heart of the Dutch parliamentary democracy. Our city has a long history of international chess tournaments, a tradition which is continued in this manner. "

Commentary on Playchess

This being the first major event of the year, it is clear that we will be bringing you live commentary on our server www.playchess.com!