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1/25/2015 – That Carlsen took first was no surprise, but the question was who would take second. It was a four-way tie for 2nd-5th, with Vachier-Lagrave pipping out his rivals, followed by Giri, So and Ding Liren. If there ever was a heralding of the new generation, this was it with all top five places taken by players under 24. The Wijk Challengers was won by 15-year-old Wei Yi. Last round analysis.

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

Final round - Masters

Round 13 - Sunday Jan. 25 So, W. - Van Wely, L. 1-0 Wojtaszek, R. - Giri, A. ½-½ Carlsen, M. - Saric, I. ½-½ Aronian, L. - Ding, L. 0-1 Caruana, F. - Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 Hou, Y. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ Jobava, B. - Radjabov, T. 1-0

Daniel King shows the game Caruana vs Vachier-Lagrave

An exciting end to a fantastic tournament! Even the last games had nail biters... and with four decisive games, well, who can complain?

So, Wesley 1-0 Van Wely, Loek

Wesley So used a variation that is quite in vogue against the Benoni. Van Wely attempted to be very aggressive on the kingside, but it seemed to simply have backfired:

[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.25"] [Round "13"] [White "So, W."] [Black "Van Wely, L."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A61"] [WhiteElo "2762"] [BlackElo "2667"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r1b2r1k/1p3qbp/p2P1n2/2p1B1R1/P7/2N4p/1P1Q1PP1/R2B2K1 b - - 0 26"] [PlyCount "12"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 26... Bd7 {Van Wely's operations on the kingside completely backfired; if anyone is attacking the opposing king it would be White. So finds a beautiful solution to continue the pressure.} 27. Bb3 $1 Be6 (27... Qxb3 28. Rxg7 Kxg7 29. Qg5+ Kh8 30. Bxf6+ Rxf6 31. Qxf6+ Kg8 32. Re1 {Black's isolated king is helpless against the multiple threats; the queen has no time to return to his aid.} Qf7 33. Qxf7+ Kxf7 34. Re7+ $18) 28. Bxe6 Qxe6 29. Re1 Qf7 30. Nd5 { There are more pins than anyone can count. Black cannot hope to hold his position together.} Nh5 31. Bxg7+ Nxg7 32. Re7 1-0

Wesley So will appear in the next rating list with a massive 2788 rating,

nine points away from the new number six in the World, Anish Giri!

Wojtaszek, Radoslaw ½-½ Giri, Anish

This Grunfeld ended up in trade after trade that left both players with pawns only on the kingside and a clear draw.

The top Dutch player obviously gets plenty of attention from the press

Radoslaw Wojtaszek started off phenomenally, but

his second half of the event was not nearly as strong

Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ Saric, Ivan

Carlsen by no means had an easy time today. His early aggression was cooly thwarted by Saric, who definitely had the better position at one point. However, a combination of imprecisions and time trouble turned the tables and it was Carlsen who found himself with a tiny, tiny advantage. Saric regained his composure and was able to neutralize it in time to force a draw.

Team Carlsen: Peter Heine Nielsen, Henrik Carlsen and the crew from Norwegian TV2

Magnus Carlsen wasn't so happy with his position at one point

Ivan Saric played hard against the World Champion,

but he was unable to convert a slight edge

Aronian, Levon 0-1 Ding Liren

If the Chinese player proved anything in this tournament, besides that he belongs in the top tournaments, is that the King's Indian Defense is far from a bad opening:

Ding Liren: 14th in the World Live ratings and KID Guru.

Levon Aronian clings on to being top-10 in the World by only two rating points.

[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.25"] [Round "13"] [White "Aronian, L."] [Black "Ding Liren"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E90"] [WhiteElo "2797"] [BlackElo "2732"] [PlyCount "110"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 Nh5 8. g3 f5 9. exf5 gxf5 10. Ng5 Qe8 {This continuation is actually very rare. Ding Liren had played it once before, but a draw against a 2245 player was hardly a fantastic result with it.} 11. c5 (11. Bg2 e4 12. O-O Na6 $13 {Wang Yiye - Ding Lirne, Chinese Team Championship 2013.}) 11... Nf6 12. Bb5 {already a new move.} Qe7 {The KID is a hard opening to explain sometimes. Black has not started developing his queenside, White has developed all over the board but hasn't castled... it's just messy everywhere. Aronian has the choice between 0-0, which looks dangerous to an eventual f4, or...} 13. g4 $5 {Black cannot afford to open the kingside since White has so many pieces aiming in that direction, but he can continue his development.} Na6 {Ignoring White's ideas for now seems best.} 14. Ne6 Bxe6 15. dxe6 Nxc5 16. g5 (16. gxf5 d5 {gives Black an initiative over the center, but maybe White can compensate by creating threats on the kingside. It would be a strange position for sure.}) 16... Ne8 17. Nd5 Qxe6 {Black's two pawns up, and White really needs to prove some kind of compensation very quickly. To me, this seems impossible.} 18. b4 ( 18. Bc4 Kh8 19. Nb6 d5 $1 $19) 18... Ne4 19. Bxe8 Qxe8 20. f3 (20. Nxc7 Qc6 { forces White to go into a lost endgame with Qd5+ as Nxa8 fails to Qc3+.}) 20... Ng3 21. Rg1 f4 (21... Qh5 $1 {Seemed even stronger as the knight cannot be taken and Black removes the threat of Nxc7.}) 22. Nxc7 Qe7 23. Qb3+ Kh8 24. Ne6 (24. Nxa8 e4 {is simply suicidal. a1 is hanging, exf3 is almost checkmate...}) 24... Rfe8 25. Nxg7 Kxg7 26. Bb2 Qxg5 27. Rd1 Rad8 {Aronian keeps fighting for a while, but Black here has the better position and is up two pawns.} 28. Rd5 Qf5 29. Kd2 Qxh3 {Three pawns now...} 30. Kc1 Qf5 31. Bc3 h5 32. Kb2 h4 33. Qd1 h3 34. Qd2 Kf7 35. Re1 Qf6 36. Qc2 Nf5 37. Rd2 Rg8 38. Qe4 b6 39. Rh1 Rh8 40. Qb7+ Qe7 41. Qa6 Ng3 42. Rhh2 Rd7 43. Rc2 Rc7 44. Qd3 Qe6 45. Ka3 Nf5 46. Bd2 Rxc2 47. Qxc2 Nd4 48. Qd3 Qd5 49. Kb2 b5 50. Bc3 Qxf3 51. Qb1 Qg3 52. Rd2 h2 53. Bxd4 h1=Q 54. Qf5+ Ke7 55. Qc2 Qd5 0-1

Caruana, Fabiano 0-1 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime

An absolutely fantastic effort by MVL!

[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.25"] [Round "13"] [White "Caruana, F."] [Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2820"] [BlackElo "2757"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 {Caruana uses the same line that he used against Hou Yifan earlier in the tournament.} e5 7. Nde2 h5 8. g3 Be6 {It's MVL that deviates from the aforementioned game. Hou Yifan decided to develop her other bishop instead.} 9. Bg2 Nbd7 10. a4 Be7 11. O-O Rc8 12. Be3 (12. a5 {was Motylev-Wojtaszek from October of last year, which ended in a draw.}) 12... Nb6 13. b3 d5 {The position is rather strange. It would seem as if White has put all his resources into preventing d5, but Black played it anyways. Tactics usually willl leave White with an extra pawn, that because of his resulting dark squared weaknesses this does not always translate into an advantage.} 14. Bxb6 (14. a5 d4 15. axb6 (15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Bxd4 Na8 17. e5 {is a piece sacrifice that might not be so bad. Black has some problems as long as his knight remains on a8.}) 15... dxe3 $17) 14... Qxb6 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 Bd7 {Caruana has an extra pawn, that part is clear; however MVL has the pair of bishops and his dark-squared one is specially unopposed. With precise play it might be possible to be better with White, but from a practical persepective I would say playing with Black is already easier.} 17. c4 Qd6 18. a5 f5 {Perhaps 18.a5 was not the best, but I find it hard to suggest anything better. At the moment Black has the real threat of h4, shattering the kingside pawn structure.} (18... h4 19. g4 f5 {is also interesting, but nowhere near as good.}) 19. Qd3 h4 20. g4 {a countersacrifice, mainly to obtain the e4 square.} O-O $1 {Initiative over everything!} 21. Nc3 ( 21. gxf5 Bxf5 22. Qe3 (22. Be4 Qg6+ $19) 22... Qg6 {with Bc5 next move gives Black at least adequate compensation.}) 21... e4 22. Qe3 Bd8 $1 {A beautiful maneuver! With the h2-b8 diagonal weakened the bishop hurries to support an invasion on the h2 square. Such queen with be absolutely lethal, so Caruana enters panic mode.} 23. Bxe4 $5 {Sacrificing a bishop for two pawns and the possibility to play f4, plugging in the diagonal.} (23. f4 exf3 24. Rxf3 Bc7 { does not improve the situation, White can pretend to defend for a few moves but ultimately his darksquares would be his demise. For example:} 25. g5 Rfe8 $1 26. Qf2 Qh2+ 27. Kf1 Bd6 {with Bc5 next move and a huge attack.}) 23... fxe4 (23... Bc7 {first might have been a tad more accurate, for example} 24. f4 fxe4 25. Nxe4 Rce8 $17) 24. Nxe4 Qf4 {Since f4 is no longer a possibility White has to trade queens. His three pawns do not provide enough compensation for the piece; the bishops are too powerful.} 25. Qxf4 Rxf4 26. f3 Be7 27. Kf2 Rcf8 28. Ke3 Be8 29. c5 Bb5 {White's position is falling apart.} 30. b4 (30. Rf2 Rxe4+ $19 31. Kxe4 Bxc5 {White is getting mated.}) 30... Rxe4+ $1 31. Kxe4 Re8 $1 { The start of a precise finish. White is getting mated on the center of the board!} 32. Kf4 g5+ 33. Kf5 Kf7 34. Rfe1 (34. Rad1 Bd7+ 35. Ke4 Bxc5+ {would only prolong White's suffering.} 36. Kd3 Bb5+ 37. Kc3 Re3+ 38. Kd2 Bxf1 $19) 34... Bd3+ 35. Re4 Bf6 {White resigned: there is no good way of stopping Re5 checkmate on the next move! A brilliant play by MVL!} 0-1

Hands down one of the best games played in this tournament

Hou Yifan ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vasil

Black didn't seem to have any problems in this Italian game. The final position was so locked up it was impossible to even suggest a sensible plan.

Someone was unsatisfied with his position

Jobava, Baadur 1-0 Radjabov, Teimour

Radjabov's Benko-style gambit on the Queenside paid off wonderfully. He had the chance to win on the kingside with a very unusual and beautiful sacrifice, but he missed his opportunity. In a strange endgame he missed the main ideas of the position:

[Event "77th Tata Steel GpA"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2015.01.25"] [Round "13"] [White "Jobava, Ba"] [Black "Radjabov, T."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E73"] [WhiteElo "2727"] [BlackElo "2734"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2015.01.09"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. h4 c5 7. d5 b5 8. cxb5 a6 9. bxa6 Qa5 10. Bd2 Bxa6 11. h5 Nbd7 12. hxg6 hxg6 13. Bxa6 Qxa6 14. Nge2 Rfb8 15. Rb1 Rb4 16. a3 Rb7 17. O-O Rab8 18. Qc2 Ne5 {Relative to a normal Benko, Radjabov has a beautiful position. He has everything he could possibly want!} 19. f3 Qd3 20. Rfc1 Qxc2 (20... Nxf3+ $1 21. gxf3 Qxf3 {is simply crushing. White cannot defend his king with all his pieces being stuck on the queenside.} ) 21. Rxc2 Nc4 22. a4 Nxb2 23. a5 Nd3 24. Rxb7 Rxb7 25. Ra2 Nb4 26. Ra4 Nd7 27. Nd1 Na6 28. Kf1 Ne5 29. Nc1 Rb1 30. Ke2 Kf8 31. g4 Nd7 32. g5 Bd4 33. Kd3 Ne5+ 34. Kc2 Rb8 35. f4 Nf3 36. Ne2 Nxd2 37. Kxd2 Bg7 38. Ne3 Rb2+ 39. Ke1 Rb1+ 40. Kf2 Rb2 41. e5 Rd2 42. Kf3 Ke8 43. exd6 exd6 44. Ng3 Kd7 45. Ne4 Rb2 46. Nc4 Rb4 47. Rxb4 cxb4 48. Nexd6 b3 49. Nxf7 b2 50. Nxb2 (50. Nd2 $18) 50... Bxb2 51. Ne5+ {A complex endgame. White has a lot of pawns for that piece, but You can never underestimate the power of a knight.} Ke7 $4 {This, however, is completely suicidal. The d-pawn has no value compared to the a-pawn which is tying down Black's knight.} (51... Bxe5 {is, surprisingly, a draw.} 52. fxe5 Ke7 {If White advances either of his pawns on the center they get blockaded, and he cannot actually bring his king to the queenside.} 53. Ke4 (53. Ke3 Nc5 {and d4 or d2 are "mined" squares as they fail to a check on b3.}) (53. Ke2 Nc5 54. Kd1 Na6 55. Kd2 Nb4 $1 56. d6+ Kd7 $1 57. Kc3 Na6 {on the next move Black puts his king on c6 and there is no way to make progress. Surprising!}) 53... Nc5+) (51... Ke8 52. Nxg6 Bc3 53. d6 Bxa5 54. Ne5 Nc5 55. g6 Kf8 56. f5 Bd8 {and it looks to me as if the pieces should be enough to hold the draw, but Karsten Mueller will have to come back with his expertise in these kinds of positions to give an exact evaluation.}) 52. Nxg6+ Kd6 53. Ne5 Bxe5 54. fxe5+ Kxd5 { simple counting shows that this is an easy win for White.} 55. g6 Ke6 56. Kg4 Nc7 57. Kh5 Kxe5 58. g7 (58. Kh6 {also worked.}) 58... Ne8 59. g8=Q Nf6+ 60. Kg5 (60. Kg5 Nxg8 61. a6 {and no one is going to stop that a-pawn. This line that happened in the game shows why 51...Ke7 was such a bad idea; the a5-pawn had to be eliminated!}) 1-0

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Final round - Challengers

Round 13 - Sunday Jan. 25 Saleh, S. - Wei, Y. ½-½ Potkin, V. - Michiels, B. ½-½ Gunina, V. - Van Kampen, R. 0-1 Sevian, S. - Timman, J. 1-0 Klein, D. - Navara, D. 0-1 l' Ami, E. - Dale, A. 1-0 Haast, A. - Shankland, S. 0-1

The Challengers group was also a pleasure to watch. Wei Yi clinched his invitation to next year's Masters Group with a draw in the last round against Saleh... and a needed draw at that as David Navara won again, finishing up only half a point below the winner.

Anne Haast "only" scored 4.0/13, but that is good enough to win over 10 rating points

Robin Van Kampen (right) only had three draws

this entire event. His excellent 8.5/13 places him fourth

Despite his very slow start Salem Saleh really pulled himself together in

the second half and finished with a very respectable 7.5/13.

Samuel Shankland also had a brilliant event. With no losses and 9.0/13 he finished clear third. Also worthy of note is that Shaknland doesn't lose much! He went unblemished through the Olympiad, Millionaire Chess Open, the Continental Championship, Qatar Masters, Al Ain Open and now the Tata Steel Challengers.

Finally worthy of note is Sam Sevian's excellent result in the Challengers. His last round victory propelled him to sixth place with 7.5/13, a great 20 point rating gain... and all of this after losing his first two rounds! We will definitely be seeing this young player in the top sections of the World at some point.

Be on the look out for a recap article along with the Closing Ceremony tomorrow!

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Photos by Alina l'Ami for the official website

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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. 1-0 Wojtaszek, R. - Giri, A. ½-½ Carlsen, M. - Saric, I. ½-½ Aronian, L. - Ding, L. 0-1 Caruana, F. - Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 Hou, Y. - Ivanchuk, V. ½-½ Jobava, B. - Radjabov, T. 1-0

Schedule and results - Challengers group