Caruana Expands Lead At Tata Steel Chess

Fabiano Caruana goes into the final two rounds of the Tata Steel Chess tournament a full point ahead of the pack. The American player scored an easy win against Vladislav Kovalev and saw his main rival Magnus Carlsen draw his game with Jan-Krzysztof Duda.

It was the same story in the challengers group, where tournament leader David Anton increased his lead to a full point as well.

Last year, Kovalev won the challengers group in Wijk aan Zee when he could be found almost every night in local pub Het Wapen ("the weapon"). This made such a big impression that the organizers referred to it at the opening ceremony on the day before the first round this year.

The Belarusian player was informed that Het Wapen had recently closed its doors, but also that another pub had opened on the same street. As all players received a humorous gift, he was given a t-shirt with a map on it with the route to the new pub from his hotel!

This year, Kovalev practices a stricter (and healthier) regime, but whether it has helped his chess is unclear. After 11 rounds he is in last place, and against the stronger players he especially couldn't put up much of a fight. Carlsen wiped him off the board earlier, and Caruana did the same today.

"He took an enormous amount of time, and I think he mixed up the lines," said Caruana. "I didn't really remember but as far as I knew, combining Re1 and f4 rather than Bc2 and f4 is not very good."

After that, the position seemed to play itself, although strong players tend to make it look simpler than it is.

Caruana was interviewed after the game. Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Carlsen failed to keep the pace as he could only draw his game with Duda—a rather disappointing turn of events for him. "I think tournament victory is out of the question now," he said.

He managed to sharpen up the game in a Giuoco Pianissimo with a pawn sacrifice that wasn't new. Duda took the bait and with it some risk of a knight getting trapped, but he was never worse.

In fact, Duda got the better chances thanks to a tactic.

"I had missed this trick of 29.Ne7+ and takes d5, which was a bit of a pity," said Carlsen. "I think after that he's a bit better, but for some reason he was still trying to make a draw there."

That allowed Carlsen to get a slight initiative and win a pawn, which was not enough for serious winning chances. 

Carlsen was interviewed after the game. Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Although he had successes earlier in the tournament, Alireza Firouzja had a rough few days against some of the biggest names in this field. After losses to Carlsen and Caruana, the 16-year-old GM went down against Viswanathan Anand on Friday.

Anand, the five-time world champion, reacted well to his opponent's f3-Nimzo Indian and played an excellent game. He showed that this opposite-colored-bishop endgame with rooks was much more uncomfortable for White than it seemed. It was another lesson for the young Iranian, and all other chess fans.

Anand was interviewed after the game. Video: Tata Steel Chess.

Jorden van Foreest had been playing an excellent tournament so far, with just one loss in the second round. A second loss occurred today, though, in his game with Vladislav Artemiev.

In a Scheveningen Sicilian with reversed colors, van Foreest chose an aggressive setup (throwing his g- and f-pawns up the board), but this was countered with a typical pawn push in the center. After the queens were traded, the Dutchman was mostly suffering from his weaknesses.

Caruana plays Duda with White tomorrow and then Artemiev with Black in the last round. Carlsen will play Artemiev with White and then So with Black.

Masters games, round 11

There's a good chance that we'll see the Spanish GM Anton among the masters in the 83rd edition of the tournament. Like Caruana, he increased his lead to a point today in the challengers group thanks to a win with the black pieces against Anton Smirnov of Australia.

It was the second unnecessary and rather dramatic loss for Smirnov, after his game with Nodirbek Abdusattorov. He was dominating the position for a long time, but should have accepted that there was no way to break through. Instead, he went for a rather unfortunate winning attempt and again ended up in a lost pawn endgame:

Challengers games, round 11

Like in previous years, the official video broadcast is produced by Chess.com, which you can watch on both tatasteelchess.com and Chess.com/TV. All rounds start at 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. Eastern, 4:30 a.m. Pacific) in Wijk aan Zee, except for the last round, which starts 1.5 hours earlier. Commentary is provided by GM Peter Leko and IM Sopiko Guramishvili during the second week.

Replay the live broadcast of the 11th round from Wijk aan Zee.

Previous reports:

• Tata Steel Chess: Caruana Keeps Lead, Carlsen Close Behind
• Carlsen Beats Firouzja In Tata Steel Chess Round 9
• Tata Steel Chess: Caruana Catches Firouzja, Carlsen Breaks Deadlock
• Firouzja Regains Lead At Tata Steel Chess
• Dubov, Giri Score In Tata Steel Chess Round 6
• Tata Steel Chess: Firouzja Joins So In Lead
• Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen Sets Unbeaten Record; So Leads
• Firouzja Grabs Sole Lead On Tata Steel Chess Day 3
• White Pieces Score On Tata Steel Chess Day 2
• Firouzja, Van Foreest Win; Carlsen-Giri Draw In Tata Steel Chess Opener
• Tata Steel Chess Tournament Opens With Carlsen-Giri