Tata Steel Chess Masters Wide Open As Vidit Beats Abdusattorov, Becomes India's #1

After a wild round on Saturday, there is a five-way tie for first place in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament's Masters group. With GM Vidit Gujrathi, GM Anish Giri, GM Gukesh Dommaraju, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and GM Wei Yi all on 7.5/12, chances for a tiebreak tomorrow are high.

In the key game of round 12, Vidit defeated leader Abdusattorov and with that win, he became the new Indian number-one in the live ratings.

The Challengers had its fair share of drama too as GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi lost his game and allowed GM Leon Luke Mendonca to catch him in first place. In this group, no tiebreak will be played.

The final round will start on Sunday two hours earlier, at 6 a.m. ET / noon CET.

Results - Masters Round 12

Standings - Masters Round 12

Last year, everything came down to the last round, and this year will be even crazier. After another amazing day of chess in Wijk aan Zee, everything will be decided on the last Sunday of the tournament but this time with five players in contention (theoretically even seven, if none of the leaders win). For Abdusattorov, the loss on Saturday is a deja vu of 2023, but at least this time, he is still in the race.

The 2024 Tata Steel Masters has been extraordinary! Incredible fighting chess with lots of wins virtually every round. Tomorrow will feature 5 players tied for 1st going for gold. Kudos to the organizers for choosing a great mix of vets and young hungry talents. #TataSteelChess

— Maurice Ashley (@MauriceAshley) January 27, 2024

It's interesting to note that this final weekend has quite a few pairings among compatriots. GM Ju Wenjun played Wei on Saturday and faces GM Ding Liren in the final round for a clash between the two reigning world champions. There was also Gukesh vs. GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu on Saturday, while Giri is finishing his tournament against the other two Dutch participants.

The first of his compatriots, GM Jorden van Foreest, helped him a lot by blundering terribly in an equal middlegame position, gifting his opponent a sudden easy victory.

Giri surprised his opponent by answering 1.e4 with 1...e6. Afterward, he joked: "I played the French just to promote my Chessable Lifetime Repertoire, of course."

With 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 the players reached a position that is also known from the Petroff (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 and now 5.d3 Nf6 6.d4.)

After 5.Bd3 Bd6 6.Qe2+, Giri chose the interesting sideline 6...Be7!? that showed some ambition as it avoided an early queen trade.

"It's kind of a funny idea," he explained. "You sometimes lose two tempi because sometimes you go with the bishop back to d6, but this move Qe2, which is extra, is maybe also bad because maybe the queen has to go back to d1."

Giri couldn't avoid the middlegame remaining very drawish. However, on his 21st move, Van Foreest thought for just 48 seconds for a queen move that instantly turned the eval bar all black. Miraculously, Black was winning on the spot.

"I saw this trick from very far away, in fact at the start of the sequence where I went 16...Re4," said Giri. "I calculated the entire thing. It's kind of a miracle that there is some sort of a tactic in the position."

The all-Indian encounter between Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa finished in a draw but in a bizarre fashion. Having played a great game and reached a winning position thanks to a nice exchange sacrifice, Gukesh, in time trouble, repeated moves too many times and suddenly allowed a threefold repetition. He is now among the five leaders, instead of the sole leader.

WHAAAT?!??! 🤯

Gukesh repeats a position in time trouble for a third time causing a draw despite a completely winning position vs. Pragg!! pic.twitter.com/yP2o5odhnm

— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 27, 2024

Gukesh must have been thinking he had repeated the same moves just twice, but regarding this rule, it's about the positions, not about the moves. After he played his 40th and wrote it down, Gukesh stood up to walk away, but then it suddenly dawned on him. He returned, looked at his score sheet while leaning on his chair, and realized what he had done just as Praggnanandhaa stopped the clock and called the arbiter. 

"I was just very lucky today because I played quite bad from the start," Pragg said afterward. "I played moves that just didn't make any sense. I think he must have had some forced win at some point."

About the final position, he said: "I didn't see a forced win yet, but it should be dead lost." With the help of the engine, this author managed to figure out how White wins:

After his brilliant game the other day, Wei with the black pieces also defeated Ju, albeit more quietly. With that win, the 24-year-old grandmaster from Yancheng, in the Jiangsu province of China, moved up the leaderboard to join the leaders as well.

His choice of a (rather modern version of the) Stonewall revealed Wei's intentions. "I just wanted to try and win today," he said afterward. "I think she played good in the opening and when we exchanged queens, it was just equal, but then she made some mistakes. Maybe she was tired after 11 games."

Suddenly confronted with a chance of tournament victory, Wei commented matter-of-factly: "I think I will try to fight for a win and for a good place, but more important for me is I just want to play high quality."

At the end of the day, Vidit joined the group on 7.5 points as well thanks to a deserved victory over Abdusattorov. In doing so, the 2023 Grand Swiss winner for the first time became the Indian number-one in the live rankings while entering the world's top 10.

Thanks bhai!!! https://t.co/BTklMZHLsf

— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) January 27, 2024

Vidit got a big advantage in the opening, a Ragozin, when his opponent placed his bishop on c4. Commentator GM Daniel Naroditsky assumed that Abdusattorov had missed 15.Qd4 and indeed, the Uzbek GM took a long think then.

As it went, Vidit ended up in an endgame with an extra pawn, which eventually took him hours to win. It was a combination of allowing his opponent some unnecessary chances, and Abdusattorov defending ferociously.

Vidit: "I had a clear won position and it took like years to win this. I don't know why I... The thing is, I got low on time so I couldn't really just sit on the board and calculate all the way to win, but I realized that I have to exchange one rook and then, like, I just have to exchange all the rooks, and then it's winning, which took me more time than needed."

About facing Wei on Sunday and all the scenarios that might or might not lead to a tiebreak, Vidit said: "It won't make any sense to predict anything right now because there are so many people, so many permutations, combinations, and I've done my share of calculation today so I'll just now eat food and, you know, get ready for tomorrow."

GM Dejan Bojkov analyzed the game:

GM Alireza Firouzja continued his rollercoaster ride throughout the tournament, going in an upward direction again on Saturday. He defeated GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, after starting with a surprising move: 1.Nc3. Nepo, who arrived a few seconds later at the board, laughed at it, producing a smile on Firouzja's face as well.

And Round 12 is off! @lachesisq is surprised to see @AlirezaFirouzja's opening with 1.Nc3 😅. #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/88fAlkpVAu

— Tata Steel Chess Tournament (@tatasteelchess) January 27, 2024

As it turned out, it was over-the-board inspiration. "It's really difficult; he made all the openings work until a draw," lamented Firouzja but with a smile. "I prepared all day, it was weird. I just came to the board and I made the move. It worked out, sometimes it works!"

The opening quickly transposed into what I dubbed the Neo-Veresov years ago, but which is better known as the Jobava London. Nepomniachtchi played a fairly solid setup but then followed up aggressively on the queenside. Soon, his pieces got pushed back again and Firouzja took over. 

In a sharp position, Nepo then made a strange mistake on move 18, lost an exchange, and went down almost without a fight. It was likely his worst game of the tournament.

For GM Max Warmerdam, the tournament has turned into an absolute nightmare. The 23-year-old Dutchman lost another game in dramatic fashion. This time, he was visibly frustrated and angry with himself, which is fully understandable. 

Warmerdam had been on the defensive side for most of the game but fought like a lion. He was definitely lost at one point but managed to hang on and then found a fantastic trick, based on stalemate, to reach a drawn endgame, only to spoil it a couple of moves later. For a moment, Caissa seemed on his side again, but no, she was once again the merciless mistress.

Results - Challengers Round 12

Standings - Challengers Round 12

Just when I wrote that Maurizzi has been dominating the Challengers this year, he lost his game. Did I jinx his tournament? We will have to see on Sunday.

"I didn't feel like risking it," said GM Daniel Dardha, who further summarized: "I played actually the Najdorf though, because I wanted some complications but more like in the positional way, and I think I succeeded at getting this. It was quite positional, I think. I had a good position out of the opening. Later, he tried to make it a bit messy because I had such a good position. He needed to make it complicated. He sacrificed an exchange, and I think the game was full of mistakes to be honest, but at the end I think I calculated quite well overall, and I focused quite well in the critical moment so this helped for sure."

Mendonca won again, and his score of five and a half points out of his last six games got him into the shared lead on Saturday. His game with GM Salem Saleh was a wild affair in which it seems like the Indian GM calculated and defended very well.

Asked whether he was nervous when his opponent was attacking his king, Mendonca said: "Not really, I mean, I like grabbing material. I had a pawn and soon a piece, so, I mean, if material is there, then it's fine. Otherwise, it's not a good sign!"

Pairings - Masters Round 13

Pairings - Challengers Round 13

The Tata Steel Chess tournament takes place January 13-28, 2024, in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves followed by 50 minutes to finish each game with a 30-second increment. Both the Masters and Challengers groups are 14-player round-robin tournaments.

Previous posts:

• Abdusattorov Sole Leader At Tata Steel Masters; Wei Yi Wins Brilliancy
• Abdusattorov, Gukesh Lead At Tata Steel Chess Masters
• Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa Catch Leaders; Warmerdam Suffers Worst Nightmare
• Firouzja Joins Leaders; Abdusattorov Falls Behind In Tata Steel Chess Masters
• Abdusattorov Beats Giri For Shared Lead With Gukesh In Tata Steel Chess Masters
• Firouzja Bounces Back In Tata Steel Chess Masters; Roebers Wins Again
• Women Ascendant In Tata Steel As Ju Wenjun Upsets Firouzja, Roebers Defeats Niemann
• Praggnanandhaa Defeats World Champion Ding, Passes Anand To Become #1 In India
• Giri Beats Donchenko, Catches Firouzja In 1st Place
• Firouzja Moves To 2/2 In Tata Steel Chess Masters
• 4 Black Wins In Tata Steel Chess Masters Opening Round
• Ding Liren Ready For Tata: 'I Feel Much Better Than Before'
• 2024 Tata Steel Chess: World Champion Ding Returns, Carlsen Missing