Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa Catch Leaders; Warmerdam Suffers Worst Nightmare

GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won their white games in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament's ninth round to join GMs Anish Giri and Gukesh Dommaraju in the lead. GM Max Warmerdam lost in just about the worst possible way to GM Parham Maghsoodloo by spoiling a completely winning endgame to a draw and then to a loss.

GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi maintained his lead in the Challengers group with a win against IM Divya Deshmukh. GM Leon Luke Mendonca, who also won, is still trailing by half a point.

Results - Masters Round 9

Standings - Masters Round 9

Few have described losing in chess better than GM Jan Hein Donner in 1972 after losing a match to GM Hans Ree:

After I resigned this game with perfect self-control and solemnly shook hands with my opponent in the best of Anglo-Saxon traditions, I rushed home, where I threw myself onto my bed, howling and screaming, and pulled the blankets over my face. For three days and three nights the Erinnyes were after me. Then I got up, dressed, kissed my wife and considered my situation.

Warmerdam is still young and has a long chess future ahead if he doesn't switch to a "normal job" after finishing his economics studies. Still, after today's game he must be in a similar state to Donner at that time.

The young Dutchman once again determined the course of play in the opening, this time choosing an old gambit named after Alexander Schara and Heinz von Hennig, who first analyzed it thoroughly. Maghsoodloo, who came to the board with confidence, made a big mistake early on. Soon, he found himself in an endgame an exchange down. He was lost, and he knew it.

Warmerdam, however, didn't continue in the best way possible and even returned the exchange for two passed pawns, only to discover that White had enough counterplay. Then it was Maghsoodloo again to go wrong, and Warmerdam reached another winning position. But, just like against Praggnanandhaa, it wasn't meant to be.

With enough time on the clock, but after more than five hours of play, Warmerdam first allowed a drawing combination, and then fell into the last (and rather cunning) trick Maghsoodloo had in the position. Suddenly White was winning. A study-like move based on a fork completed Warmerdam's (k)nightmare. It was an unbelievable turnaround, from the doorstep of heaven straight to the ninth circle of hell.

"I was incredibly lucky today, but I am so happy, so happy that I got my first win," said Maghsoodloo.

For this ninth round, the 14 participants of the Masters travelled about 70 km (43 mi) to The Hague for this year's "Chess on Tour."  The venue, for one round only, was the AFAS Circustheater, a stone's throw away from Scheveningen beach. Whether the change of venue was the reason or not, today was the bloodiest so far in the tournament with five decisive games.

The first winner of the day was Abdusattorov, who knocked down another Dutchman. GM Jorden van Foreest is nowhere near his form of 2021, when he won the tournament, and today he got outplayed completely. As early as move 24, he threw in the towel.

Abdusattorov was not surprised by this early resignation as he considered the position "dead lost." To be fair to Van Foreest, the game was mostly decided in the opening. White's tricky 10.Nh4 move needs to be answered by a reply that is difficult to find at the board:

Abdusattorov is now back in the shared lead, since Gukesh and Giri both drew their games, the latter in his home town. With his wife and oldest son in the audience, Giri took on the role of interviewer, speaking to his good friend and opponent of Gukesh, GM Vidit Gujrathi:

For the first time, Praggnanandhaa can also be found at the top of the leaderboard. India's new number one defeated GM Ju Wenjun today from an interesting line of the Two Knights. "I really wanted to win today," he explained.

In a variation that is hundreds of years old, it is quite an achievement to play a novelty on move 10, but Pragg managed. Ju soon played slightly inaccurately, and with that, her typical compensation in this line started to disappear. When the g-file got opened, Praggnanandhaa could quickly set up an attack, also thanks to his bishop on the long diagonal. GM Rafael Leitao has annotated the game:

GM Alireza Firouzja has provided more entertainment than any other player, with draws in only two of his first nine games. In The Hague, things went the wrong way again, although the opening (a Ragozin) actually went quite well for Black.

It seemed that GM Alexander Donchenko was more on top of all the small but important details in the middlegame. On scoring his first win of the tournament, he commented: "I don't know that I deserve that one but I'm happy that all I needed to win a game in Wijk aan Zee is to get out of Wijk aan Zee!"

I'm happy that all I needed to win a game in Wijk aan Zee is to get out of Wijk aan Zee!
—Alexander Donchenko

It's unlikely that GM Ian Nepomniachtchi will be fighting for tournament victory after today's loss against GM Wei Yi, who played a truly excellent game after saving some energy in the previous rounds.

Nepomniachtchi at some point sacrificed a pawn in the center, but Wei felt he was just better because Nd7 is a bad piece.

Results - Challengers Round 9

Standings - Challengers Round 9

Little changed in the Challengers group, played in Wijk aan Zee as any other day. Maurizzi's win was instructive as it seemed to be based on a single, positional error from Deshmukh:

Being Dutch myself, I cannot help focusing a bit more on the local participants than usual. However, when someone is courageous enough to play the King's Gambit, I don't care where they are from, that is just brilliant.

IM Eline Roebers is having a tournament as wild as Firouzja's but with fewer points. She has likely reached a stage where she just wants to have fun games. The Bishop's Gambit (3.Bc4) is known to be somewhat dubious even for King's Gambit standards, but she managed to get a very playable position eventually... only to blunder a full rook in time trouble. That comes close to Warmerdam's experience today. 

Pairings - Masters Round 10

Pairings - Challengers Round 10

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:

• 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