Aronian beats Nakamura, grabs early lead at Tata Steel

Levon Aronian is the sole leader after two rounds at the 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. On Sunday the Armenian grandmaster defeated Hikaru Nakamura to get to a 2/2 score. In the only other decisive game of the A group's second round, former winner Sergey Karjakin lost his second game in a row, to Fabiano Caruna.

Levon Aronian beats Hikaru Nakamura in round 2

The view from the Hotel Hoge Duin ('high dune'), with Tata Steel's blast furnaces ('hoogovens')

Levon Aronian seems to be more ambitious than ever, and determined to start the new year with a very good result. In his game against the winner of last year, Hikaru Nakamura, the Armenian grandmaster got a clear advantage with White in a Dutch Defence, where he had to be satisfied with a quick draw last year. Then Aronian sacrificed his queen for bishop, rook and pawn and although objectively speaking Black should have been OK, it proved too difficult for the American over the board.

Aronian:

The position was very complicated. Lots of unclear things were happening! I can't really say that at any moment that I felt that I'm better, it was very sharp. Only when he captured on c5 and took e6 I already feel I have a clear advantage. White has a clear plan while Black is just suffering with his pieces.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A88"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rn1/4p1kp/B2pP1q1/1RP2pp1/8/4P1P1/3N1P1P/R5K1 w - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

31... dxc5 32. Rxc5 Qxe6 33. Nf3 Qd6 34. Nd4 Kh8 35. Rc6 Qd7 36. Rac1 f4 37.
Bc8 Qa7 38. Ne6 Rf6 39. exf4 gxf4 40. Rc7 Qa4 41. Nxf4 Rd6 (41... Rxf4 $5 42.
gxf4 Qxf4 43. R1c3 Qe5 44. Ba6 Nf6 45. Rc8+ Kg7 46. Rg3+ Kf7 47. Bc4+ e6 {
and it's not clear whether White can make progress (but he can certainly try).}
) 42. Be6 Rd1+ 43. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 44. Kg2 Nf6 45. Rxe7 Qe1 46. Rf7 Qe4+ 47. f3 Qd4
48. Kh3 Qe5 49. Kh4 Qd4 50. Bg4 Qe5 51. Ne6 h6 52. Rf8+ Ng8 53. f4 Qb2 54. Kh3
Qa1 55. Bh5 Kh7 56. Rf7+ Kh8 57. Bg6 Nf6 58. Rf8+ Ng8 59. Bf7 1-0

Levon Aronian leads with 2/2

Fabiano Caruana underlined the progress he's made, and already showed in Reggio Emilia, with an excellent victory over Sergey Karjakin, the sole winner in Wijk aan Zee two years ago. Seeing his opponent build up huge pressure against his king, the Ukrainian-born Moscovite had to give an exchange and defended vigorously, but to no avail.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E46"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1r1k1/pq3pp1/1n3b1p/1P1p1N2/2nP1B2/3B4/5PPP/R2QR1K1 w - - 0 28"]
[PlyCount "19"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

28. Qg4 Kf8 29. Bd6+ Nxd6 30. Nxd6 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 Qc7 32. Qxc8+ Qxc8 33. Nxc8
Nxc8 34. Be2 Nd6 35. Ra1 Bxd4 36. Rd1 Bb6 37. Rxd5 {and White won.} 1-0

Caruana, who won the Piet Zwart prize made possible by the municipalities of Velsen and Beverwijk: 

Yes, a very nice result. Probably I could have played the technical phase better but I think I never let go of the win.

The other five games ended in draws. Anish Giri seemed to be doing very well again in his game against Teimour Radjabov. The Dutch hope grabbed a pawn, and another one, and at one point

felt that it was going to be some nice, easy win. Then I calculated a bit deeper and I got worried.

Vassily Ivanchuk got a tiny edge against Magnus Carlsen and tried to increase it, but the Norwegian avoided any real trouble. Veselin Topalov also had a small advantage at first, against Loek van Wely, but in the final part of the game it was the Bulgarian who had to be careful.

In the B group we also have a sole leader: Pentala Harikrishna of India. Kateryna Lahno made a big mistake just after the time control:

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Lahno, Kateryna"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[WhiteElo "2665"]
[BlackElo "2557"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r7/1R5R/8/5pP1/p2k4/6P1/2r4P/5K2 w - - 0 40"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

40. Ra7 Rb8 $2 {
Trying to get the other rook on the second rank as well, but it won't work.} (
40... Rxa7 41. Rxa7 Rxh2 {should be a draw.}) 41. Rxa4+ Ke3 42. Re7+ Kd3 43.
Ra3+ Kd4 44. Re2 Rb1+ 45. Kf2 Rh1 46. Rxc2 Rxh2+ 47. Kf3 Rxc2 48. Ra5 1-0

Dutch legend Jan Timman lost against Sergey Tiviakov, who was awarded the Piet Zwart prize for his use of the bishop pair:

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Tiviakov, Sergei"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B18"]
[WhiteElo "2677"]
[BlackElo "2571"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2kb3r/pp4p1/1nq1pp2/3n4/4N2P/1BP2Q2/PP3P2/1KB4R w - - 0 26"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

26. Qg3 g5 27. f3 Bc7 28. Qe1 gxh4 29. Rxh4 Rd8 30. c4 Ne7 31. Nxf6 Nf5 32. c5
Nd5 33. Nxd5 exd5 34. Rg4 Re8 35. Qg1 Qe6 36. Re4 Qg8 37. Qxg8 Rxg8 38. Bxd5
1-0

In the C group, Maxim Turov is the only one with 2/2 because Matthew Sadler couldn't beat Tania Sachdev, who was in fact better for most of the game. The longest game of the day took its toll: the ending between Hans Tikkanen and Daan Brandenburg flickered between equal, good for Black, equal, suddenly lost for White, and eventually was drawn!

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMC"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Tikkanen, Hans"]
[Black "Brandenburg, Daan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A20"]
[WhiteElo "2549"]
[BlackElo "2527"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3k4/5Rp1/bp6/2p1PB2/8/2K3P1/5r2/8 w - - 0 72"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

72. e6 $6 (72. g4 $11) 72... Bb5 $2 (72... Rf3+ 73. Kc2 Ke8 $1 {
gives Black some winning chances:} 74. Ra7 (74. g4 g6 $1 75. Bxg6 Rxf7 76.
exf7+ Ke7 77. Kb3 Be2 78. Ka4 Bc4) 74... Rxf5 75. Rxa6 b5) 73. Bd3 $1 Rxf7 74.
exf7 Ke7 75. Bxb5 Kxf7 76. Kd3 (76. Bd3 Kf6 77. Kc4 Kg5 78. Be2 Kf5 79. Kd5 Kg5
80. Bd1 Kf5) 76... Kf6 77. Ke4 Kg5 78. Be2 c4 79. Kf3 b5 80. g4 Kf6 81. Kf4 Ke6
82. g5 Kd5 83. Kf5 (83. Ke3 $11) 83... b4 84. Kg6 $2 (84. Bd1 b3 85. Kg6 Kd4
86. Kxg7 $11) 84... b3 $2 (84... c3 85. Bd1 Kc4 86. Be2+ Kb3 $19) 85. Bd1 $1
Kc5 (85... Kd4 86. Kxg7 Kc3 87. Bg4 $11) 86. Kxg7 Kb4 87. g6 c3 88. Bxb3 Kxb3
89. Kf7 c2 90. g7 c1=Q 91. g8=Q Qc4+ 92. Kg7 Qxg8+ 93. Kxg8 1/2-1/2

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 2

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 2 standings

Games group B, round 2

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 2 standings

Games group C, round 2

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 2 standings