Aronian, Carlsen, Giri start with wins in Wijk aan Zee

Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri won their games in the first round of the 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Carlsen grinded down Vugar Gashimov in an ending while Levon Aronian used a pawn sacrifice with Black to defeat Sergey Karjakin. Anish Giri was the last to finish in the A group, and won, also with the black pieces, in a double rook ending against Boris Gelfand.

Top favorites Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian are leading the 74th Tata Steel chess tournament from the very start, together with rising star Anish Giri. How fast this young star is rising will be clear in the next two weeks - can the 17-year-old Dutchman, after winning his first big event in Reggio Emilia earlier this month, fight for the top places yet again?

Well, at least after one round he can say so. Where Giri let the World Champion himself escape in a rook ending one year ago, this time he had no mercy against the Challenger. Boris Gelfand sacrifed or just dropped a pawn in the opening and somehow just couldn't get enough compensation.

Gelfand-Giri

[FEN "r2qkb1r/pp2pppp/1np5/3n4/3P1B2/2NQ1P2/PP2PP1P/R3KB1R w KQkq - 0 10"]

10.Be5!? [10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.Bd2] 10...f6 11.Bg3 Nb4 12.Qb1 Qxd4 13.Bh3 e5 and it might have been a draw somewhere, but Giri just kept on pressing. Afterwards he said:

Can't be better! I'm very happy - the game was very interesting and I think I played very well. OK, I gave him some drawing chances but he's a strong player so he deserves it!

For this victory Giri won the 500-euro “Piet Zwart Prize” for the best game of the day.

Boris Gelfand vs Anish Giri, 0-1

One of the most fascinating games of the round was played between Sergey Karjakin and Levon Aronian.

Karjakin-Aronian

[FEN "1rbqr1k1/b4pp1/p4nnp/P1p1p3/1p2P3/2PB1NNP/1P3PP1/R1BQR1K1 w - - 0 19"]

19...Be6!? 20.Bxa6 c4 21.Ra4 Qc7 22.cxb4 Bxf2+ 23.Kxf2 Qa7+ 24.Be3 Qxa6 25.Kg1 Red8 26.Qc1 Rd3

and about these developments, Aronian said afterwards:

After he took on a6 I had the feeling that all these complications may be not in my favor, but give me good play. He has to play really well, he has to keep his prospects but I think my opponent underestimated the dangers for him.

The third winner of the day was Magnus Carlsen, who played on of these typical games for him. He got a very slight advantage in an ending and just kept on playing good moves, until his opponent went wrong.

Carlsen-Gashimov

[FEN "3r1n1k/6p1/5p1p/8/1P2BP2/2bN2P1/6K1/3R4 w - - 0 43"]

Carlsen:

I was slightly better form the opening. In the endgame it looked pretty drawish but I had a passed pawn and my pieces were a little bit more active.

Magnus Carlsen starts with a win in Wijk aan Zee

It looked like Hikaru Nakamura and Vassily Ivanchuk hadn't fully shrugged off the bad vibes from Reggio Emilia (in Nakamura's own words they were "still on tilt").

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2759"]
[BlackElo "2766"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 e6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. g3 b5 6. Bg2 Bb7 7. Ne5 Qc8 8. O-O
Nd7 9. b3 b4 10. Ne4 Nxe5 11. dxe5 c3 12. Qd3 a5 13. Be3 f5 14. exf6 (14. Nd6+
Bxd6 15. Qxd6 {looks very good for White.}) 14... Nxf6 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. Bf3
Kf7 17. Rfd1 h5 18. a4 {When commentator Ivan Sokolov saw this move, he was
silent for about ten seconds, and then stated that he failed to understand it.
"If you want to push it, why not to a3? And who says that the pawn stands
better on a4 than on a2?"} Rb8 (18... Be7 $1 19. Qd7 c2 $1 20. Rd4 Qxd7 21.
Rxd7 Rad8 22. Rxd8 Rxd8 23. Rc1 Rd1+ 24. Kg2 Rxc1 25. Bxh5+ Kg7 26. Bxc1 e5 27.
Bf3 f5) 19. Ba7 Ra8 20. Be3 Rb8 21. Ba7 Ra8 1/2-1/2

In the B group, Kateryna Lahno won the 250-euro game of the day prize for a her victory over Sipke Ernst:

Lahno-Ernst

[FEN "3n1r1k/2qbb1np/r2p2pB/pp1Pp1P1/1Pp1P3/P1P2QN1/2B2P1N/R5RK w - - 0 28"]

28.Nf5 gxf5 29.exf5 Bxf5 30.Bxf5 Nf7 31.Bxg7+ Kxg7 32.Qh5 Rh8 33.Be6 Bd8 34.g6 Ng5 35.gxh7 1–0

Kateryna Lahno (Ukraine) played the best game of the day in 'B'

In the C group the best game prize is worth 100 euro, which was awarded to Hans Tikkanen for his win against Elisabeth Paehtz:

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMC"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Paehtz, Elisabeth"]
[Black "Tikkanen, Hans"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2454"]
[BlackElo "2549"]
[PlyCount "90"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nce2 Nc6 7. Nf3 Qb6 8. c3
Be7 9. a3 c4 10. g4 h5 11. gxh5 Rxh5 12. f5 Nf8 13. fxe6 Bxe6 14. Nf4 Rh8 15.
Nxe6 Nxe6 16. Qc2 O-O-O 17. Be3 Rh5 18. Bf2 f5 19. exf6 gxf6 20. O-O-O Nf4 21.
Bg3 Bd6 22. Bxf4 Bxf4+ 23. Kb1 Kb8 24. h4 a6 25. Bh3 Na7 26. Rde1 Nb5 27. Ka2
Rh6 28. Re6 Qa5 29. Kb1 Bd6 30. Kc1 Rg8 31. Rf1 Rhg6 32. a4 Bf4+ 33. Kb1 Nc7
34. Re2 Rg3 35. Bf5 b5 36. Be6 Rxf3 37. Rxf3 Rg1+ 38. Ka2 Rc1 39. Rxf4 Rxc2 40.
Rxc2 Nxe6 41. Rxf6 Qxa4+ 42. Kb1 b4 43. cxb4 Nxd4 44. Rg2 Qe8 45. Rgg6 c3 0-1

Swedish GM Hans Tikkanen, starting his debut in Wijk aan Zee with a win

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 1

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 1 standings

Games group B, round 1

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 1 standings

Games group C, round 1

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 1 standings