Carlsen Closing In On So After Beating Van Wely
Magnus Carlsen was the only winner in the ninth round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament's Masters. The World Champion defeated Loek van Wely and is now half a point behind Wesley So.
Ilia Smirin joined Markus Ragger in the lead in the Challengers, where the winner will promote to the Masters 2018 tournament.
Photo: Alina l'Ami.
Van Wely was a most welcome pairing for Carlsen on Tuesday. First, the Norwegian had a full rest day to recover from his first loss in Wijk aan Zee, and then he got to play the tail-ender, the young father, and also the "nestor" in the group—a man who is completely off-form in his 25th year of participating.
And still, it wasn't a walkover. As our GM commentator shows, Black might not have lost the rook endgame objectively speaking. Carlsen was a pawn up from the start, after he had treated the Keres Attack in the Scheveningen rather positionally.
It's hard not to call this a typical Carlsen win.
Last year Van Wely got a winning position against Carlsen,
but definitely not this time. | Photo: Alina l'Ami.
In what was the least productive round so far, Carlsen's win was the only one in the Masters today. As a result, not much changed except for the Norwegian player to move back up to shared second place, half a point behind So.
In the remaining four rounds, So will play Wojtaszek, Andreikin, Wei Yi, and Nepomniachtchi. Carlsen's program is tougher; his next opponents are Harikrishna, Adhiban, Eljanov, and Karjakin.
Two of the six draws were very interesting and deserve to be embedded here. Let's start with Nepomniachtchi-Harikrishna, a game that saw an English Opening which seemed to leave theory rather early. The first nine moves had been played in one 2015 game.
Things got extremely tactical, and White's initiative soon got overwhelming. However, "Nepo" failed to win it, and will have a hard time sleeping tonight.
That could and should have been 1-0. | Photo: Alina l'Ami.
Dmitry Andreikin hasn't been playing the most exciting games in the tournament so far, but today vs Pavel Eljanov it wasn't bad at all. Four pawns on the c-file, an octopus for Black, an exchange sac, another one, a steel king... This game had it all!
That's a strong candidate for game of the tournament! | Photo: Alina l'Ami.
The pairings for round 10, on Wednesday in Haarlem, are Aronian-Rapport, Van Wely-Giri, Harikrishna-Carlsen, Adhiban-Nepomniachtchi, Eljanov-Wei, Karjakin-Andreikin, and So-Wojtaszek.
Wesley So, still on top at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. | Photo: Alina l'Ami.
Tata Steel Masters | Round 9 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | So | 2808 | 2870 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0/9 | |||||||
| 2 | Carlsen | 2840 | 2825 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 5.5/9 | 22.50 | ||||||
| 3 | Eljanov | 2755 | 2820 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.5/9 | 21.75 | ||||||
| 4 | Wei Yi | 2706 | 2824 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/9 | 20.00 | ||||||
| 5 | Aronian | 2780 | 2800 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.0/9 | 25.00 | ||||||
| 6 | Adhiban | 2653 | 2792 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 5.0/9 | 22.00 | ||||||
| 7 | Karjakin | 2785 | 2782 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.0/9 | 20.50 | ||||||
| 8 | Harikrishna | 2766 | 2749 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5/9 | 21.25 | ||||||
| 9 | Giri | 2773 | 2764 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5/9 | 20.25 | ||||||
| 10 | Andreikin | 2736 | 2701 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/9 | 17.00 | ||||||
| 11 | Wojtaszek | 2750 | 2710 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/9 | 14.75 | ||||||
| 12 | Rapport | 2702 | 2691 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3.5/9 | 16.00 | ||||||
| 13 | Nepomniachtchi | 2767 | 2672 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3.5/9 | 14.00 | ||||||
| 14 | Van Wely | 2695 | 2476 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1.5/9 |
Games from TWIC.
Markus Ragger is still tied for first place in the Challengers, but finds another name next to him in the leaderboard. Gawain Jones lost to Jeffery Xiong, but Ilia Smirin defeated Van Foreest to catch Ragger.
The Dutch Champion went all or nothing, and got the latter.
Tata Steel Challengers | Round 9 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Ragger | 2697 | 2736 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.5/9 | 26.25 | ||||||
| 2 | Smirin | 2667 | 2753 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.5/9 | 26.00 | ||||||
| 3 | Xiong | 2667 | 2720 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0/9 | 24.25 | ||||||
| 4 | Jones | 2665 | 2726 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0/9 | 23.00 | ||||||
| 5 | Hansen | 2603 | 2676 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.5/9 | 22.00 | ||||||
| 6 | Lu Shanglei | 2612 | 2664 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 5.5/9 | 20.75 | ||||||
| 7 | L'Ami | 2605 | 2609 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5.0/9 | 18.75 | ||||||
| 8 | Grandelius | 2642 | 2621 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.0/9 | 18.50 | ||||||
| 9 | Tari | 2584 | 2595 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5/9 | |||||||
| 10 | Dobrov | 2499 | 2533 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.5/9 | 13.50 | ||||||
| 11 | Bok | 2608 | 2490 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.5/9 | 10.50 | ||||||
| 12 | Van Foreest | 2612 | 2407 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 2.5/9 | |||||||
| 13 | Lei Tingjie | 2467 | 2399 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0/9 | |||||||
| 14 | Guramishvili | 2370 | 2272 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1.0/9 |
Games from TWIC.
Previous Reports
- Rapport Beats Carlsen; Aronian Bounces Back
- Carlsen Misses Mate In 3 Vs Giri
- Giri Wins In Tata Steel
- So Grabs Tata Lead; Carlsen Plays Football
- Eljanov Ahead of Carlsen, So At Tata Steel
- Rapport Spoils Brilliancy, Loses To So
- Inspired By Karjakin, Carlsen Gets 1st Tata Steel Win
- Eljanov Starts With Sole Lead In Tata Steel
- Carlsen vs So Kicks Off Tata Steel Chess
- 2017 Tata Steel Chess Tournament: Preview
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