Caruana Wins Again, Leads In Wijk aan Zee

GM Fabiano Caruana is the only player on 2.0/2 at the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee. On Sunday he defeated GM Ivan Saric.

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and GM Vassily Ivanchuk are trailing the Italian grandmaster by half a point. World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen, who drew with GM Wesley So, is among eight players with 1.0/2.

In the challengers group there's a five-way tie for first place; GM Valentina Gunina, GM David Navara, GM Wei Yi, GM Bart Michiels and GM Robin van Kampen are all on 1.5/2.

The first two days in Wijk aan Zee have been rather windy, and that can give quite a bit of noise in the players hotel. 

“It was hard to sleep last night,” said GM Wesley So. “But still... it's Wijk aan Zee. If it wasn't such a prestigious tournament I wouldn't be here.”

In a short period of time the amiable young GM has stated several times already that he is “honored” to be playing here. Partly he was speaking about his first ever over-the-board game with GM Magnus Carlsen, in round two. 

The two met many times online, but this one involved a real handshake!

The game started with 1.c4 but quickly transposed into a Nimzo-Indian, Rubinstein variation (4.e3) with 5.Nge2 — which So himself had played 1.5 years ago against GM Loek van Wely in Hoogeveen.

It was clear that he was familiar with the ideas, and after one or two feeble moves from Carlsen, So was almost better at move 18!

“I was kind of happy that he wasn't very ambitious in the opening today,” he said.

Carlsen had to admit that he got nothing.

“He outplayed me in the middlegame; he played a very decent game. At the end I didn't have a choice but to go for something drawish.” But he sees no reason to panic: “Two draws is not ideal but last time I played here I started with two draws and that went pretty well.”

Two more quotes from So:

• “Chess is 95% calculation, and 5% positional play.”
• “Caruana is going for 7.0/7 again. I hope not; I play him in round four.”

Like the world champion, world #2 GM Fabiano Caruana didn't get much out of the opening. His preparation against GM Ivan Saric wasn't great (somehow he managed to overlook the game Brkic-Saric, Zadar 2010!), and on move 27 of a Zaitsev Ruy Lopez Black was absolutely fine.

However, the Croatian grandmaster then chose the wrong plan. It seemed logical what he was doing, because he ended up with pawns on d5 and e5 and he had two bishops versus two knights. But Caruana had judged better. White had a big, almost winning advantage after 31.Nd3.

At the end of the day Caruana was the only player on 2.0/2. His comment: “Maybe not so smooth today but... I couldn't ask for more.”

The game between GM Levon Aronian and GM Anish Giri saw an amazingly theoretical variation in the Grünfeld, which involved a fantastic idea introduced by GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Aronian recently played it himself as Black too, so he knew it quite well.

Giri: “I knew it was known to be a draw, but I couldn't remember exactly how. But I knew it was very forced. You have to remember it really precisely.”

32.Kh1 was a remarkable move.

Giri: “I was afraid that he would sacrifice one pawn at some moment, but he sacrificed it right away. This was not the most dangerous, at least from a psychological point of view. Because I would have to consider it on every move, and not it already happened. (...) If you postpone that moment you keep my nerves in trouble.”

GM Loek van Wely faced GM Radek Wojtaszek. The Dutch champion played a inspiring game and was winning at several points, but let his opponent slip away in a game that's hard to get off your mind!

Via transposition the players reached an Open Catalan, and followed Gelfand-Anand, Zurich 2013 for a while. After a complicated middlegame, Wojtaszek weakened his kingside too much, and Van Wely was completely dominating the position after the time control.

Why he didn't win, that's the question.

GM Ding Liren scored a full point as black in the all-Chinese encounter with GM Hou Yifan. Her play in this Panov Caro-Kann wasn't too ambitious, and in the ending she was slowly outplayed:

After his lucky win the other day, the oldest participant GM Vassily Ivanchuk played another good game today against GM Teimour Radjabov. In a very rare line of the Réti Opening, White got a space advantage, but look at how Ivanchuk handled that middlegame (14...Ne8!, Ra8-b8-b7!, 20...e5!, 22...g5!).

As so often, GM Baadur Jobava avoided deep theory. His off-beat moves in a Sicilian led to a Dragon where he castled kingside, like the old masters who faced this opening for the first time. 

GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave equalized quickly with ...d5 and that was it.

2015 Tata Steel Masters | Pairings & Results

2015 Tata Steel Masters | Round 2 Standings

There were four winners in today's round in the challengers. GM David Navara beat WIM Anne Haast. GM Bart Michiels inflicted the second loss upon 14-year-old GM Sam Sevian, a long and tough fight:

GM Valentina Gunina defeated GM Salem Saleh, but not in a straightforward manner.

Black was doing O.K. in this Sämisch King's Indian, and at move 26 he found the right idea, but played it in the wrong order. Later he missed a chance for a draw:

GM Wei Yi won a nice attacking game versus GM Vladimir Potkin:

2015 Tata Steel Challengers | Pairings & Results

2015 Tata Steel Challengers | Round 2 Standings