Gashimov beats Giri in 8th round Tata Steel

Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen remain in first place at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. Both players drew their game in the 8th round. In fact only one encounter in the A group ended decisively: Vugar Gashimov won his first game, with Black against Anish Giri. Going into the second rest day, Pentala Harikrishna still has a half-point lead over Alexander Motylev in the B group while Hans Tikkanen caught Maxim Turov in first place in 'C'.

Right from the start of the 8th round, all attention went to the A group's game Anish Giri versus Vugar Gashimov. It started as a Najdorf Sicilian and soon got very sharp, with White putting a bishop on d5 while there was a black pawn on e6, and then Black not taking it but instead letting his rook on a8 taken!

As it turned out, it was all theory, and quite old theory. However, the reputation of the line isn't very good - the move 10.Bd5!? hasn't been played by strong players. Interestingly, in the database two games by Italian IM Stefano Tatai can be found, one from 1970 and one from 2011!  The question is, why Giri decided to go for it. He commented in a rather joyful manner:

The highlight of my play, preperation...! I knew one correspondence game, I looked at it this morning and it looked interesting.

Anish Giri got inspiration from a correspondence game, but his sharp play backfired completely

Vugar Gashimov, who won his first game in the tournament and with it the Piet Zwart Prize, said:

I had this position in my analysis some months ago. I remembered that Black is better.

Gashimov wasn't sure how his analysis went exactly, but behind the board he seemed to be playing all the right moves.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qa5 8.
Qd2 e6 9. O-O-O b5 10. Bd5 $6 ({Normally} 10. Bb3 {is played here, e.g.} Bb7
11. Rhe1 O-O-O 12. f3 (12. a3 Be7 13. Kb1 Qb6 14. f3 Kb8 15. Be3 Nc5 16. Ba2 b4
17. axb4 Qxb4 18. Nb3 Nfd7 {Gulko,B (2530)-Petrosian,T (2635)/Moscow 1976/
URS-ch}) 12... h6 13. Bh4 Be7 14. a3 Kb8 15. Kb1 Rc8 16. Bf2 Ne5 17. Qe3 Qb6
18. Qd2 Qa5 19. Nde2 Qc7 {Kotronias,V (2578)-Seres,L (2462)/Kavala 2002}) 10...
b4 $1 (10... exd5 11. Nc6 {followed by 12.exd5 gives White a strong attack.})
11. Bxa8 bxc3 12. bxc3 (12. Qxc3 $2 Qxg5+) 12... Qxa2 13. Qe2 Be7 $146 (13...
Nb6 14. Bc6+ Bd7 15. Bxd7+ Kxd7 16. Nb3 d5 17. Rd4 Na4 18. Kd2 Nc5 19. Nxc5+
Bxc5 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Rd3 {Espig,L-Roberts,M/Harrachov 1967}) 14. Kd2 ({
Protecting the bishop with} 14. h4 {is interesting.}) 14... Nxe4+ 15. Qxe4
Bxg5+ 16. f4 d5 17. Ra1 {The ending will be better for Black but even without
this move Black is better according to Gashimov.} Qxa1 18. Rxa1 dxe4 19. fxg5
h6 20. g6 f5 21. Nxe6 Ke7 22. Nf4 Rd8 23. Bd5 $6 (23. Nd5+) 23... Nb6 24. c4
Nxc4+ 25. Kc3 Ne3 26. Bf7 Rd6 27. Ra5 Bd7 28. Re5+ Kf6 29. Rc5 Kg5 30. g3 Nf1
31. h4+ Kg4 32. Rd5 Rxd5 33. Nxd5 Kxg3 34. Nf6 e3 35. Bc4 Bb5 36. Nh5+ Kf2 37.
Nxg7 Bxc4 38. Kxc4 e2 0-1

The tournament leaders both drew their games. Levon Aronian was the first, against Veselin Topalov. The Bulgarian could have won Black's queen, but apparently he agreed with his opponent that the resulting position would be fine for Black.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1bq1rk1/p3bppp/2n1p3/2pn4/5B2/P1N2N2/1PQ1PPPP/3RKB1R w K - 0 11"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

11. e3 ({Not going for the queen with} 11. e4 Nxf4 12. Rxd8 Rxd8) {and later the game was drawn.} 1/2-1/2

Aronian:

I didn't know much about it but it felt very natural to play Nc6. If he plays e4 instead of e3, Nxf4 and Black is better I think.

Levon Aronian: an easy draw against Veselin Topalov

Magnus Carlsen again played on for quite a while in a dry endgame position against Teimour Radjabov, and did manage to get a slight advantage. However, the Norwegian also felt that this time he "overpressed" a bit. The two analyzed for some time afterwards; something that's quite rare these days.

Teimour Radjabov drew with White against Magnus Carlsen

At some point our camera was ready to shoot a press conference by Gata Kamsky. We had everything set up as the American was completely winning against Boris Gelfand, and it had been quite a nice game, suitable for the demo board.

The Houdini evalutation on the official website went from -5.90 to -6.18 during several half moves, but then the American just didn't see how to finish it off. Gelfand escaped, and commented:

I played another poor game. I saw I could lose two or three times but luck was on my side today.

Kamsky:

To be honest at the beginning I had some idea what I was doing but as the game progresses I was getting completely out of my mind and in the end I realized I see absolutely nothing. Just making solid moves and a draw!

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D15"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r5k1/1bq1rp1p/1p4p1/4p3/1PP1n3/5N2/1QR1BPPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 24"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

24... Nxf2 $1 25. Kxf2 e4 26. h3 (26. Nd4 Qxh2 {is hopeless.}) 26... exf3 27.
Bxf3 Bxf3 28. Kxf3 Rae8 29. Qd4 Re6 30. c5 h5 31. Rcd2 (31. Rd3 bxc5 32. Rxc5
Qb7+ 33. Kg3 Qb8+ 34. Kf3 Re1 $19) 31... bxc5 32. bxc5 h4 $1 {Kamsky finds the
winning move...} 33. Qxh4 Qxc5 34. Kg3 Re4 $2 {...but then fails to deliver
the decisive blow.} (34... Qc7+ $1 {wins quickly:} 35. Kf3 (35. Qf4 Re3+) (35.
Kf2 Qh2 $1) 35... Re3+ 36. Kf2 Qh2 {followed by 37...R3e5 is curtains.}) 35.
Qf6 $1 {Gelfand finds the only move and now it's suddenly a draw.} R4e6 36. Qd4
Qc7+ 37. Kf3 g5 38. g4 Re5 39. Kg2 Qc6+ 40. Kf2 R8e6 41. Qb2 Rf6+ 42. Kg1 Rb5
43. Qd4 Rf4 44. Qd6 Qxd6 1/2-1/2

The two draws in Navara-Van Wely and Caruana-Ivanchuk were quite spectacular as well. We'll give the final part of one of these:

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C11"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2766"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r4rk1/pbq2pp1/1p2pn1p/4N3/2BR4/7P/PPP1QPP1/3R2K1 w - - 0 18"]
[PlyCount "8"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

18. Rd7 $5 Qc8 19. Nxf7 $5 ({Caruana also looked ato} 19. Re7 {but then Black
has} Bd5) 19... Nxd7 $1 20. Nxh6+ (20. Nd6 Qc7 21. Bxe6+ Kh8 22. Nxb7 Nc5 $1)
20... Kh7 21. Qh5 Nf6 ({and a draw was agreed because of the forced line} 21...
Nf6 22. Bd3+ Kh8 23. Nf7+ Kg8 24. Nh6+) 1/2-1/2

In the B group the daily prize went to Vladimir Potkin, who played a fine game with Black against Dimitri Reinderman, full of little tactical nuances.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Reinderman, Dimitri"]
[Black "Potkin, Vladimir"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2581"]
[BlackElo "2684"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qc2 c5 6. Na3 Be7 7. Nxc4 O-O 8. b3
Nc6 9. Bb2 Nd5 10. O-O b5 11. Nce5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Bb7 13. Rfd1 Rc8 14. a4 f6 15.
Nd3 Nb4 16. Nxb4 cxb4 17. Qb1 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qd5+ 19. e4 Qxb3 20. axb5 Bc5 21.
Qa2 Qxa2 22. Rxa2 Rfd8 23. d4 Bb6 24. Ra4 Rc4 25. Rb1 e5 26. dxe5 Rd2 27. exf6
Rxf2+ 28. Kh3 gxf6 29. Ba1 Rcc2 30. Kg4 Kf7 31. h4 Bc5 32. Ra6 Rce2 33. Rc6
Rxe4+ 34. Kh3 Bb6 35. Rd1 b3 36. Rdd6 b2 37. Bxb2 Rxb2 38. Rxf6+ Ke8 39. Rf5
Re7 40. h5 Rb3 41. h6 Rbe3 42. Rg5 R3e5 43. Kg4 Rxg5+ 44. Kxg5 Bd8 45. Kf5 Rb7
46. Rc5 Rb6 0-1

Jan Timman lost his third game in a row, against Lazaro Bruzon. The Cuban probably could have won earlier, but the game was decided when Timman again missed a relatively easy tactic.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Bruzon Batista, Lazaro"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B42"]
[WhiteElo "2691"]
[BlackElo "2571"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r3k1/R4p1p/3q1p1Q/1P1PpP2/2p5/7P/5PP1/6K1 w - - 0 31"]
[PlyCount "2"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

31... c3 $4 ({Black first had to play} 31... e4 {e.g.} 32. Qh4 Qc5 33. Ra1 Qxd5
34. b6 c3) 32. Ra4 1-0

The C group's top encounter between Matthew Sadler and Maxim Turov ended in a draw and this gave Hans Tikkanen the opportunity to catch Turov in the standings.

Maxim Turov and Matthew Sadler split the point

Games group A, round 8

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 8 standings

Games group B, round 8

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 8 standings

Games group C, round 8

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 8 standings