Jobava Beats Wojtaszek, Maintains Lead in Tata Challengers
Baadur Jobava won the important game against top seed Radek Wojtaszek on Thursday in Wijk aan Zee. After five rounds in the Challengers Group, the Georgian grandmaster scored 4.5 points and is half a point ahead of Ivan Saric and Anna Muzychuk. Today the players of the Masters Group resume their play in Wijk aan Zee.
While there are five rest days for the participants of the top group, the Challengers get to play the good old 13 rounds. On Thursday the big game was played between the two 2700 players: Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Baadur Jobava. And it was a great game for the chess fans because, like Richard Rapport the other day, Jobava employed the Budapest Gambit with success. That is, White did get out of the opening with an advantage, but soon the Polish GM lost the thread while Jobava found some fine moves.
A powerful game by Baadur Jobava
Ivan Saric is one of the two players who are trailing Jobava by half a point. He played a good game against Duda:
Anna Muzychuk was too strong for Goudriaan, who is now on 0.0/5. Tough times for the Dutch student, who spends his free time during the tournament on his studies (media, marketing & communication).
Challengers Group, round 5 standings
| # | Name | Rtg | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Jobava,Baadur | 2710 |  |
1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.5/5 | |||||||||
| 2 | Saric,Ivan | 2637 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0/5 | 9.25 | ||||||||
| 3 | Muzychuk,Anna | 2566 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0/5 | 6.50 | ||||||||
| 4 | Bok,Benjamin | 2560 | ½ | |
0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3.0/5 | 7.25 | ||||||||
| 5 | Zhao,Xue | 2567 | 0 | 1 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | 3.0/5 | 5.00 | ||||||||
| 6 | Timman,Jan H | 2607 | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
1 | 0 | 2.5/5 | 8.00 | ||||||||
| 7 | Brunello,Sabino | 2602 | 0 | ½ | 0 | |
1 | 1 | 2.5/5 | 5.50 | ||||||||
| 8 | Reinderman,Dimitri | 2593 | 0 | ½ | 0 | |
1 | 1 | 2.5/5 | 5.50 | ||||||||
| 9 | Duda,Jan-Krzysztof | 2553 | ½ | 0 | 0 | |
½ | 1 | 2.0/5 | 4.75 | ||||||||
| 10 | Troff,Kayden W | 2457 | 0 | 0 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/5 | 3.25 | ||||||||
| 11 | Wojtaszek,Radoslaw | 2711 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |
1 | 2.0/5 | 2.00 | ||||||||
| 12 | Yu,Yangyi | 2677 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | |
1.5/5 | 3.50 | ||||||||
| 13 | Van Delft,Merijn | 2430 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | |
1 | 1.5/5 | 1.50 | ||||||||
| 14 | Goudriaan,Etienne | 2431 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
0.0/5 |
The Tata Steel tournament runs 11-26 January and is held in Wijk aan Zee, Amsterdam and Eindhoven. You can find the official website here and the live games here. The live streaming commentary can also be found here on Chess.com!
