So Wins Again, Increases Tata Steel Lead
Wesley So defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek today and increased his lead to a full point at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. In the challengers, Jeffery Xiong joined Ilia Smirin and Markus Ragger in the lead.
Everything So touches turns into gold at the moment. He has been enjoying a fantastic high in his career for the last half-year. There's a very good chance he will be winning his third super tournament in that half-year span now that he got to a full-point lead today.
"I was very pleased with today’s game,” So said about his win versus Wojtaszek, a Closed Catalan that became really tactical right out of the opening. Eventually, White got a strong pawn majority on the queenside, which decided the game.
So is now just 3.9 Elo points behind Fabiano Caruana, who started with a win but drew his second-round game in Gibraltar today.
Source: 2700chess.com.
The games of today's round were not played in Wijk aan Zee. It was the second "Tata Steel On Tour" day, and this time the tournament settled in theater De Philharmonie in Haarlem.
Before that, the players visited the Frans Hals Museum, where they were welcomed by museum director, Ann Demeester. They received a short tour and got to see the highlights of the museum collection (see the above photo by Alina l'Ami).
Another 1.d4 player scored a fine win today and got to shared second place. Levon Aronian is now on 6/10 or "plus two" together with Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin, Pavel Eljanov and Wei Yi after beating Richard Rapport in a Queen's Indian.
Very aggressive play did the trick today for the Armenian number-one. "I know that my opponent likes to attack," he said. "It should be very unpleasant for him to defend!"
Karjakin was the third winner of the day. He defeated his compatriot, Dmitry Andreikin, in a complicated endgame. Mirroring yesterday's report, it's tempting to describe this as "a win in Carlsen-style."
Harikrishna played well and drew with Carlsen. Games between Van Wely-Giri, Adhiban-Nepomniachtchi and Eljanov-Wei Yi were also drawn.
Tomorrow is the third and final rest day. Round 11, on Friday in Wijk aan Zee, will see the games Wojtaszek-Aronian, Andreikin-So, Wei-Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi-Eljanov, Carlsen-Adhiban, Giri-Harikrishna, and Rapport-Van Wely.
Tata Steel Masters | Round 10 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | So | 2808 | 2897 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.0/10 | ||||||
| 2 | Aronian | 2780 | 2825 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 6.0/10 | 31.25 | |||||
| 3 | Carlsen | 2840 | 2819 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.0/10 | 27.50 | |||||
| 4 | Karjakin | 2785 | 2812 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6.0/10 | 27.25 | |||||
| 5 | Eljanov | 2755 | 2808 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0/10 | 27.00 | |||||
| 6 | Wei Yi | 2706 | 2817 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0/10 | 25.25 | |||||
| 7 | Adhiban | 2653 | 2789 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.5/10 | ||||||
| 8 | Harikrishna | 2766 | 2758 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0/10 | 26.50 | |||||
| 9 | Giri | 2773 | 2757 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0/10 | 23.25 | |||||
| 10 | Andreikin | 2736 | 2674 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/10 | 18.75 | |||||
| 11 | Nepomniachtchi | 2767 | 2670 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/10 | 18.00 | |||||
| 12 | Wojtaszek | 2750 | 2684 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/10 | 16.75 | |||||
| 13 | Rapport | 2702 | 2663 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3.5/10 | ||||||
| 14 | Van Wely | 2695 | 2517 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 2.0/10 |
Games from TWIC.
Markus Ragger and Ilia Smirin had to allow a third player to join them in the lead today. The young American player Jeffery Xiong got to plus four as well, thanks to a win over Sopiko Guramishvili, the wife of Giri and the tail-ender with just two draws and eight losses.
The pairings for the challengers on Friday are Ragger-Grandelius, Van Foreest-Bok, l'Ami-Tari, Xiong-Smirin, Tingjie-Guramishvili, Hansen-Jones, and Dobrov-Lu.
Tata Steel Challengers | Round 10 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Ragger | 2697 | 2721 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.0/10 | 31.25 | |||||
| 2 | Smirin | 2667 | 2736 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 7.0/10 | 31.00 | |||||
| 3 | Xiong | 2667 | 2724 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7.0/10 | 28.00 | |||||
| 4 | Hansen | 2603 | 2706 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 6.5/10 | 30.50 | |||||
| 5 | Jones | 2665 | 2699 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 6.5/10 | 27.00 | |||||
| 6 | Grandelius | 2642 | 2643 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0/10 | ||||||
| 7 | L'Ami | 2605 | 2615 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/10 | 24.50 | |||||
| 8 | Lu Shanglei | 2612 | 2622 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 5.5/10 | 23.50 | |||||
| 9 | Tari | 2584 | 2597 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.0/10 | ||||||
| 10 | Bok | 2608 | 2511 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.0/10 | ||||||
| 11 | Dobrov | 2499 | 2507 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.5/10 | ||||||
| 12 | Van Foreest | 2612 | 2427 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 3.0/10 | ||||||
| 13 | Lei Tingjie | 2467 | 2431 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.5/10 | ||||||
| 14 | Guramishvili | 2370 | 2255 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1.0/10 |
Games from TWIC.
Previous Reports
- Carlsen Closing In On So After Beating Van Wely
- 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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