Tata R11: Aronian loses to Navara, still leads by half a point

Tail-ender David Navara surprised everyone today by beating tournament leader Levon Aronian with the black pieces in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. In a very exciting game not without mistakes, Magnus Carlsen defeated Veselin Topalov to keep his chances for tournament victory alive. With two rounds to go at the 74th Tata Steel tournament the Norwegian shares second place with Teimour Radjabov, who won against his compatriot Vugar Gashimov.

The 74th Tata Steel tournament saw a fantastic round on Friday full of surprises and great games everywhere. The tournament leader went down, the world's number one was probably lost somewhere but emerged as the winner, and in total just one game ended in a draw in the A group. Furthermore, the leader in the B group lost a spectacular game while in the C group things are exciting as well with two co-leaders and two rounds to go. A better starting point for a thrilling final weekend of chess in Wijk aan Zee can hardly be imagined!

We start with the biggest upset of the tournament: tail-ender David Navara beating tournament leader Levon Aronian, with the black pieces. It was the first win for Navara, who got the 500-euro ‘Piet Zwart Prize’ for it. It started with excellent preparation by him and his second Vlastimil Jansa, involving the move 11...Na6. Black was better in the ending that resulted, and so Navara declined an early draw offer by Aronian.

I was looking at the best position I had in the whole course of the tournament!

Navara said during the press conference, which you can watch here. Besides Navara's own explanation we highly recommend checking the live commentary by GM Ian Rogers, who will be providing this during the final three rounds.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Aronian, L."]
[Black "Navara, D."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A15"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2712"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rn1q1rk1/pp2ppbp/1np3p1/6N1/3PP3/1Q6/PP2NPPP/R1B1K2R b KQ - 0 11"]
[PlyCount "17"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

11... Na6 $1 {A strong novelty.} 12. Be3 Qd6 13. O-O Qb4 14. Qxb4 Nxb4 15. Rfc1
e5 16. Nf3 exd4 17. Bxd4 Rfe8 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Ng3 Rad8 {
Black is already slightly better.} 0-1

However, we're not even sure if we should call this fight the game of the day, because Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov fought out a fierce battle as well. The world's number one won it, but wasn't happy about his play. Right after the opening he blundered a pawn, but in return he got a dangerous attack. According to the Houdini evaluations Topalov was winning at some point, and former winner GM John Nunn, who is in Wijk aan Zee to participate in two solving competitions, didn't see how White would mate his opponent either.

John Nunn of England

However, over the board it was extremely difficult of course. Topalov kept good drawing chances for a long time, but eventually Carlsen won, and kept his chances alive to win the 74th edition.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Topalov, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1rbk1/1bq2pp1/p4n1p/1p2p3/2n1P2N/1BN3BP/PP2QPP1/3R1RK1 w - - 0 20"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

20. Nf5 $6 {Carlsen admitted that he just blundered the pawn.} Nxb2 $1 21. Bh4
$5 {Going "all in". John Nunn, who is visiting the tournament to compete in
solving competitions on Saturday and Sunday, at first didn't believe in
White's chances but after calculating a bit further in the press room he
couldn't find an immediate refutation.} Nxd1 22. Bxf6 (22. Nxh6+ Kh7 $1) 22...
Nxc3 23. Qg4 Bxe4 $5 ({Houdini liked} 23... Re6 24. Nxh6+ (24. Bxe6 fxe6 25.
Ne7+ Kh8 26. Qg6 Bxe4 27. Qxh6+ Bh7 28. Nxc8 Qxc8 29. Bxe5 b4 {or}) (24. Nxg7
Rxf6 25. Ne8+ Kh8 26. Nxf6 Bg7 27. Qf5 Bxf6 28. Qxf6+ Kg8 29. Qg6+ Kf8 30.
Qxh6+ Ke8) 24... Kh7 25. Nxf7 Qxf7 26. Bxe6 Qxf6 27. Qh5+ Qh6 28. Qf7 Bc5 29.
Bf5+ Kh8 30. Bxc8 Bxc8 31. Qe8+ Kh7 32. Qxc8 Bd4 {
and Black has the better chances.}) 24. Nxh6+ (24. Nxg7 $5 Kh7 25. Nxe8 Rxe8
26. Rd1 $1 {was very interesting as well.}) 24... Kh7 25. Bxf7 Qxf7 $2 {
Not necessary.} ({The amazing} 25... Bd3 $5 {
is given by the engines and Black is apparently winning here!}) 26. Nxf7 gxf6
27. f4 $1 {The attack continues.} Bg6 28. Qh4+ Kg7 29. fxe5 Ne4 30. Rxf6 $1
Bc5+ 31. Kh2 Nxf6 32. Qxf6+ Kh7 33. Ng5+ Kh6 34. Ne6 Rxe6 35. Qxe6 {
Black should probably be able to hold this, but it's extremely difficult.} Re8
36. Qf6 Be7 37. Qxa6 b4 38. Qc4 Bf8 39. g4 Kh7 40. e6 Bd6+ 41. Kg2 Be7 42. Qc7
Kg8 43. Kg3 Kf8 44. Qf4+ Kg7 45. Qd4+ Kg8 46. h4 Rd8 47. Qc4 Bd3 48. Qc6 Bb1
49. h5 Bxa2 50. Qe4 Kh8 51. h6 Bf6 52. e7 Re8 53. Qf4 Bg7 54. hxg7+ Kxg7 55. g5
Kg8 56. Qf6 1-0

Press conference Magnus Carlsen

Carlsen-Topalov was followed closely by Vladimir Kramnik, who suddenly entered the press room in Wijk aan Zee during the round! As it turned out, the ex-World Champion was to sign a contract later that evening together with Levon Aronian and a sponsor, for a 6-game match (classical games!) in the last week of April. More details will be announced soon.

Vladimir Kramnik, a welcome guest in the press room during the 11th round

Anish Giri is having a tough time, with a series of losses. On Friday he lost to Fabiano Caruana, who got three passed pawns in return for a piece.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Caruana, F."]
[Black "Giri, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D11"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k2r/2qnp1b1/2p2pp1/ppP1Nb2/3PpP1p/4P2P/PP1BB1P1/R3QRK1 w kq - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "15"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

17. Bxa5 $1 Rxa5 18. Nxc6 Ra8 19. Bxb5 Be6 20. a4 f5 21. Qd2 Bf6 22. d5 Bf7 23.
Rac1 Kf8 24. b4 {and White won.} 1-0

Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura played the only draw of the round, in a 9.0-0-0 Dragon. Loek van Wely ended his drawing streak with a loss against Sergey Karjakin, who still only drew one game! In the derby between the two grandmasters from Azerbaijan, Teimour Radjabov defeated Vugar Gashimov with Black. It was an important win because now Radjabov is still sharing second place with Carlsen. This cannot be said about Vassily Ivanchuk, who lost thread in a completely equal position.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Ivanchuk, V."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E10"]
[WhiteElo "2766"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5qk1/1b1n1pp1/pp2pn1p/3p4/3P4/1QN1PNP1/PP3P1P/5BK1 w - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

21. Ne1 $6 Qc8 22. Nc2 {Gelfand didn't like this manoeuvre.} Ne4 $1 23. Nxe4
dxe4 {This is already unpleasant for White according to Gelfand.} 24. Qc3 Qxc3
25. bxc3 b5 26. a4 bxa4 27. Be2 Kf8 28. Kf1 Ke7 29. Ke1 f5 30. Kd2 g5 31. c4 e5
32. Kc3 f4 33. h3 exd4+ 34. Nxd4 f3 35. Bf1 Nc5 36. Kb4 Nd3+ 37. Bxd3 exd3 38.
Kc3 Be4 39. c5 Kd7 40. g4 Kc7 41. Kd2 a3 42. Nb3 Bd5 0-1

The tournament leader in the B group, Pentala Harikrishna, suffered his first loss, against Sipke Ernst. It was a spectacular game in which Ernst used Aronian's idea of h4&g4 in the Lasker QGD.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Ernst, S."]
[Black "Harikrishna, P."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D56"]
[WhiteElo "2606"]
[BlackElo "2665"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O 7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7
Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. h4 Rd8 ({Deviating from} 10... Nd7 11. g4 e5 12. cxd5 Nxc3
13. Rxc3 cxd5 14. g5 h5 15. Bb5 exd4 16. Qxd4 Qe4 17. Qxe4 dxe4 18. Nd2 {
and White won in Aronian,L (2805)-Harikrishna,P (2669)/Ningbo CHN 2011}) 11. g4
c5 12. g5 Nc6 13. gxh6 Qf6 14. hxg7 cxd4 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Nxd4 Qh6 17. Rg1
Nxd4 18. exd4 e3 19. Bd3 f5 20. d5 exd5 21. Qf3 Be6 ({
Black should probably have tried} 21... exf2+) 22. Qxe3 f4 23. Qe5 Re8 24. Kd2
Bf7 25. Qg5 Qb6 26. Qf5 Qxb2+ 27. Kd1 Re4 28. cxd5 Rae8 29. Bxe4 Qd4+ 30. Bd3
Bh5+ 31. Kc2 Qa4+ 32. Kb2 Qb4+ 33. Kc2 Qa4+ 34. Kd2 Qa5+ 35. Rc3 Qxa2+ 36. Rc2
Qa5+ 37. Rc3 Qa2+ 38. Bc2 Re2+ 39. Kd3 Qa6+ 40. Rc4 Qa3+ 41. Rc3 Qa6+ 42. Kd4
Rd2+ 43. Ke5 Qe2+ 44. Kf6 1-0

This gave Erwin l'Ami and Alexander Motylev the chance to catch Harikrishna in first place, but they drew their mutual game and so they're both still half a point behind.

In the C group, Hans Tikkanen again caught Maxim Turov in first place. The Swedish grandmaster beat Sahaj Grover while Turov drew with Brandenburg.

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 11

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 11 standings

Games group B, round 11

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 11 standings

Games group C, round 11

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 11 standings