Tata R3: Carlsen beats Aronian, takes over the lead

Magnus Carlsen is the new leader at the 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. The Norwegian defeated Levon Aronian on Monday. Other victories in the A group went to Sergey Karjakin and Teimour Radjabov, who won against Anish Giri and David Navara respectively. Pentala Harikrishna and Maxim Turov maintained their lead in the B and C groups.

Carlsen won the important game between the two highest rated participants

A bit surprisingly, the press room was very quiet on this first week day of the tournament. Some journalists, who had visited the tournament in the first weekend, were already gone - will they return later? Others - in fact most - probably decided to come by during the second half, when everything will be decided. And so, on the day when world number one Magnus Carlsen faced tournament leader Levon Aronian, almost nobody noticed, well, at least not in Wijk aan Zee! (By the way, this is also the reason why there hasn't been one of those famous press-conferences-with-demo-board yet.)

But of course, everyone noticed. Obviously, everyone is following the games at the official website. Kudos to the organizers for picking up something that was done before by the Russian Chess Federation: Pascal Pflaum's applet for streaming the live games. The German programmer created this splendid applet for the Schachbundesliga two years ago, and at some point started licensing his software to other organizations. It was already used during e.g. last year's FIDE World Cup, and on the website WhyChess (which saw its funding terminated recently).

And so the tens of thousands of chess fans enjoyed online yet another great game by Magnus Carlsen, who slowly outplayed Levon Aronian, then let a big advantage almost slip away but eventually won a BN vs R (and only a few pawns) ending.

I was completely winning of course, then I tried to find the most accurate way and evidently I didn't. Probably it was winning til the end, but if so it was only by luck. A win is a win.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Aronian, L."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2805"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r1bk1/q4p1n/6p1/3NP2p/1p1P4/1P4PP/P1rB2Q1/3R1R1K w - - 0 33"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

{White is winning and at first Carlsen finds the strongest continuation.} 33.
e6 $1 Qa8 (33... fxe6 34. Qe4) 34. exf7+ Kh8 35. Nf4 Qxg2+ 36. Kxg2 $2 {
This gives away some of the advantage.} (36. Nxg2 $1 {keeps the d-pawn because}
Rxd4 {fails to} 37. Bc3 $1) 36... Rxd4 37. Rf2 Rd6 38. Bc1 $1 {
White is 'lucky' to be, probably, still winning.} Rxf2+ 39. Kxf2 Rxd1 40. Bb2+
Nf6 41. Bxf6+ Kh7 42. Ne6 Bd6 43. Be5 Be7 44. f8=Q Bxf8 45. Nxf8+ Kh6 46. Ne6
g5 47. h4 gxh4 48. gxh4 Kg6 49. Nd4 Rd3 50. Nc6 Rd2+ 51. Ke3 Rxa2 52. Bd6 Ra1
53. Kd4 Rg1 54. Kc5 Kf5 55. Nxb4 Rc1+ 56. Kd4 Re1 57. Nc6 Re4+ 58. Kd5 Rxh4 59.
b4 Rh1 60. b5 Rb1 61. Nd4+ Kg4 ({According to Carlsen Black should have tried}
61... Kf6 {but White seems to be winning anyway, e.g.} 62. Kc6 Rc1+ 63. Bc5)
62. Kc6 Rc1+ 63. Kd7 Rb1 64. Kc7 h4 65. b6 Kh3 66. b7 Kg2 67. Nf5 h3 68. Nh4+ (
68. Nh4+ Kg1 69. b8=Q Rxb8 70. Kxb8 h2 71. Nf3+) 1-0

As Jan Timman explained to us last week during our interview, one of the few weakness left in Anish Giri's play is that he can be overoptimistic. It looks like this was the case also in the third round, when the Dutchman couldn't resist the anti-positional 20...f5, a move condemned by his opponent Sergey Karjakin after the game. The Moscovite added:

Finally of course I'm happy. It was difficult to recover but I managed to play a more or less good game today. It wasn't an easy win. 

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Giri, A."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C07"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rqb2rk1/1p1nbp1p/4p1p1/1N5n/1PP1N3/3BB3/5PPP/1R1Q1RK1 w - c3 0 20"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

{White is just slightly better but after his next move things get worse for
Black.} 20... f5 $2 21. Nec3 b6 22. Be2 Ndf6 23. Nd4 Bd7 (23... e5 $2 24. Nc6)
24. Bf3 Qc7 (24... Ra3 25. Qc1 Ra7 26. c5 $1 {is no fun either.}) 25. Bxa8 Rxa8
26. Nf3 Qxc4 27. Qd4 Qxd4 28. Bxd4 Rc8 29. g3 b5 30. Ne5 Be8 31. Rfc1 g5 32.
Kg2 Kf8 33. Ne2 Ra8 34. Bc5 Nd7 35. Bxe7+ Kxe7 36. Nc6+ Kd6 37. Ned4 1-0

The third winner of the day was Teimour Radjabov, who saw his opponent going wrong already in the opening. Just when David Navara seemed to be putting up a stubborn defence, the Czech dropped a full knight.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Radjabov, T."]
[Black "Navara, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D73"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2712"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1q2rk1/1pp1ppbp/2n2np1/p2b4/2NP4/PP3NP1/1B2PPBP/2RQ1RK1 w - - 0 12"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

12... Qe6 $2 13. Ng5 Qg4 14. e4 Qxd1 15. Rfxd1 {
This is already very bad for Black.} Bxc4 16. Rxc4 e6 17. d5 Rfd8 18. Rcc1 exd5
19. exd5 Ne7 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Ne4 Be5 22. f4 Bd6 23. Nxd6 cxd6 24. Rc7 Nf5 25.
Rxb7 Rac8 26. Bf1 Rc2 27. Bb5 Ne3 28. Re1 Nxd5 29. Bc4 Nc7 $2 ({
Just dropping a piece. Black should have tried} 29... Rd2 30. Ra7 Rc8 31. Rxa5
Nf6) 30. Rxc7 d5 31. Rd1 Re8 32. Bb5 1-0

In the B group local heros Erwin l'Ami, Jan Timman and Sergey Tiviakov won. Timman must have enjoyed the final part of his game against Ilya Nyzhnyk.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Timman, J."]
[Black "Nyzhnyk, I."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B94"]
[WhiteElo "2571"]
[BlackElo "2568"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7q/8/1P1Q1KPk/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 97"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

97. g7 $1 (97. g7 Qxg7+ 98. Kf5+ Kh7 (98... Kh5 99. Qh2#) 99. Qc7 $18) 1-0

Jan Timman still attracting lots of attention at the start of the round

The 250-euro Piet Zwart Prize was awarded to Lithuania’s Viktorija Cmylite for her victory against Holland’s Sipke Ernst.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Cmilyte, V."]
[Black "Ernst, S."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "2503"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. e4 b5 5. a4 b4 6. Na2 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Bxc4 e6
9. Nf3 Ba6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. O-O Qb6 12. Bd2 Be7 13. Nc1 c5 14. Qe2 Rc8 15.
Qb5+ Rc6 16. Nb3 O-O 17. Rfc1 Rfc8 18. Na5 R6c7 19. Nc4 Qc6 20. b3 Rb8 21. Qxc6
Rxc6 22. Rc2 Rd8 23. Rac1 Rc7 24. Kf1 f6 25. Na5 Rdc8 26. Ke2 Kf7 27. Nc4 Rd8
28. g3 Ke8 29. dxc5 Bxc5 30. exf6 gxf6 31. Ne3 Bxe3 32. fxe3 Rxc2 33. Rxc2 Kd7
34. e4 Ne7 35. Nd4 Rg8 36. Nb5 Nc6 37. Be3 Na5 38. Rd2+ Ke7 39. Nxa7 h5 40. Rd3
e5 41. Kf3 Ke6 42. Nb5 Nb7 43. Rd1 Rc8 44. h4 Rc2 45. g4 hxg4+ 46. Kxg4 Rg2+
47. Kf3 Rh2 48. Bf2 Nac5 49. Nc7+ Kf7 50. Kg3 Rxf2 51. Kxf2 Nxe4+ 52. Kf3 Nec5
53. Kg4 Na5 54. Rd5 Ncxb3 55. h5 Kg7 56. Rd7+ Kh6 57. Nd5 Nc4 58. Nxf6 Ne3+ 59.
Kf3 Nc4 60. Kg4 Ne3+ 61. Kf3 Nc4 62. Rh7+ Kg5 63. Ne4+ Kh4 64. h6 Nd4+ 65. Kf2
b3 66. Rb7 1-0

In the C-group this prize is just 100 euros, and in the third round two players had to split the money: Elisabeth Paehtz and Matthew Sadler. Their game, a Modern Defence, was indeed spectacular:

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMC"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.16"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Paehtz, E."]
[Black "Sadler, M."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2454"]
[BlackElo "2660"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 Qb6 5. Nf3 d5 6. e5 Bg4 7. Be2 Nh6 8. O-O
Nf5 9. Na4 Qc7 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Rxf3 h5 12. g4 Nh4 13. Rf1 Nd7 14. Be3 hxg4 15.
hxg4 g5 16. Bd3 e6 17. Qd2 f6 18. exf6 Bxf6 19. Kf2 O-O-O 20. Ke1 Rdf8 21. Kd1
Bg7 22. f5 exf5 23. gxf5 Nxf5 24. Bxf5 Rxf5 25. Rxf5 Rh1+ 26. Ke2 Rxa1 27. Rxg5
Qh2+ 28. Kd3 Qh7+ 29. Kc3 Bf6 30. Kb3 Bxg5 31. Bxg5 Qf7 32. Qa5 Qf3+ 33. c3 Qf8
34. Qxa7 Qd6 35. Nc5 Qb8 36. Qa5 Qc7 37. Qa8+ Qb8 38. Qa5 Qc7 39. Qa8+ Qb8 40.
Qa5 1/2-1/2

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 3

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 3 standings

Games group B, round 3

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 3 standings

Games group C, round 3

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 3 standings

After the round, Veselin Topalov could be found in the bar of the venue, analyzing with his fresh new second, GM Romain Edouard from France