Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen Or Giri?
As both Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri won their games in the penultimate round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, one of them will likely be crowned as the winner tomorrow. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who drew very quickly today, has a chance too and even Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik are still in contention.
The 12th round started with a huge surprise. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, one of the three leaders of the tournament, played the Petroff and allowed a threefold repetition as early as move 12 against Gawain Jones.
Jones-Mamedyarov was over in no time, and nobody understood why. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Like everyone, Mamedyarov's co-leaders were surprised. Carlsen: "I thought he'd play more ambitiously, seeing that Gawain has been kind of drifting the last few rounds."
Anish Giri: "It makes absolutely no sense what he did. His main strength is that he dares to go all out when it's needed. (...) It's completely insane, it doesn't fit into my worldview. I would bet my small apartment on that he would play for a win today."
Giri himself continued his wonderful tournament with yet another win, against Baskaran Adhiban. The Indian's opening play also baffled the Dutchman, but afterward, Giri wasn't so sure about his own play either. But after the opening, he started to find some deep tactical ideas and went on to outplay his opponent nicely.
Giri and Adhiban after the game. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Early in the round, it seemed like Maxim Matlakov might be able to hold Magnus Carlsen to a draw, which would be very good news for the Dutch fans. Or, as guest commentator Judit Polgar put it: "Magnus will definitely need help to win this!"
But, Carlsen is Carlsen and at the end of the day, few people will be surprised that he ended up winning yet another opposite-colored bishop ending.
"The thing is, it's always kind of drawish but as long as you don't find a forced draw then it's not so easy," said Carlsen. "But I wasn't thrilled that we ended up in this line since although White is better it should be a draw."
Carlsen kept the pace with Giri as he ground down Matlakov. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
"After the time control it was really unpleasant for him since once again he cannot force a draw and I can play forever."
Remarkably, around that time control, Carlsen was a full two(!) hours up on the clock. "There wasn't much to think about. Obviously, if you're going to play for a win when you don't have much you need the clock as an ally."
Magnus Carlsen might start 2018 well, but he hasn't gotten rid of Giri yet. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Asked Carlsen whether he's surprised about sharing the lead with Giri: "Somewhat, yes. But he has played brilliantly, so he clearly deserves to be up there. It will be exciting tomorrow." #TataSteelChess #2sjakk
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) January 27, 2018
Update: The endgame had more to it. After reading this news report, Carlsen messaged the author on Facebook about this position:
where it was suggested that he had missed 52.Be7+ Kh3 53.Rg3+ Kxh2 54.Bd6 "and Black can resign."
Carlsen: "During the game I spent a while calculating the lines starting with 54...Re4!? which saves the rook, at least momentarily. My main line then ran 55.c6 Rd4 56.c7 (56.Rd3+ Rxd6 57.Rxd6 Bxc6+! is a draw) Rxd6 57.Rh3+! (57.c8=Q Rd5!) 57...Kxh3 68.c8=Q+, but I could not find a way to pick up the rook by force, only the bishop, which leaves a lot of technical difficulties. I also considered the correct move 55.Ra3+! (c3 or b3 also work) followed by c6. I suspected it might win (as it does) but it is not very intuitive, and I did not want to risk miscalculating as I thought I had an easy win in the game. I just thought the readers might find the lines fascinating, I certainly did 🙂"
All these lines have been added to the game viewer above.
"It seems that I played a good game, that's what I feel at least now," said Vladimir Kramnik after beating Fabiano Caruana. The Russian GM was better out of the opening, and it looked like Caruana was lacking a tempo throughout the game, Kramnik thought.
A good game by Kramnik today vs Caruana. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Kramnik had some nice words about Giri for the fans. "That he can play well and that he can fight for the first place, [this] was always obvious to me but of course plus five, what he has now, is really impressive. It will be a really exciting round tomorrow but I'm really happy for him, that he's really playing very, very top level chess now."
Many different scenarios possible, and since last year the tournament regulations (here in PDF) state that a playoff will decide in case of a tie for first.
In case two or more players share first place, there will be a play-off after the last round, during the closing ceremony (on Sunday 28. January 2018). The time control depends on the number of shared winners and will be determined by the chief arbiter (Blitz or rapid, in both cases with increment). The money prizes will be shared, just like all other prizes (...).
Spoke to chief arbiter in #TataSteelChess regarding tiebreak rules: Only two players in playoff. Criteria: 1. Mutual score, 2. Sonnenborn-Berger 3. # games with black 4. Drawing of lots. Format: 2 games 5+3 secs, then armageddon if tied. #2sjakk
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) January 27, 2018
2018 Tata Steel Masters | Round 12 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Score |
| 1 | Giri | 2752 | 2909 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8.5 / 12 | |||
| 2 | Carlsen | 2834 | 2901 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8.5 / 12 | |||
| 3 | Mamedyarov | 2804 | 2869 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.0 / 12 | |||
| 4 | Kramnik | 2787 | 2850 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 7.5 / 12 | |||
| 5 | Anand | 2767 | 2839 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7.5 / 12 | |||
| 6 | Karjakin | 2753 | 2800 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 7.0 / 12 | |||
| 7 | So | 2792 | 2810 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 7.0 / 12 | |||
| 8 | Svidler | 2768 | 2715 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.5 / 12 | |||
| 9 | Wei Yi | 2743 | 2694 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.0 / 12 | |||
| 10 | Jones | 2640 | 2675 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.5 / 12 | |||
| 11 | Caruana | 2811 | 2657 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5 / 12 | |||
| 12 | Matlakov | 2718 | 2675 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5 / 12 | |||
| 13 | Adhiban | 2655 | 2597 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 3.5 / 12 | |||
| 14 | Hou Yifan | 2680 | 2523 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 2.5 / 12 |
Games via TWIC.
Nice to have @GMJuditPolgar in the house today! #TataSteelChess pic.twitter.com/iOffeF0W8E
— Jeroen Van Den Berg (@Jvdbergchess) January 27, 2018
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi broke away from Anton Korobov today, and leads by half a point going in to the final round. Whereas the Ukrainian was held to a draw by Dutch IM Lucas van Foreest, Vidit easily defeated Olga Girya as Black:
If nothing goes wrong for him tomorrow, we'll see Vidit Santosh Gujrathi in the Masters next year. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
2018 Tata Steel Challengers | Round 12 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Score |
| 1 | Vidit | 2718 | 2760 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 8.5 / 12 | |||
| 2 | Korobov | 2652 | 2733 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 8.0 / 12 | |||
| 3 | Amin, | 2693 | 2663 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 7.0 / 12 | |||
| 4 | J. van Foreest | 2629 | 2659 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 7.0 / 12 | |||
| 5 | Bluebaum | 2640 | 2637 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.5 / 12 | |||
| 6 | Xiong | 2634 | 2637 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 6.5 / 12 | |||
| 7 | Gordievsky | 2622 | 2637 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 6.5 / 12 | |||
| 8 | l'Ami | 2634 | 2582 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5.5 / 12 | |||
| 9 | Tari | 2599 | 2582 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 5.5 / 12 | |||
| 10 | Bok, | 2607 | 2577 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 5.5 / 12 | |||
| 11 | Krasenkow | 2671 | 2560 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.0 / 12 | |||
| 12 | L. van Foreest | 2481 | 2546 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 4.5 / 12 | |||
| 13 | Harika, | 2497 | 2530 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5 / 12 | |||
| 14 | Girya | 2489 | 2475 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 3.5 / 12 |
Games via TWIC.
Live coverage of the 80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament is proudly powered by Chess.com.
Was Vidit getting some last-minute tips from two of the 'masters'... | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
...or was Giri getting some in return? | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
In any case, being in a good mood can never be bad... | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
...as commentators Judit Polgar and Eric Hansen were as well. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Previous Stories:
- Tata Steel Chess: Anand Moves Closer To Leading Trio
- Carlsen, Giri Join Mamedyarov As Tata Steel Chess Visits Groningen
- Giri Grabs Sole Lead In Tata Steel Chess Round 9
- Tata Steel: Giri Beats Mamedyarov, Carlsen Blunders But Wins
- Mamedyarov Wins 3rd In A Row In Tata Steel
- Mamedyarov Makes It 2; Korobov Not 'Too Fat' To Lead
- Mamedyarov Surges As Tata Steel Goes Sesame Street
- Anand Wins With Flair, Joins Giri In Lead
- Giri Moves To 2/2 In Wijk aan Zee
- Winning Starts For Anand, Kramnik, Giri In Tata Steel
- 80th Tata Steel Starts Saturday With Chess.com Broadcast
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