Tata Steel R6: Sole lead again for Aronian

For the second time, it's Levon Aronian who is the sole leader at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. On Friday the Armenian grandmaster defeated Vugar Gashimov, while Magnus Carlsen had to be satisfied with a draw against David Navara. The other decisive results were Giri-Kamsky 1-0, Gelfand-Nakamura 0-1 and Radjabov-Karjakin 1-0.

Levon Aronian making his first move in round 6

It's a rare thing, to see a game between two of the world's best players finish in less than three hours and... the result not being a draw. This is what happened in Aronian vs Gashimov. Every now and then the Azerbaijani tries the slightly risky Benoni, and usually with good results. This time things went wrong at an early stage. Well, timewise, because half of the moves came on the board very quickly.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Gashimov, Vugar"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A61"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2761"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6 7. Bf4 Bg7 8. Qa4+
Bd7 9. Qb3 b5 {A well-known pawn sacrifice. Black will win back d5 later.} 10.
Bxd6 Qb6 11. Be5 O-O 12. e3 c4 13. Qd1 b4 14. Ne2 Bb5 15. Ned4 (15. Nf4 Nbd7
16. Bd4 Qb7 17. Be2 Rfe8 18. O-O Bh6 19. g3 Nxd5 {
Kaluga,S (2216)-Badmatsyrenov,O (2450)/Barnaul RUS 2011}) 15... Nbd7 16. Nxb5
Qxb5 17. Bd4 Qxd5 18. Be2 Nb6 19. O-O Rac8 20. Rc1 Rfd8 21. Qe1 c3 22. bxc3
bxc3 23. Ba6 $1 {
With this intermediate moves White wins a pawn for the second time.} ({After}
23. Rxc3 Qxa2 {is possible.}) 23... Rc7 24. Rxc3 {Now Black cannot take on a2.}
Rxc3 25. Qxc3 Ne4 26. Qa3 Bxd4 27. Nxd4 Qc5 28. Qxc5 Nxc5 29. Bb5 {
and using fine technique Aronian won the ending.} 1-0

The winner of the game, and the 500-euro Piet Zwart Prize, said:

Actually I didn't really expect this line, I mean it's a very rare line and very risky. Maybe I wasn't playing precisely, but I was trying to play safe.

Well, this was enough apparently to score the full point. According to Aronian this

...can only be explained by my opponent's bad form.

And so in order to keep the pace, Magnus Carlsen needed to win with Black against David Navara, who hadn't made a very good impression so far. However, in no time a dead drawn position was reached in this game. The Norwegian played on for another few hours, because he felt the position had the "potential to be slightly better" for him.

I thought I wasn't going to be doing very much in the hotel anyway, so why not sit there for a while.

Magnus did have some advantage, according to Navara.

At least the advantage of the stronger player.

After this round Carlsen is sharing second place with Teimour Radjabov, who inflicted the third loss upon Sergey Karjakin. He felt it was a deserved win.

I kept pressing. I was slightly better all the time but to make it a point is hard.

The finish was pretty:

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2773"]
[BlackElo "2769"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/r4p2/6p1/1P5p/P2kp2P/2RbN1P1/5P1K/8 w - - 0 60"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

60. b6 $1 Rxa4 61. b7 Rb4 62. Rc4+ 1-0

Just when he seemed to be doing quite well in the tournament, Boris Gelfand blundered terribly against Hikaru Nakamura. Although it still might have been a draw at the end, according to the Israeli grandmaster he played the whole game "horribly".

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A88"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r2k1/p6p/1pR5/8/4r3/BP2b1P1/P4p1P/1R3K2 w - - 0 35"]
[PlyCount "2"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

35. Rc2 $4 (35. Rd6) (35. Bb2) 35... Red4 0-1

Anish Giri won his second game of the tournament, against Gata Kamsky. At first the Dutchman was winning, then he spoilt it but in the ending that resulted, according to Giri his opponent

misplayed it completely; allowed me too much.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Giri, Anish"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2714"]
[BlackElo "2732"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r1k2r/p3ppb1/3p1np1/Qp1P3p/3n4/4N1PP/Pq1BPPBK/R3R3 w k - 0 18"]
[PlyCount "136"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

{"Never take on b2, even when it's good." Black's queen is about to be trapped,
so he has to take drastic measures.} 18... Ng4+ 19. hxg4 hxg4+ 20. Kg1 Nxe2+
21. Kf1 Nc3 22. Bxc3 Qxc3 23. Qxb5+ Kf8 {
This should be over, but Kamsky defends like a lion for a long time.} 24. Rad1
f5 25. Qb1 Qb2 26. Qxb2 Bxb2 27. Rd3 Kf7 28. Rb1 Bf6 29. Ke2 Rc5 30. Ra3 Rh2
31. Rh1 Rxh1 32. Bxh1 Rc1 33. Bg2 Bd4 34. Rd3 Bc5 35. Rd1 Rc3 36. Rd3 Rc1 37.
Rd1 Rc3 38. Rd2 Rc1 39. f3 gxf3+ 40. Bxf3 Kf6 41. g4 Kg5 42. gxf5 gxf5 43. Bg2
Kf4 44. Nf1 a5 45. Kd3 a4 46. Rc2 Rd1+ 47. Ke2 Rb1 48. Rc4+ Kg5 49. Kd3 Rb2 50.
Rc2 Rb4 51. Nd2 Rg4 52. Bh1 Rd4+ 53. Ke2 Rb4 54. Bf3 a3 55. Nb3 Bb6 56. Rc3 Rh4
57. Bg2 Rg4 58. Kf1 Rb4 59. Bf3 Kf6 60. Ke2 Rh4 61. Bg2 Rg4 62. Kf1 Rb4 63. Rc2
Rg4 64. Nd2 Rb4 65. Ke2 Bc5 66. Nf3 Re4+ 67. Kd3 Re3+ 68. Kd2 Re4 69. Bf1 e6 {
Perhaps it was better to continue waiting?} 70. dxe6 Rxe6 71. Rc4 Re8 72. Rh4
Be3+ 73. Kc2 Bc5 74. Bc4 Re3 75. Bd5 Re2+ 76. Kd3 Rf2 77. Rh6+ Kg7 78. Re6 Rf1
79. Kc4 Rd1 $6 (79... Rc1+ 80. Kb3 Rb1+ 81. Kc3 Rc1+ 82. Kd2 Rf1) 80. Re1 $1 {
The rooks will be exchanged and then it's easy.} Rxe1 81. Nxe1 Kg6 82. Nd3 Ba7
83. Kb3 Kg5 84. Kxa3 f4 85. Kb3 Kg4 86. Ne1 1-0

After his fine game on Thursday, Jan Timman was defeated by tournament leader Pentala Harikrishna. The Indian grandmaster, who won the daily prize for this game, is a point ahead of Alexander Motylev.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Black "Timman, Jan H"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C02"]
[WhiteElo "2665"]
[BlackElo "2571"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r2r1/4n1pp/1kn5/pp1bN3/8/P1B4B/5PPP/1RR3K1 w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "23"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

29. Nd7+ Ka6 30. Nc5+ Kb6 31. Nd7+ Ka6 32. Re1 g5 33. Nc5+ Kb6 34. Nd7+ Ka6 35.
Nf6 Rg6 36. Bg4 Bc4 37. Ne4 Nd5 38. Bd2 Nf4 39. Be3 a4 40. Nc5+ 1-0

In the C group Maxim Turov dropped his first half point, against the runner-up in the standings, Hans Tikkanen. A very entertaining draw was played between Matthew Sadler and Etienne Goudriaan.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMC"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.20"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Sadler, Matthew D"]
[Black "Goudriaan, Etienne"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B53"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2279"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "2r2rk1/1pq1bpp1/p1bppn1p/8/3NPP1B/2NQ4/PPP3PP/1K1RR3 w - f3 0 15"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

15... Nxe4 16. Bxe7 Nf2 17. Qg3 Nxd1 18. Bf6 Nxc3+ 19. bxc3 g6 20. f5 $5 exf5
21. Re3 Kh7 22. Qg5 Bxg2 23. Qxg2 d5 24. Nb3 Qf4 25. Rh3 Qg4 26. Rg3 Qd1+ 27.
Kb2 Rc6 28. Bd4 Re6 29. Qxd5 Re2 30. Qxf5 gxf5 31. Rg7+ Kh8 32. Rxf7+ Kg8 33.
Rg7+ Kh8 34. Rf7+ Kg8 35. Rg7+ Kh8 36. Rf7+ 1/2-1/2

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 6

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 6 standings

Games group B, round 6

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 6 standings

Games group C, round 6

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 6 standings