Tata Steel R7: Carlsen joins Aronian in the lead once again

Once again Magnus Carlsen joined Levon Aronian in the lead at the Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands. In the 7th round, Carlsen beat Boris Gelfand with the white pieces while Aronian drew his game with Black against Vassily Ivanchuk. Still without playing a single draw, Sergey Karjakin defeated Veselin Topalov and likewise Gata Kamsky bounced back from a loss against David Navara.

On the second Saturday, the word ramptoerisme ('disaster tourism') was buzzing through the playing hall of the Tata Steel chess tournament. Many amateurs and spectators were having trouble reaching the venue in time, because of traffic jams on the highway to Beverwijk/Wijk aan Zee. The reason was a cargo ship that had run aground, in fact already on Friday morning, about two hundred meters offshore, nearby the Wijk aan Zee beach. On Saturday the ship was released - an operation that was watched by hundreds if not thousands of 'disaster tourists' from the rainy and windy beach.

Tournament leader Levon Aronian drew his game in the 7th round, but this could hardly be called a disaster, with Black against Vassily Ivanchuk. Aronian said about the game:

Vassily has a very good feel for these positions and although it's considered to be a draw, I think he had this cunning plan to play this in order to get me to lose my concentration and to beat me like that. But I think I stayed calm, and I was analyzing during his time, so I avoided the trouble.

Aronian's girlfriend Arianne Caoili is again playing in the 9-round amateur event

And so for the second time, Magnus Carlsen had a chance to rejoin Aronian in the lead. The Norwegian did so, won the daily prize (for his “fine display of his skill of exploiting microscopic advantages" - Ivan Sokolov) and explained afterwards:

It was just that (...) he exchanged queens one move too late. If he had simply played 30…Qc2 instead of 30…Nd7, there would have been no question of me having an advantage. When he came up with the exchange one move later, I won a pawn, and it became very difficult for him to fight his way back into the game.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D12"]
[WhiteElo "2835"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/pp3pp1/2pb1n2/2q5/1n2P1pP/1P4P1/P2BNPB1/1Q4K1 w - - 0 30"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

30... Nd7 $2 (30... Qc2 31. Qxc2 Nxc2 $11) 31. Be3 $1 Qc2 32. Qxc2 Nxc2 33.
Bxa7 Ba3 34. Nc3 Bb2 35. Nd1 Bc1 36. Bf1 Nb4 37. a4 Nf6 38. e5 Nd7 39. Bd4 Nc2
40. Bc3 Nc5 41. Be2 Ne4 42. Bxg4 Nxc3 43. Nxc3 Bb2 44. e6 fxe6 45. Bxe6+ Kf8
46. Ne4 Nd4 47. Ng5 Ke7 48. Bg8 Kf8 49. Bc4 Ke7 50. Kg2 b5 51. Bg8 Kf8 52. a5
1-0

Magnus Carlsen defeated Boris Gelfand and caught Levon Aronian again

Gata Kamsky beat David Navara from the white side of a Berlin Endgame. The American said that at first Black was fine, out of the opening.

In the opening it was very slightly better for White, very close to equality. The way he played he had no counterplay at all.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Kamsky, G."]
[Black "Navara, D."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2712"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "4k3/ppp1bpp1/r7/2p1P2p/2Pn1B2/2N4P/PP3PP1/3R1K2 w - - 0 21"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

{The following plan just backfires.} 21... c6 22. Be3 b5 23. a3 b4 24. axb4
cxb4 25. Bxd4 bxc3 26. Bxc3 Ra4 27. Ke2 Rxc4 28. Ra1 Bc5 29. g3 Bb6 30. Kd3 Rc5
31. f4 Rb5 32. b4 g6 33. g4 hxg4 34. hxg4 Kd7 35. f5 gxf5 36. gxf5 c5 37. Kc4
Kc6 38. Rd1 Bc7 39. Rd5 a6 40. Rxc5+ Rxc5+ 41. bxc5 a5 42. f6 Kd7 43. Kd5 a4
44. c6+ Kd8 45. Bb4 Bb8 46. e6 Ke8 47. Bd6 1-0

In one of the 'en passant' videos, Kamsky complimented the two opponents who had beaten him so far: Aronian and Giri.

Overall I was OK with my game except for the games I lost. The game that I lost to Levon, it was a fantastic game, because the only chance I could see for myself was at one point, Nb3 on the 40th or 50th move. You know, obviously when your only move is on the 50th move, the opponent is doing something really right! Yesterday, against Giri, I blundered in one move and then he just run me down like a professional!

Gata Kamsky

Sergey Karjakin hasn't drawn a single game yet. On Saturday the Moscovite won against Veselin Topalov, using the Grand Prix Attack. Topalov came up with an exchange sacrifice that was as typical for this variation as it was for the Bulgarian. As he won two more pawns on the queenside, Black seemed to be doing fine but eventually, when the ending was reached, White was "just" an exchange up.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Topalov, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B23"]
[WhiteElo "2769"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "197"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bc4 Nc6 7. O-O Na5 8. Be2
Nf6 9. d3 O-O 10. Qe1 Nc6 11. Qh4 Nd4 12. Bd1 Rc8 13. Kh1 b5 14. Nxd4 cxd4 15.
Nb1 Rc5 16. Nd2 Qc7 17. Nb3 Rxc2 18. Bxc2 Qxc2 19. Qg3 Rc8 20. f5 Qe2 21. Bg5
Qxb2 22. Rab1 Qxa2 23. Nxd4 Qa4 24. Ne2 Rc2 25. Qf3 gxf5 26. Ng3 fxe4 27. Nxe4
Nxe4 28. dxe4 f6 29. Ra1 Ra2 30. Rac1 Rc2 31. Ra1 Qd4 32. Be3 Qe5 33. Bf4 Qe6
34. Qg3 Kf8 35. Rxa7 b4 36. Rb7 Re2 37. Qf3 Rc2 38. Rxb4 Qg4 39. Rb7 Qxf3 40.
gxf3 Be8 41. Rc1 Rxc1+ 42. Bxc1 Bg6 43. Bf4 Bf7 44. Kg2 Be6 45. Bd2 Ke8 46. Rb5
Kf7 47. f4 Bd7 48. Ra5 f5 49. exf5 Bf6 50. Kf3 h5 51. Ke4 Bc6+ 52. Kd3 Bg2 53.
Be3 Bf1+ 54. Kd2 Bg2 55. Bb6 Be4 56. Ke3 Bc2 57. Bd4 Bxd4+ 58. Kxd4 Kf6 59. Ra8
Bxf5 60. Rf8+ Ke6 61. Ke3 Bg6 62. Kf3 Bf7 63. f5+ Kf6 64. Kf4 Kg7 65. Rb8 Kf6
66. Rd8 e5+ 67. fxe6 Bxe6 68. Rxd6 h4 69. Rb6 h3 70. Rc6 Kf7 71. Ke5 Bg4 72.
Rc4 Bd7 73. Rc7 Ke8 74. Kd6 Bg4 75. Re7+ Kf8 76. Re4 Bc8 77. Kc7 Ba6 78. Re3
Kg7 79. Rxh3 Kg6 80. Kd6 Kg5 81. Ke5 Be2 82. Rg3+ Kh6 83. Kf5 Bd1 84. Rh3+ Kg7
85. Kg5 Be2 86. Re3 Bd1 87. Re7+ Kf8 88. Kf6 Kg8 89. Kg6 Bc2+ 90. Kh6 Kf8 91.
Rg7 Bd3 92. Rg5 Kf7 93. Rg3 Bc2 94. Rg7+ Kf8 95. Rg2 Be4 96. Rg4 Bc2 97. Rg5
Kf7 98. Kh5 Kf6 99. Kg4 1-0

In the B group, Harikrishna maintained his one-point lead over Alexander Motylev as both players drew their games with Black. Ilya Nyzhnyk crushed Daniele Vocaturo in a Benoni and was awarded the daily prize. Sipke Ernst won another excellent game, with Black against Sergei Tiviakov, while Jan Timman blundered terribly.

[Event "74th Tata Steel GMB"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2012.01.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Timman, J."]
[Black "Reinderman, D."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2571"]
[BlackElo "2581"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "5rk1/q3nppp/3p4/r2N1B2/p1P1PP1b/Pp1Q4/1P6/3R1R1K w - - 0 29"]
[PlyCount "12"]
[EventDate "2012.01.14"]

29. Bxh7+ $4 {Played after thinking for about ten minutes. Chess blindness...}
(29. Qh3) 29... Kxh7 30. Qh3 Rh8 $1 {Winning on the spot.} 31. Rd2 Kg8 32. Rh2
Rc5 33. Ne3 Rch5 34. Qf3 Qc5 0-1

In the C group Hans Tikkanen is now just half a point behind Maxim Turov. The tournament leader was very realistic about his good start:

It's a result of the pairings. I didn't meet my main opponents yet.

I expect a very difficult game.

The strongest groups in the 9-round amateur event which started on Friday. The two winners will qualify for 'C' in 2013

Daily video by the organizers

Games group A, round 7

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group A | Round 7 standings

Games group B, round 7

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group B | Round 7 standings

Games group C, round 7

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Pairings

Tata Steel 2012 | Grandmaster Group C | Round 7 standings