Tata Steel: Giri Beats Mamedyarov, Carlsen Blunders But Wins
In a tumultuous eighth round in Wijk aan Zee, both Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen caught Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in first place. It was Giri who brought down the tournament leader, whereas Carlsen blundered a full piece but won anyway.
The fight for first place at the 80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament is suddenly very tense as we have three leaders at 5.5 points, with five rounds to go. A revitalized Mamedyarov seemed to be running away with the tournament but found his Waterloo today in the local hero.
Anish Giri, on scoring a "massive" victory today: "Every victory for me is massive!" | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Yesterday Giri had mentioned that Mamedyarov's openings aren't bulletproof, and although he didn't intend to criticize the Azeri's repertoire too much, some of it might be true. Today Giri got an advantage straight out of the opening, and on move 32, Mamedyarov threw in the towel as he had been outplayed.
Giri, who joined his opponent in first place, is playing his best tournament in a long time. "I didn't really keep the count but I assumed winning is good today," he noted matter-of-factly.
Mamedyarov was outplayed by Giri like Dreev was against Karpov in 2000. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
The third leader after today is Magnus Carlsen, who won a bizarre game against Gawain Jones. Just out of the opening, the world champion blundered a full piece.
Here Carlsen went 17.g4?? allowing 17...f4.
"It's a little embarrassing obviously, more than a little embarrassing," Carlsen readily admitted.
Magnus Carlsen, frustrated with himself after blundering a full piece. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Because it was the world champion, and because he quickly got an initiative after it happened, some fans weren't even sure if it actually was a blunder but Carlsen himself ended the debate right away in his post-game interview.
"That was obviously a crude blunder. I guess I was kind of lucky to get any play at all after that."
Carlsen was referring to move 22, where Jones missed the obvious chance to close off the kingside after the win should have been trivial even against this particular opponent.
"After this, I had nothing to lose," said Carlsen. "It felt kind of absurd; I felt like the game is over already but on the other hand, I thought: let's play a few moves and see what happens."
Gawain Jones missed a golden opportunity today. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
What happened was Jones losing the thread completely, and going from won to better to worse to lost. The English GM might have a hard time sleeping tonight.
Giri, in his typical half-serious tone, said: "It will be interesting to see whether Magnus is a full piece stronger than the rest of the players here. I didn't think so but now I start doubting."
Catching up on today's #TataSteelChess
— Jonathan Rowson (@Jonathan_Rowson) January 21, 2018
On Magnus's blunder: 17...f4 would be positionally catastrophic for Black if it didn't win a piece.
One difference between humans and computers is that our strategic filters often trump our tactical filters at the worst possible moments.
The World Champion @MagnusCarlsen is now officially a full piece stronger than the rest of the mankind! 😂👏✌️ #stillgotit #TataSteelChess
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) January 21, 2018
Carlsen giving autographs to kids on the way to the playing hall (with his father Henrik closeby). | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the standings, Hou Yifan is having a horrible tournament. Today she had an excellent chance to do something about that as she was a very healthy pawn up (as in: two, if she had taken another one!) vs Fabiano Caruana. But, like Jones, at some point, she just collapsed and even lost.
Hou and her mother arriving for what would be another disastrous round. | Photo Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
2018 Tata Steel Masters | Round 8 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Giri | 2752 | 2895 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 5.5/8 | 22.75 | |||||||
| 2 | Carlsen | 2834 | 2866 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5.5/8 | 16.75 | |||||||
| 3 | Mamedyarov | 2804 | 2874 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5.5/8 | 15.75 | |||||||
| 4 | Kramnik | 2787 | 2835 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 5.0/8 | 19 | |||||||
| 5 | So | 2792 | 2841 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 5.0/8 | 18.75 | |||||||
| 6 | Anand | 2767 | 2792 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.5/8 | 16.5 | |||||||
| 7 | Karjakin | 2753 | 2777 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 4.5/8 | 15.75 | |||||||
| 8 | Svidler | 2768 | 2733 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/8 | 13 | |||||||
| 9 | Matlakov | 2718 | 2750 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/8 | 12.5 | |||||||
| 10 | Jones | 2640 | 2719 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 3.5/8 | ||||||||
| 11 | Wei Yi | 2743 | 2676 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.0/8 | 12.5 | |||||||
| 12 | Caruana | 2811 | 2660 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.0/8 | 10 | |||||||
| 13 | Adhiban | 2655 | 2569 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 2.0/8 | ||||||||
| 14 | Hou Yifan | 2680 | 2441 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0/8 |
Games via TWIC.
Not only in the masters group were the standings shaken up. Anton Korobov lost his first game of the tournament in the challengers after completely misjudging the position shortly before the time control—before that he had built up a more-or-less winning advantage vs Bassem Amin. The Egyptian player finished it off nicely.
Another close battle in the challengers as Korobov goes down for the first time. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
Vidit Santosh Gujrathi took full advantage and joined the Ukrainian in first place thanks to the following win with the black pieces.
Vidit is back in shared first place. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
2018 Tata Steel Challengers | Round 8 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Vidit | 2718 | 2791 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0/8 | 22.25 | |||||||
| 2 | Korobov | 2652 | 2811 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.0/8 | 21.75 | |||||||
| 3 | Amin | 2693 | 2610 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.0/8 | 16.75 | |||||||
| 4 | l'Ami | 2634 | 2617 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/8 | 16.25 | |||||||
| 5 | L. van Foreest | 2481 | 2631 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 4.0/8 | 16 | |||||||
| 6 | Bok | 2607 | 2592 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/8 | 15.5 | |||||||
| 7 | Krasenkow | 2671 | 2609 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/8 | 15 | |||||||
| 8 | Bluebaum | 2640 | 2608 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 4.0/8 | 14.75 | |||||||
| 9 | J. van Foreest | 2629 | 2591 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 4.0/8 | 14.25 | |||||||
| 10 | Xiong | 2634 | 2561 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 3.5/8 | 13.75 | |||||||
| 11 | Tari | 2599 | 2565 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 3.5/8 | 12.75 | |||||||
| 12 | Gordievsky | 2622 | 2573 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5/8 | 11.75 | |||||||
| 13 | Harika | 2497 | 2539 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 3.0/8 | ||||||||
| 14 | Girya | 2489 | 2494 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 2.5/8 |
Games via TWIC.
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Previous Stories:
- 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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