TATA STEEL MASTERS 2018 WIJK AAN ZEE – ROUND 1

While all eyes were on the top board where the top two ranked players in the world were duelling, the veterans as well as Mr 50% picked up wins.

The pairings for round 1 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:

Magnus Carlsen 2834 (0) vs Fabiano Caruana 2811 (0)

Wesley So 2792 (0) vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2804 (0)

Vladamir Kramnik 2787 (0) vs Yi Wei 2743 (0)

Peter Svidler 2768 (0) vs Baskaran Adhiban 2655 (0)

Viswanathan Anand 2767 (0) vs Maxim Matlakov (0)

Anish Giri 2752 (0) vs Yifan Hou 2680 (0)

Gawain Jones 2640 (0) vs Sergey Karjakin 2753 (0)

Here are the three decisive games from round 1:

Anand,Viswanathan (2767) - Matlakov,Maxim (2718)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (1), 13.01.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.c3 d6 8.Bg5 C77: Ruy Lopez: 3...a6 4 Ba4 Nf6, unusual lines [8.Nbd2 0–0 9.Nf1 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Ng3 f6 12.0–0 Be6 13.Ne4 Be7 14.d4 exd4 15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.Qxd4 1/2–1/2 (30) Caruana,F (2799)-So,W (2788) London 2017] 

8...h6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 The position is equal. 

10...Ba7N [10...Bb6 11.Nbd2 0–0 12.Qe2 Ne7 13.d4 Ng6 14.dxe5 Nh5 15.0–0–0 Nhf4 16.Bxf4 Nxf4 0–1 (41) Alekseev,E (2651)-Predke,A (2543) Kaliningrad 2015] 

11.Nbd2 Na5 12.Bc2 [Better is 12.d4² ] 

12...Nh5= 13.a4 b4 14.cxb4 Nc6 15.b5 Nb4 16.Nc4 Nxg3 17.hxg3 g4 18.Nh4 axb5 19.axb5 b6! is the strong threat. 

19...Bxf2+! 20.Kxf2 Rxa1 21.Qxa1 And now Qa4 would win. 

21...Nxc2 22.Qa4 Qf6+ 23.Kg1 Nd4 24.b6+ Bd7 ( -> ...Ne2+) 

25.Qd1!ƒ White has good play. 

25...cxb6 26.Kh2 0–0 27.Rf1 Qg5 28.Nxd6 Be6 29.Nhf5 Nxf5 [29...Rd8=] 

30.exf5± Bd5 

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aiming for ...Rd8. 

31.Qe2! Qf6 32.Qxg4+ Kh7 33.Ne4 Bxe4 34.dxe4 Endgame KQR-KQR 

34...Rd8 35.Rc1 Rd4 36.Rc7 Rb4 37.Qe2 Kg7 38.Rc8 Qg5 

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39.Rc6 [39.Qf3!±] 

39...Rb3 40.Rc3 Rb4 41.b3 Rd4 42.Rc6 Rb4 43.Qf3 Kh7 44.Rd6 [44.Rc7 seems wilder. 44...Kg7 45.Rc8 Kh7 46.Rc6 Kg8 47.f6] 

44...Kg7 45.Rd5 Qf6 46.Kg1 Kh7 47.Qd3 Kg7 48.Kf2 Rd4 49.Rxd4 exd4 50.Qb5 Qd8 [50...Qe7±] 

51.Qd5+- Qf6 52.g4 Kg8 53.Kf3  1–0

Kramnik,Vladimir (2787) - Wei,Yi (2743)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (1), 13.01.2018

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 Nf6 5.0–0 0–0 6.c4 dxc4 7.Na3 c5 8.dxc5 c3 D77: Fianchetto Grünfeld: 6 0–0: Replies other than 6...c6 

9.Nb5 Na6 10.Nxc3 Nxc5 11.Be3 Nfe4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Bd4 Bxd4 14.Qxd4 Qxd4 15.Nxd4 Nd6 

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16.Rac1N [16.Rfc1 ] 

16...Rd8 17.f4 Kf8 18.Kf2 Bg4 19.h3 Bd7 20.e4 [20.Rc7 Ke8 21.Rfc1 Rac8 22.b3 f6 23.g4] 

20...Rac8 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 22.Rd1 Ke8 23.e5 Nf5 Hoping for ...Nxd4. 

24.Nb3 Bc6 

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Strongly threatening ...Bxg2. 

25.Rc1 Kd7 26.Nc5+ Ke8 27.Nd3 Kd7 28.g4ƒ White is more active. 

28...Nd4 29.Rc4 Ne6 30.f5 gxf5 31.gxf5 Ng7 32.Bxc6+ bxc6± Endgame KRN-KRN 

33.Nc5+ Kc7 34.Rh4 h5 35.f6 exf6 36.exf6 Ne8 37.Rxh5 Nxf6 38.Rf5 Nd5 39.Rxf7+ Kd6 40.Ne4+ Ke5 41.Nd2 a5 42.Nc4+ Ke6 43.Rh7 Rb8 44.Ke2 Kf5 45.Rh6 Nf6 With the idea ...Kg5. 

46.h4 a4 47.Kd3 c5 [Better is 47...Rd8+ 48.Kc2 Rd4] 

48.Ne3+ Ke5 49.h5 [White should play 49.Rg6± ] 

49...Rd8+² 50.Kc4 Ne4 [50...Rd2²] 

51.Kb5 [51.Ra6±] 

51...Kd4? 

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[51...a3!² 52.bxa3 Rd3] 

52.Nc4!+- a3 53.Nxa3 Nd6+ 54.Kc6 Nf7 55.Nb5+  1–0

Giri,Anish (2752) - Hou,Yifan (2680)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (1), 13.01.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 Nc6 C42: Petroff Defence: 3 Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves 

8.Bd3 Be6 [8...Bf6 9.Qe2 0–0 10.0–0–0 Re8 11.h4 Rb8 12.Kb1 b5 13.Ng5 h6 14.Qh5 Ne5 1–0 (28) Amin,B (2689)-Yu,Y (2751) Riadh 2017] 

9.Qe2 Bf6 White has an edge. 

10.0–0–0 Qe7 11.Kb1N [11.a3 a6 12.Kb1 0–0 13.h4 Ne5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.g4 Rfe8 1–0 (26) Brenc,T (2075)-Mravic,F (1810) Rijeka 2009] 

11...a6 12.Rhe1 0–0–0 13.h3 Rhe8 14.g4 [Much weaker is 14.Bxh7 g6µ] 

14...h6 15.Nd2 Bg5 16.f4 Bh4 17.Bf2 Bxf2 18.Qxf2 Qf8 19.f5 Bd7! 20.f6 g6 21.Be4 Kb8 22.Nc4 Re6 23.Bxc6 Rxe1 24.Rxe1 Bxc6 25.Na5 Re8 26.Nxc6+ bxc6= Endgame KQR-KQR 

27.Qg3 Qh8 28.Re7 Rxe7 29.fxe7 KQ-KQ 29...Qe8 30.Qe3 Kc8! 31.h4 Kd7 32.Qxh6 Qxe7 33.b3 Qe4 34.g5 Qe5 35.Qf8 Qd5 [35...Qe8 is interesting. 36.Qg7 c5 37.Qf6 Kc6 38.Kb2 Kb6] 

36.Kb2 c5 37.Qg8 Qf3 38.Qf8 Qd5 39.Qg7 Qf5 40.Qg8 Qf3 41.a4 Qf1 42.Qf8 

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Hoping for h5! 

42...Qf5 43.Qa8 Qf1 44.Qe4 Kd8 45.Qg4 d5 46.a5 Qe1 47.h5 gxh5 48.Qxh5 Qe6 49.Qh8+ Ke7 50.b4 cxb4 51.cxb4 Kd7 52.Qd4 Kc8 53.Qf6 Qxf6+! 54.gxf6 Threatens to win with Kc3. KP-KP 

54...Kd7 55.Kb3 Kc6? [55...Kd6=] 

56.c4 White mates. 

56...d4 57.Kc2 Kd6 

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58.Kd2! c6 59.Ke2 Kd7 60.Kd3 Kc7 61.Kxd4 Kd6 62.Kd3 Kc7 63.Ke4 Kd6  1–0