TATA STEEL MASTERS 2018 WIJK AAN ZEE – ROUND 4

The top end of the leader board had a peaceful day with draws all round leaving matters unchanged.

The memo did not apparently reach Wei Yi and Maxime Matlakov who each scored their first win of the tournament. Then we also had Vladimir Kramnik dispatch compatriot Peter Svidler to move back up into the group just a half point off the lead.

In round 5 we will have to see if any of the players become unsettled by the venue change when the tournament moves from Wijk Aan Zee to Hilversum for a single round before the first rest day.

The pairings for round 4 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:

Yifan Hou 2680 (0.5) vs Maxim Matlakov (1)

Sergey Karjakin 2753 (1.5) vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2804 (2)

Fabiano Caruana 2811 (1) vs Wesley So 2792 (1.5)

Baskaran Adhiban 2655 (0.5) vs Viswanathan Anand 2767 (2.5)

Yi Wei 2743 (1) vs Gawain Jones 2640 (2)

Anish Giri 2752 (2.5) vs Magnus Carlsen 2834 (2)

Vladamir Kramnik 2787 (1.5) vs Peter Svidler 2768 (1.5)   

Here are the three decisive games from round 3:

Kramnik,Vladimir (2787) - Svidler,Peter (2768)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (4), 16.01.2018

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 g6 4.0–0 Bg7 5.d4 0–0 6.c4 c6 7.Ne5 Be6 8.cxd5 D78: Fianchetto Grünfeld: 6 0–0 c6 

8...Bxd5 9.Nc3 Bxg2 10.Kxg2 The position is equal. 

10...Nbd7 [10...Na6 11.Nf3 c5 12.d5 b5 13.e4 b4 14.Ne2 c4 15.Qd4 Qb6 16.Qxc4 1–0 (33) Wen,Y (2611)-Xu,M (2305) Wuxi 2016] 

11.Qb3 Qb6 12.Rd1N [12.Qxb6 Nxb6 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Nf3 Rfd8 16.e3 1/2–1/2 (17) Denes,J (1912)-Znuderl,M Durham 2007] 

12...Qxb3 13.axb3 Rfc8 14.f4 c5 15.Be3 cxd4 16.Rxd4 Nxe5 17.fxe5 Ne8 18.Rd7 Rc7 [Black should play 18...Kf8² ] 

19.Rxa7± Rb8 20.Rd5 b6 [20...e6± 21.Rb5 Rcc8] 

21.Nb5!+- White is clearly better. 

21...Rxa7 22.Nxa7 Kf8 23.Rd7! Ra8 24.Bd4! [Not 24.Bxb6 Bxe5 25.b4 Nd6±]  1–0

Wei,Yi (2743) - Jones,Gawain C B (2640)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (4), 16.01.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0–0 6.Nf3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 Na6 9.Be2 Qe8 10.g4 E92: King's Indian: Classical: 6 Be2 e5: 7 dxe5, 7 Be3 and Petrosian System without 7...Nbd7 

10...Kh8 11.Nd2 Ng8 12.h4 f5 13.gxf5 gxf5 14.Bh5 Qd7 15.Qe2N [15.exf5 Qxf5 16.Nde4 Nc5 17.Qe2 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 0–1 (32) Solomon,K (2350)-Popovic,D (2553) Cappelle-la-Grande 2014] 

15...Nf6 16.Bf3 fxe4 17.Ndxe4 Nxe4 18.Nxe4 Nb4 19.Bg2 Qa4 [19...c6=] 

20.Nc3 Qc2 21.Be4 Qxe2+ 22.Kxe2 Bg4+ 23.f3 Bh5 24.Rag1ƒ White has some pressure. 

24...Rf7 25.Be3 Bf6? [25...Raf8±] 

26.Rg5 Bg6 27.Bxg6 hxg6 28.Rxg6 Nc2 29.Ne4 Be7 30.Ng5 Rf6 31.Rxf6 Bxf6 32.Ne6 Nxe3 [32...Kg8 was called for. 33.Nxc7 Rc8] 

33.Kxe3+- Endgame KRB-KRN 

33...Rg8 34.Ke4 c6 35.Kf5 White is clearly winning. 

35...Be7 36.Ng5 Re8 37.Ne4 Kg7 38.Ke6 Bf8+ 39.Kd7 Re7+ 40.Kxd6 Kf7 41.Rg1 cxd5 42.cxd5 Ke8 White must now prevent ...Rg7+. 

43.Nf6+ Kd8 44.Rg8 Re8+  45.Rxf8! Rxf8 46.Ke6 Rh8 47.h5 b5 48.d6  1–0

Hou,Yifan (2680) - Matlakov,Maxim (2718)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (4), 16.01.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.c3 d5 9.d4 exd4 10.e5 C89: Closed Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack 

10...Ne4 11.cxd4 Bf5 12.Nc3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Na5 [13...Qd7 14.Bg5 Ba3 15.Nh4 Be6 16.Bc2 g6 17.Bf6 Rfe8 1–0 (30) Mastrovasilis,D (2580)-Sargissian,G (2650) Minsk 2017] 

14.Bc2 Bxc2 15.Qxc2 Nc4 16.a4 Qd7 17.Bg5N [17.Ng5 Bxg5 18.Bxg5 Rfb8 19.f4 bxa4 20.f5 0–1 (44) Pym,T (2050)-Guthrie,D (2170) Coventry 2005] 

17...bxa4 18.Rxa4 a5 19.Rea1 Rfb8 20.R4a2 Bxg5 21.Nxg5 g6 22.h3 Rb6 23.Nf3 Rab8 24.Qc1 Kg7 25.Kh2 Qf5 26.Nd2 Threatening Nxc4. 

26...Nb2 [26...Qf4+³ 27.Kh1 Rb2 28.Rxb2 Nxb2] 

27.Nf3 [27.Nf1=] 

27...a4!µ 28.Rxa4? [28.Ne1µ] 

28...Nxa4–+ 29.Rxa4 Rb2 30.Qe3 Qe4 31.Qxe4 dxe4 Endgame KRR-KRN 

32.Ng5 Rxf2 33.Nxe4 Re2 34.Nf6 Rbb2 35.Kg3 Re3+ 36.Kf4 [¹36.Kh2] 

36...Rxc3 37.Ra8 Rxg2 38.Rg8+ Kh6 39.Rh8? [39.Ng4+ Kh5 40.Rg7] 

39...Rf2+ 40.Ke4 Rxf6 [¹40...g5 41.Ng4+ Kg7 42.Rxh7+ Kxh7 43.Nxf2 Kg6] 

41.exf6 KR-KR 

41...Kg5! [Resist 41...Rxh3 42.Rf8µ] 

42.Rxh7 Kxf6 43.Rh8 Kg5 [43...c5–+ has better winning chances. Hoping for ...Kg7. 44.Rh7 Rc4] 

44.h4+µ Kg4 White must now prevent ... f5+. 

45.d5 Rc4+ 46.Ke5? [46.Kd3³ Rc1 47.Kd4] 

46...f5–+ 47.h5 Re4+ 48.Kf6 gxh5 49.Rc8 [49.Rg8+–+ Kf4 50.Rg1] 

49...f4 Black mates. 

50.Rxc7 f3 51.Rg7+ Kf4 52.Rh7 f2 53.Rxh5 Kg3 54.Rg5+ Rg4  0–1