TATA STEEL MASTERS 2018 WIJK AAN ZEE – ROUND 9

Anish Giri is supposed to be the player with the highest draw percentage in top level Grandmaster chess. It is not for nothing that fellow Grandmasters have given him the name of Mr 50%.

So, what the hell is happening in Wijk Aan Zee this year?  What has Giri been putting in his coffee to suddenly transform into this monster of a player destroying all those across the board from him? I want some of that for my next tournament!

So, in summary, round 9 consisted of six draws and Giri’s win against Matlakov with the Black pieces.

Tomorrow Giri has White against Karjakin and will likely consolidate with a trademark draw. Meanwhile, Carlsen with White against So and Mamedyarov with Black against Svidler will be doing their best to close the gap.

The pairings for round 9 were as follows, with tournament points in brackets:

Gawain Jones 2640 (3.5) vs Yifan Hou 2680 (1)

Viswanathan Anand 2767 (4.5) vs Magnus Carlsen 2834 (5.5)

Wesley So 2792 (5) vs Peter Svidler 2768 (4)

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2804 (5.5) vs Vladamir Kramnik 2787 (5)

Maxim Matlakov (4) vs Anish Giri 2752 (5.5)

Sergey Karjakin 2753 (4.5) vs Yi Wei 2743 (3)

Fabiano Caruana 2811 (3) vs Baskaran Adhiban 2655 (2)        

The standings at the end of Round 9:

Anish Giri 2752 (6.5)

Magnus Carlsen 2834 (6)

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2804 (6)

Vladamir Kramnik 2787 (5.5)

Wesley So 2792 (5.5)

Viswanathan Anand 2767 (5)

Sergey Karjakin 2753 (5)

Peter Svidler 2768 (4.5)

Gawain Jones 2640 (4)

Maxim Matlakov (4)

Yi Wei 2743 (3.5)

Fabiano Caruana 2811 (3.5)

Baskaran Adhiban 2655 (2.5)

Yifan Hou 2680 (1.5)

Here are the decisive games from round 9:

Matlakov,Maxim (2718) - Giri,Anish (2752)

80th Tata Steel Masters 2018 Wijk aan Zee (9), 23.01.2018

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 c6 4.0–0 Nd7 5.h3 Bh5 6.d4 A07: Réti Opening: New York and Capablanca Systems 

6...e6 7.c4 Be7 8.Nc3 The position is equal. 

8...dxc4 9.b3 cxb3 10.Qxb3 Qb6N [10...Ngf6 11.Qxb7 0–0 12.Bf4 Qa5 1/2–1/2 (41) Eljanov,P (2751)-So,W (2822) Shamkir 2017] 

11.Qa4 Ngf6 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.Bf4 Qc8 14.Rfc1 [¹14.Qb3] 

14...0–0 15.Qb3 Bg6 16.Rb2 Rd8 17.a4 a5 18.Nd2 Nh5 19.Be3 Nhf6 20.Nc4 Nd5 [Black should try 20...Ra7= ] 

21.Qxb7² Bb4 22.Qxc8 Raxc8 [22...Rdxc8² 23.Na2 c5] 

23.Na2!± Nxe3 24.fxe3 c5 25.Nd6 [25.Rd1!±] 

25...Ba3ƒ Black has some pressure. 

26.Nxc8 Bxb2 27.Ne7+ Kf8 28.Nxg6+ hxg6 29.Rc2 Ba3! 30.Bc6 cxd4 31.exd4 Rc8 32.e3 Ke7 33.Kf1 Bd6 34.g4 Nb6 35.Rc1? [35.Kf2=] 

35...Ba3!–+ 36.Rc3 Bb4 37.Nxb4? [37.Rc2µ keeps fighting.] 

37...axb4 Black is winning. 

38.Rc5 b3 39.a5 Nd7  0–1