In a show of steady play, World Champion Magnus Carlsen moved ahead to the solo leadership of the 84th Tata Steel Chess Tournament now ongoing at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, after hammering out wins in Rounds 6 and 7 of the Category 20 (average Elo: 2737) event.
Carlsen joined the leaderboard by beating Richard Rapport in Round 6, and then broke out of a three-way tie for the lead by beating Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in Round 7. He now has 5 points crossing the tournament’s halfway mark. Shakhriyar Mamedyaov is not far behind, though. The Azeri GM is just half–a-point behind with 4½ points. The other Round 7 victors are Jorden Van Foreest who smacked erswhile solo leader Santoah Gujarathi Vidit in 43 moves of a Classical Nimzo-Indian; and Fabiano Caruana who busted Jan-Krzysztof Duda in 53 moves of a Queen Pawn Opening. The story of the round, however, belonged to Daniil Dubov who was forfeited by the organzers for refusing to wear a mask in his match with Anish Giri. Dubov was told to wear a mask after a member of his team tested positive for Covid-19 which he refused to do.
The standings after Round 7: 1. Carlsen, 5; 2. Mamedyarov, 4½; 3; 3-6. Esipenko, Giri, Vidit, Rapport, 4; 7-9. Caruana, Karjakin, Van Foreest, 3½; 10-11. Duda, Shankland, 3; 12-13. Dubov, Praggnanandhaa, 2½; 14. Grandelius, 2.
Carlsen,M (2865)-Rapport,R (2763) [E04]
Wijk aan Zee (6.1) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.0-0 Rb8 7.Be3 Bd6 8.Qc1 b5 9.b3 Bb7 10.bxc4 bxc4 11.Qxc4 Nb4 12.a3 Nbd5 13.Bg5 0-0 14.Nbd2 h6 15.Bxf6 Nxf6 16.Rfc1 Nd7 17.Qa4 c5 18.Qxa7 Bxf3 19.Bxf3 cxd4 20.Ra2 Qe7 21.a4 Rfd8 22.Qxd4 Rb4 23.Qc3 Nb6 24.a5 Qa7 25.Qe3 Be7 26.Rcc2 Bg5 27.Qc5 Be7 28.axb6 Qxa2 29.Qxe7 Qxc2 30.Qxd8+ Kh7 31.b7 1-0
Caruana,F (2792)-Giri,A (2772) [A06]
Wijk aan Zee (6.5) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.b3 Bf5 3.Bb2 e6 4.g3 h6 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.0-0 Be7 7.d3 0-0 8.Nbd2 a5 9.a3 c6 10.Re1 Bh7 11.e4 Nbd7 12.Qe2 Qb6 13.a4 Rfc8 14.Rac1 Bc5 15.e5 Ne8 16.Nf1 Qd8 17.Ne3 Nc7 18.Kh1 b5 19.Nd4 bxa4 20.bxa4 Nb6 21.Ra1 Na6 22.Nb3 Be7 23.f4 Qd7 24.f5 exf5 25.Qf3 Nc5 26.Nxc5 Bxc5 27.d4 Be7 28.Bh3 g6 29.g4 f4 30.g5 Qa7 31.Bxc8 fxe3 32.e6 Bxg5 33.Bd7 fxe6 34.Bxe6+ Kh8 35.Ba3 Nc4 36.Bc5 Qg7 37.Qg4 Bf6 38.Rab1 g5 39.Bf5 Re8 40.Rb6 Nxb6 41.Bxb6 Bxf5 42.Qxf5 Bxd4 43.Bxa5 Bc3 44.Bxc3 Qxc3 45.Kg2 Qd2+ 46.Kf1 Kg7 47.Qd7+ Kf6 48.Qd6+ Kf5 49.Qd7+ Re6 50.Qh7+ Kg4 51.Qf7 Re4 0-1
Karjakin,S (2743)-Van Foreest,J (2702) [C50]
Wijk aan Zee (6.6) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 a5 7.Re1 Ba7 8.Na3 h6 9.Nb5 Bb8 10.d4 0-0 11.h3 Re8 12.Bd3 Ne7 13.c4 Ng6 14.Be3 c6 15.Nc3 Ba7 16.Qd2 Nh5 17.Bf1 Qf6 18.d5 Bxe3 19.Qxe3 c5 20.g3 a4 21.Nd2 Qg5 22.Nb5 Rd8 23.Qxg5 hxg5 24.b4 b6 25.Rab1 Kf8 26.Re3 Ke7 27.Nc7 Ra7 28.Nb5 Ra8 29.Ra3 Bd7 30.Nc3 Ra7 31.b5 Rda8 32.Be2 Nf6 33.Kg2 Kd8 34.Rh1 Kc7 35.Bd1 Ng8 36.Ra4 Ra4 37.Ba4 Nh6 38.Bd1 Ra3 39.Ndb1 Ra8 40.a4 f6 41.Nd2 Ng8 42.Nf1 N8e7 43.Ne3 Rh8 44.Bg4 Bg4 45.Ng4 Ra8 46.Ne3 Rh8 47.Ra1 Ra8 48.Nb1 Nf8 49.Nd2 Nd7 50.Nb3 Rh8 51.a5 ba5 52.Ra5 Nc8 53.Ra6 Ndb6 54.Na5 Rf8 55.Nf5 Rf7 56.h4 gh4 57.Nh4 Rf8 58.Kh3 Rh8 59.Kg2 Rh7 60.Ng6 Nd7 61.Nc6 Ndb6 62.Nf8 Rh8 63.Ne6 Kd7 64.Na7 Nc4 65.Rc6 1-0
Praggnanandhaa,R (2612)-Carlsen,M (2865) [D27]
Wijk aan Zee (7.1) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 dxc4 4.e3 a6 5.Bxc4 Nf6 6.0-0 c5 7.b3 b6 8.Ba3 Nbd7 9.d5 exd5 10.Bxd5 Rb8 11.Bb2 Be7 12.Nc3 0-0 13.Qc2 b5 14.Rfd1 Qc7 15.a4 h6 16.axb5 axb5 17.Qe2 Qb6 18.e4 Re8 19.Qd2 Bf8 20.Qf4 b4 21.Na4 Nxd5 22.Rxd5 Qe6 23.Rad1 Ra8 24.Qc1 Qxe4 25.h3 Ra7 26.Qd2 Qg6 27.Nh4 Qe6 28.Nf5 c4 29.Qd4 Nf6 30.Nb6 c3 31.Nxc8 Qxd5 32.Qxd5 Nxd5 33.Nxa7 cxb2 34.Rb1 Re2 0-1
Van Foreest,J (2702)-Vidit,SG (2727) [E32]
Wijk aan Zee (7.3) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.Nf3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 b6 9.Bg5 Bb7 10.Ne5 Qd6 11.e3 c5 12.Bf4 Qe7 13.dxc5 Rc8 14.Be2 Rxc5 15.Qd4 Nd5 16.Bg3 f6 17.Nc4 Ba6 18.b3 Nc6 19.Qb2 e5 20.Rd1 Na5 21.0-0 Nxc4 22.bxc4 Nc7 23.Qb3 Qe6 24.f4 exf4 25.Rxf4 Re8 26.Bf2 Qf7 27.Rfd4 Bc8 28.Bg3 Ne6 29.Rd5 Rxd5 30.cxd5 Nc5 31.Qc3 Ne4 32.Qd4 Bd7 33.Bf4 g5 34.Bc7 Kg7 35.Rf1 Qe7 36.Bh5 Rc8 37.d6 Qe6 38.Bf3 Nc5 39.Bd5 Qe5 40.Qxe5 fxe5 41.Rf7+ Kg6 42.Rxd7 Nxd7 43.Be6 1-0
Duda,J-K (2760)-Caruana,F (2792) [D02]
Wijk aan Zee (7.5) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 g6 4.e3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nbd2 c5 7.c3 b6 8.Ne5 Nfd7 9.h4 Nxe5 10.Bxe5 Nc6 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.h5 Qd6 13.Qa4 cxd4 14.exd4 Bf5 15.Nf1 g5 16.Ne3 Bd7 17.h6+ Kh8 18.Qb3 e6 19.Rd1 Rac8 20.Qc2 f5 21.c4 Ne7 22.Qc3 Ng6 23.b3 Qe7 24.g3 Bc6 25.Rh5 Qf6 26.Rd2 Ne7 27.Nc2 f4 28.gxf4 gxf4 29.Kd1 Be8 30.Rh3 Bg6 31.Ne1 Bf5 32.Rh1 dxc4 33.bxc4 b5 34.c5 Nd5 35.Qb2 b4 36.Bd3 a5 37.Kc1 Nc3 38.Nf3 Rfd8 39.Qc2 Bxd3 40.Rxd3 Rd5 41.Ne5 Nb5 42.Rhd1 Nxd4 43.Rxd4 Rcxc5 44.Rxd5 Rxc2+ 45.Kxc2 exd5 46.Rxd5 Kg8 47.Rxa5 Qf5+ 48.Kb3 Qb1+ 49.Kc4 Qe4+ 50.Kb3 f3 51.Nc4 Qb1+ 52.Ka4 Qxa2+ 53.Kb5 b3 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxc4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rc5/xb5/d4/d3/d2/d1 2.Re6#; 1…Rxd6 2.Nxg7#; 1…Qa4/b1 2.Qxd5#; 1…Qxc4 2.Nxc4#.
