It only took an error in the late opening phase for top seed Magnus Carlsen to immediately destroy Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the battle of co-leaders in Round 9 of the ongoing 84th Tata Steel Chess Tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands.
The crushing win, crafted in just 27 moves of a sharp Catalan, enabled Carlsen to regain the solo lead of the Category 20 (average Elo: 2737) event. The loss dropped Mamedyarov to a share of 3rd to 4th places with Santosh Gujrathi Vidit. Anish Giri, who drubbed Sam Shankland in 34 moves of a Barcza System, grabbed 2nd place. The other decisive games of the round were fashioned by Sergey Karjakin, who prevailed over Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa after 53 moves of a wild and wooly Queen’s Pawn Game; and, Fabiano Caruana who kept his flickering chances alive by outplaying Nils Grandelius in 44 moves from the black side of a French Advance.
The rest of the Round 9 matches were drawn. Richard Rapport vs Vidit, Jorden Van Foreest vs Daniil Dubov, and Andrey Esipenko vs Jan-Krzysztof Duda all turned out point-splitters.
The Round 10 matches will be Shankland vs Mamedyarov, Karjakin vs Carlsen, Caruana vs Rapport, Vidit vs Praggnanandhaa, Dubov vs Grandelius, Esipenko vs Van Foreest, and Giri vs Duda.
The standings after Round 9: 1. Carlsen, 6½; 2. Giri, 6; 3-4. Mamedyarov, Vidit, 5½; 5-7. Karjakin, Caruana, Rapport, 5; 8-9. Esipenko, Van Foreest, 4½; 10. Duda, 4; 11-12. Dubov, Shankland, 3½; 13. Praggnanandhaa, 2½; 14. Grandelius, 2.
Carlsen,M (2865)-Mamedyarov,S (2767) [E04]
Wijk aan Zee (9.1) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.0-0 0-0 8.e3 Ra6 9.Qc2 b5 10.a4 c6 11.Nc3 Rb6 12.e4 Be7 13.e5 Nd5 14.axb5 cxb5 15.Nxd5 exd5 16.Bxa5 Nc6 17.Bxb6 Qxb6 18.Ra8 h6 19.Rfa1 Be6 20.Qd1 b4 21.b3 c3 22.R8a6 Qc7 23.Ne1 f6 24.Nd3 fxe5 25.Nxe5 Nxe5 26.Rxe6 c2 27.Qe1 1-0
Giri,A (2772)-Shankland,S (2708) [A07]
Wijk aan Zee (9.3) 2022
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 e5 5.d3 Nc6 6.e4 dxe4 7.dxe4 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bg4 9.c3 Nf6 10.Nbd2 0-0-0 11.Re1 Bh6 12.Nc4 Bxc1 13.Raxc1 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Ne8 15.Rcd1 Nd6 16.Bg4+ Kb8 17.Nxd6 Rxd6 18.Rxd6 cxd6 19.Re3 Kc7 20.Rf3 Nd8 21.h4 d5 22.exd5 f5 23.Bh3 Kd6 24.c4 b6 25.g4 Nf7 26.gxf5 g5 27.Ra3 gxh4 28.Rxa7 Ng5 29.Kg2 Rc8 30.b3 b5 31.Ra6+ Kd7 32.f6+ Nxh3 33.Kxh3 bxc4 34.Rc6 1-0
Praggnanandhaa,R (2612)-Karjakin,S (2743) [D02]
Wijk aan Zee (9.6) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Nh5 6.dxc5 Nxf4 7.exf4 g6 8.c3 Bg7 9.Bb5 Qc7 10.Nb3 a6 11.Bxc6+ bxc6 12.Qd2 0-0 13.h4 Bg4 14.h5 a5 15.Nbd4 Bxh5 16.Rxh5 gxh5 17.Qe3 a4 18.0-0-0 e6 19.Rh1 Rfb8 20.Ne5 Qb7 21.Nd3 Qa6 22.a3 Qc4 23.Rxh5 Bxd4 24.Qxd4 Qxd4 25.cxd4 f6 26.Kc2 Rb3 27.g4 Rab8 28.Rh3 Kg7 29.Re3 Kf7 30.Rh3 Kg6 31.Re3 Kf7 32.Rh3 Kg6 33.Re3 h5 34.gxh5+ Kf5 35.Nb4 Rxe3 36.fxe3 Ke4 37.Nxc6 Rc8 38.Na7 Ra8 39.Nb5 Kxe3 40.c6 e5 41.dxe5 Rc8 42.Kd1 Rxc6 43.Nd6 fxe5 44.fxe5 Kd3 45.Ke1 Rc7 46.Kf2 Re7 47.Kg3 Rxe5 48.Kg4 Re6 49.Nf5 Ke4 50.Ng3+ Ke5 51.Kg5 Re8 52.h6 Rg8+ 53.Kh4 Rg6 0-1
Grandelius,N (2672)-Caruana,F (2792) [C02]
Wijk aan Zee (9.7) 2022
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.0-0 Ng6 8.Be3 Be7 9.Nbd2 0-0 10.Re1 a5 11.a3 a4 12.Bd3 cxd4 13.cxd4 h6 14.Qe2 b5 15.g3 Qb6 16.h4 Rfc8 17.Nf1 b4 18.N1h2 Rab8 19.h5 Nf8 20.Ng4 bxa3 21.bxa3 Qb2 22.Nd2 Kh8 23.Qf3 Be8 24.Nf6 Nxd4 25.Qg4 Nf5 26.Nxe8 Rxe8 27.Bxf5 exf5 28.Qxf5 d4 29.Bf4 Ne6 30.Ne4 Nxf4 31.Qxf4 d3 32.Rad1 Bxa3 33.Nd6 Bxd6 34.exd6 Rxe1+ 35.Rxe1 Qc3 36.Rd1 Qc2 37.Qd2 a3 38.d7 a2 39.Qe1 Qe2 40.Kg2 Kh7 41.Qxe2 dxe2 42.Ra1 Rd8 43.Kf3 Rxd7 44.Kxe2 Ra7 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qxe5!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rd7 2.Bg5#; 1…Qf6/d6 2.Bf4#; 1…Qxe4 2.Nxe4#.
