The 84th Tata Steel Chess Masters and Challengers Tournaments ended January 30th in wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, with rousing victories for wotld champion Magnus Carlsen And India’s Arjun Erigaisi who both won their respective divisions with a round to spare.
Carlsen took the Masters Section 1½ points away from Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Ricard Rapport who finished in shared second, although Mamedyarov took the silver on better tiebreaks. Erigaisi won the Challengers Section with an incredible 10½ points – 2 points away from Thai Dai Van Nguyen and Jonas Buhl Bjerre, who both wound up with 8½ points, although Nguyen got the silver with a better quotient. The win also gave Erigaisi a ticket to play in the Masters Section in next year’s Tata Steel.
The final standings (Masters): 1. Carlsen, 9½; 2-3. Mamedyarov, Rapport, 8; 4. Giri, 7½; 5. Esipenko, 6½; 6-9. Karjakin, Vidit, Van Foreest, Caruana, 6; 10-11. Duda, Shankland, 5½; 12, Praggnanandhaa, 4½; 13. Grandelius, 4; 14. Dubov, 3½.
The final standings (Challengers): 1. Erigaisi, 10½; 2-3. Nguyen, Bjerre, 8½; 4-5. Jumabayev, L’Ami, 7½; 6-7. Van Foreest, Murzin, 7; 8. Warmerdam, 6½; 9. Ganguly, 6; 10. Dardha, 5½; 11-12. Maurizzi, Shuvalova, 4½; 13. Vogel, 4; 14. Zhu, 3½.
Maurizzi,Marc’A (2502)-Erigaisi,A (2632) [E21]
Wijk aan Zee (13.1) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.Rc1 h6 7.Bh4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 d5 9.cxd5 Bxc3+ 10.Rxc3 g5 11.Bg3 Qxd5 12.f3 e5 13.Nb3 Qxd1+ 14.Kxd1 e4 15.Nd2 Re8 16.Nxe4 Nxe4 17.fxe4 Nc6 18.e3 Rxe4 19.Bd3 Re8 20.Bb5 Rd8+ 21.Kc1 Nb4 22.Bc4 Bf5 23.Rf1 Be6 24.Bxe6 fxe6 25.Kb1 Rf8 26.Rfc1 Nc6 27.Rb3 Rf7 28.Rd1 Rd8 29.Rxd8+ Nxd8 30.a3 Kf8 31.Kc2 Nc6 32.Kd2 Kg7 33.Ke2 Kg6 34.Rd3 h5 35.Rd6 h4 36.Be1 Kf6 37.h3 Ke7 38.Rd1 e5 39.b4 Ke6 40.b5 Ne7 41.Rd8 Nd5 42.Ra8 b6 43.Bd2 Nf6 44.a4 Ne4 45.Be1 Kd5 46.Rc8 Ke6 47.Rc6+ Kd5 48.Rc8 Ng3+ 49.Kd3 e4+ 50.Kc3 Nf1 51.Rg8 Rc7+ 52.Kb3 Nxe3 53.Rxg5+ Kd4 54.a5 bxa5 55.g3 hxg3 56.Rxg3 Nd5 57.Bxa5 Rc5 58.Ka4 e3 59.Rg7 Nb6+ 60.Kb4 Nd5+ 61.Ka4 e2 62.Rxa7 Rc3 0-1
Praggnanandhaa,R (2612)-Esipenko,A (2714) [E29]
Wijk aan Zee (13.3) 2022
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Ne2 b6 9.e4 Ne8 10.0-0 Ba6 11.f4 f5 12.exf5 exf5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Be3 d6 15.Ng3 Ne7 16.Qf3 Nc7 17.Rab1 Qd7 18.Rfe1 g6 19.Bf2 Nc8 20.Nf1 Nb6 21.Ne3 Rae8 22.Bh4 Qg7 23.Rbc1 Re6 24.a4 Nxa4 25.Nd5 Bb7 26.Rxe6 Nxe6 27.Re1 Qd7 28.Qg3 Rf7 29.Nf6+ Rxf6 30.Bxf6 Kf7 31.Qh4 h5 32.Bg5 Qc6 33.Qh3 Nxg5 34.fxg5 Bc8 35.Qe3 Qd7 36.Qe2 Qd8 37.Qa2 Bd7 38.Bc2 Nb6 39.Qxa7 Nc8 40.Qb7 Ne7 41.h4 Be6 42.Ra1 Qc8 43.Qxc8 Nxc8 44.Bb3 Ke7 45.Ra6 Kd8 46.Kf2 Kc7 47.Ra1 Bf7 48.Ke3 Be6 49.Kf4 Kd8 50.Ra8 Kc7 51.Ra2 Bf7 52.Ra1 Kd8 53.Ke3 Be6 54.g3 Kc7 55.Kf4 Bf7 56.Ba4 Nb6 57.Bb5 Nc8 58.Ke3 Be6 59.Be8 1-0
Karjakin,S (2743)-Vidit,SG (2727) [C47]
Wijk aan Zee (13.4) 2022
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.Bd2 0-0 9.0-0 Bxc3 10.Bxc3 dxe4 11.Bxf6 Qxf6 12.Bxe4 Qxb2 13.Bxc6 Rb8 14.Rb1 Qxb1 15.Qxb1 Rxb1 16.Rxb1 Rd8 17.Bf3 Kf8 18.Rb8 Re8 19.h4 Ba6 20.Rb3 Re5 21.Rc3 Re7 22.Ra3 Re6 23.Bd5 Rb6 24.Bb3 c5 25.Ra4 g6 26.f3 Rd6 27.c4 Ke7 28.Ra5 Kd8 29.Rxc5 Bc8 30.Kf2 Rd2+ 31.Kg3 h6 32.h5 Rd6 33.hxg6 fxg6 34.Kf4 g5+ 35.Ke5 Re6+ 36.Kd4 Re2 37.g4 Rd2+ 38.Ke3 Rd6 39.Ra5 Re6+ 40.Kd4 Rf6 41.Bd1 a6 42.Be2 Rf4 43.Ke3 Bb7 44.Rf5 Rf5 45.gxf5 Ke7 46.c5 Kf6 47.Bd3 Ke5 48.Be4 Bc8 49.c6 h5 50.c7 a5 51.a4 Kf6 52.Kf2 h4 53.Kg2 Ke5 54.Kh2 Kf6 55.Bd3 Ke5 56.Bf1 Kf6 57.Bh3 Bd7 58.Bg4 Bc8 59.Kg2 Bd7 60.Kf2 Bc8 61.Ke3 Bd7 62.Kd4 Bc8 63.Kc5 Kf7 64.Kb6 1-0
Van Foreest,J (2702)-Shankland,S (2708) [D02]
Wijk aan Zee (13.5) 2022
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 c5 5.Be2 Nc6 6.0-0 cxd4 7.exd4 Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.c3 0-0 10.Re1 e5 11.dxe5 Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Qxe5 13.Bf3 Ne4 14.Na3 Bf5 15.Nc2 Rfe8 16.Qd4 Qxd4 17.Nxd4 Bd7 18.c4 Kf8 19.h4 Rac8 20.cxd5 Nd6 21.Rxe8+ Bxe8 22.Rd1 Bd7 23.Kh2 Ke7 24.g4 h6 25.h5 Kf6 26.Kg3 Rc4 27.Kf4 Rc5 28.Rd2 g5+ 29.hxg6 fxg6 30.Rd1 Ra5 31.a3 Nc4 32.Nb3 Rb5 33.Nd2 g5+ 34.Kg3 Nxd2 35.Rxd2 Rb3 36.Kg2 Ke5 37.Re2+ Kf6 38.Rc2 Ke5 39.Rc7 Kd6 40.Rc1 Rb6 41.b4 Ke5 42.Rc7 Kd6 43.Rc3 a5 44.bxa5 Rb5 45.Rc1 Rxa5 46.Rh1 Rxa3 47.Rxh6+ Kc5 48.Rh7 Kd6 49.Rh6+ Kc5 50.Rh7 Kd6 51.Rg7 b5 52.Rxg5 b4 53.Rg8 Ra5 54.g5 b3 55.g6 b2 56.Rb8 Rb5 57.Rxb5 Bxb5 58.g7 b1Q 59.g8Q Qf1+ 60.Kg3 Qd3 61.Qe6+ Kc7 62.Qe5+ Kd7 63.Qe3 Qb1 64.Qe6+ Kd8 65.d6 Qh7 66.Qf6+ Kd7 67.Bg4+ Ke8 68.Qe5+ Kd8 69.Qg5+ 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Bf2!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Qxa5/a4 2.Qxd3#; 1…Qb6/c4 2.N(x)c4#; 1…Qd5 2.Qb4#; 1…Qa6/c6 2.Nxb3#; 1…bxc2 2.Rxc2#; 1…Ne3/g3/h2 2.B(x)e3#.
