In pic Carlsen vs Duda watched by Judit Polgar, Arkady Dvorkovich and Emil Sutovsky. | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Chess.com.
*PeterDoggers Jan 26, 2019, 4:46 PM | c 19 | Chess Event Coverage*
Magnus Carlsen goes into the final round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament with a half-point lead over his final round opponent Anish Giri . The Dutchman needs to win, and it’s already clear that there won’t be a playoff this year. We’re in the middle of the final weekend of the 81st Tata Steel Chess tournament, and that’s usually the weekend when the tournament receives a number of special guests. This time, the list included GMs Ken Rogoff and Judit Polgar and also FIDE’s Director General Emil Sutovsky and even President Arkady Dvorkovich, who arrived on Friday.
These distinguished chess people and other chess fans saw Carlsen taking the sole lead today thanks to another successful endgame grind, this time against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The world champ was expected to win much faster when his opponent erred straight out of the opening. “I don’t know if it was winning but it was certainly considerably better,” said Carlsen about that moment. “I don’t know if he fell for a trap or what he did, but I think after …h6 his position is, well, what happens is worse and then it’s very difficult for him.” So why didn’t he win quicker? “I think I played a bit inaccurately early on. Then I sort of got back on track but it was still very difficult to win and I think practically he had very decent drawing chances.”
Giri dropped half a point behind, and that could have been a full point. He was under serious pressure against Teimour Radjabov , even in the final position. “I thought I was completely lost,” Giri admitted. “I played badly for sure. What I did was too adventurous and not good. I was very fortunate.“
With Giri half a point behind Carlsen, the runner-up is in a must-win situation. Or so it seems! In his interview, Giri pulled a face and remarked: “You assume I want to win the tournament or something? I am going to defend with the white pieces and see what happens.” Carlsen said: “I’m a bit sad that last year’s playoff won’t be repeated but apart from that I’m happy. It’s always better to be ahead.” It’s going to be a fight tomorrow only between these players (the same as last year!) because Ian Nepomniachtchi lost, and terribly, we may add. The Russian player experimented a bit in the opening, which backfired completely against Sam Shankland , who thus recovered nicely from yesterday’s “hallucination” against Giri.
Vladimir Kramnik won his second straight game (“It seems I would like another 13 rounds!” he said), vs Vladimir Fedoseev. The two are now sharing last place with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Jorden van Foreest . “I don’t know why but I think today I played quite decently. I was not expecting this but it happened,” said Kramnik.
Vidit Gujrathi was close to scoring his third win in a row, but this time he only got a draw, vs Richard Rapport. “I got into time pressure and I messed up the win. It was really very complex. He did well to complicate the matters,” the young Indian player said.
Tata Steel Chess Masters | Standings # Fed Name Rating TPR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Score SB 1 Carlsen 2835 2902 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 8.5 / 12 47 2 Giri 2783 2869 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 8.0 / 12 42.75 3 Nepomniachtchi 2763 2809 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 7.0 / 12 42.25 4 Ding Liren 2813 2806 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 7.0 / 12 41 5 Anand 2773 2813 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 7.0 / 12 37.75 6 Vidit 2695 2785 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 6.5 / 12 35.5 7 Radjabov 2757 2752 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 6.0 / 12 36.5 8 Shankland 2725 2724 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 5.5 / 12 33 9 Rapport 2731 2738 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 5.5 / 12 31.25 10 Duda 2738 2692 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 5.0 / 12 27.25 11 Fedoseev 2724 2663 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 0 0 4.5 / 12 28.75 12 Mamedyarov 2817 2663 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4.5 / 12 26.5 13 J. van Foreest 2612 2680 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 4.5 / 12 25.75 14 Kramnik 2777 2666 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 4.5 / 12 24.75
[Event “Tata Steel Chess Masters 2019”] [Site “?”] [Date “2019.01.26”] [Round “12.1”] [White “Carlsen, Magnus”] [Black “Duda, Jan-Krzysztof”] [Result “1-0”] [TimeControl “5400+30”] [WhiteElo “2835”] [BlackElo “2738”] [ECO “D37”] [WhiteFed “NOR”] [BlackFed “POL”] [FCGameId “-103316270”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4 Bb4 6. Bxc4 Nxe4 7. O-O Nf6 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9. Ne5 Rb8 10. Rd1 O-O 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Qxa7 Bd7 13. Qa4 c5 14. Qc2 cxd4 15. Rxd4 Bc5 16. Rh4 h6 17. Bxh6 gxh6 18. Qd2 Nh7 19. Qxh6 Bxf2+ 20. Kxf2 Qf6+ 21. Qxf6 Rxb2+ 22. Kg1 Nxf6 23. Rf1 Kg7 24. Rf3 Rg8 25. Rhf4 Bc6 26. Rxf6 Bxf3 27. Rxf3 Rd8 28. Rf2 Rb4 29. Bb5 Ra8 30. a4 c6 31. Be2 Ra5 32. Rf3 f5 33. Kf2 Rc5 34. Bd1 e5 35. Ne2 Kf6 36. Ra3 Rb1 37. Ke1 e4 38. g3 Ke5 39. h4 Ra5 40. h5 c5 41. Kd2 c4 42. Kc2 Rb8 43. Kc3 Rb1 44. Kc2 Rb8 45. Kc1 Rb6 46. Bc2 Rd6 47. Nf4 Rc5 48. Re3 Kd4 49. Re1 Rh6 50. Kd2 Re5 51. Ne2+ Kc5 52. Rh1 Re8 53. Kc3 Rg8 54. Rb1 Rxh5 55. Bxe4 Re8 56. Nf4 Rg5 57. Rb5+ Kd6 58. Bxf5 Rxg3+ 59. Kd4 Rg1 60. Rb6+ Ke7 61. Ng6+ Kf7 62. Ne5+ Kg8 63. Nxc4 Ra8 64. a5 Ra1 65. Rb5 Ra7 66. Be4 Rc7 67. Rf5 Kg7 68. Bc2 Rc1 69. Kc3 Rf7 70. Rxf7+ Kxf7 71. Na3 1-0
