Magnus Carlsen missed a win over Vidit but will still clinch tournament victory on Saturday if he draws with Fabiano Caruana while Richard Rapport fails to beat Andrey Esipenko. Magnus will now get a forfeit win in the final round after Daniil Dubov tested positive, while Anish Giri’s challenge was ended by a brilliant win for Jorden van Foreest. Caruana goes into the showdown with Magnus in high spirits after a fine win over Praggnanandhaa, while in the Challengers Arjun Erigaisi needs a draw to seal a place in next year’s Masters.
Giri wasn't able to keep pace with Carlsen in Round 11 | photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit, official website
You can replay all the games from the Tata Steel Masters using the selector below.
And here’s the day’s live commentary from Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson, who were joined by none other than Daniil Dubov for a large part of the show.
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Daniil Dubov testing positive for COVID was the bombshell news on the eve of Round 11 of the Tata Steel Masters. The good news is that for now Daniil feels fine, and he went into detail about everything that’s happened to him in this year’s event on our live show — you can find a transcript of the first part of his appearance here.
You had to be fast to photograph some of the players | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
The direct impact of Dubov’s absence in Round 11 was that Richard Rapport joined Anish Giri earlier in the tournament in getting a forfeit point, which took him level with Magnus Carlsen in first place before a move was played. That wouldn’t be the day’s only quick game, with the next to be over a big surprise…
Jan-Krzysztof Duda is one of the most combative players in world chess, with Daniil Dubov saying he couldn’t remember him saying the world “draw”. It was never clarified what exactly had happened, but both Jan-Krzysztof and Sam Shankland were apologetic.
There was nothing apologetic about Mamedyarov-Karjakin, where two good friends slow-played a seemingly wild game where it was clear to the trained observer that the outcome was never going to be anything other than a draw. Jan had seen the future.
The topic of arranged draws is a controversial one in chess, and the same two players have been accused of match fixing in the past.
A second quick draw in a row for Sergey Karjakin kept him at +1 | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
They’re far from alone, however, and if it was a crime it was a victimless one. The draw meant that neither player was in realistic contention for first place, and as the money in Wijk is given up-front rather than for your final placing, no-one was harmed. The spectacular moves had provided food for thought, with both Daniil Dubov and Peter Svidler admitting they couldn’t stop thinking about the position!
That left only four real games, but none of them disappointed. Andrey Esipenko went for a piece sacrifice in a tricky position, with Peter noting that such moves almost never work.
He was right in the sense that after 16.Bxe4 f5 17.c4!? Nils Grandelius got a very promising position, but Andrey’s active defence ultimately proved enough to hold a draw, even if Nils might still have pressed a while in the final position.
Esipenko-Grandelius was a full-blooded battle | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
Vidit went so far as to jokingly explain his hair-raising escape against Magnus Carlsen as being down to wanting to make up for the non-games elsewhere.
I would not say survived, because there were two reasons. I could make an easier draw, but what’s the point in that? First of all, maybe players are making agreed draws, so you have to put on something for a show, so I was playing extra long on their behalf, and Magnus is also not playing on the last day, so he would miss playing, so I thought let’s make it more interesting!
Since Magnus new he was getting a full point for the final round game against Dubov, he had a chance to all but win the tournament with two rounds to spare, but it seemed mid-game as if his Bishop’s Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 had only given him a dead equal position. Things changed, however, on move 27.
The computer here suggests 27…a5, with the b6-pawn not hanging since 28.Rxb6?? would be met by 28…Nd5+, winning the rook.
Carlsen-Vidit was intense, but Magnus missed the chance to essentially wrap up the tournament with two days to spare | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
Vidit decided to exploit that resource immediately, however, with 27…Nd5+!? and after 28.Ke2 Re8 29.cxd5 Rxe4+ 30.Kd3 Rxa4 (30…Rf4! was an only move) 31.d6 Kf7 it turned out he’d overlooked a crucial detail.
32.Rxb6 Ke6 and the game would fizzle out into a draw, but here Magnus played 32.Re1! and was objectively winning. Magnus noted:
I was pretty sure he’d missed this Re1 idea. That was obviously a pleasant surprise.
Vidit confirmed the suspicion:
I was being over-generous, I must say. I could have made a much, much easier draw, but then I suddenly saw Re1 and then I thought, what will I say in the interview?
It would all turn, however, on move 36, when Magnus spent just over three of his 20 minutes on 36.d7, when it turns out 36.Re7+! was the only move to win.
Magnus was still struggling to see the difference afterwards, commenting:
It wasn’t very obvious but yeah, I guess that was the moment I should have taken more time to think, but it wasn’t easy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it a little bit.
After 36…Rc2+! real accuracy was still required from Vidit, but he handled the rest of the game perfectly, queened a pawn in unison with Magnus and left the World Champion as the one to make a draw.
“Today wasn’t great but yeah, obviously I got very lucky with circumstances, which were out of my control,” said Magnus, thinking both of the forfeit win he’ll now get in the last round and the fact that his closest pursuer, Anish Giri, lost to Jorden van Foreest in Round 11.
Magnus didn't exactly approve of the opening, but it was a dream result for his tournament chances | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
Jan noted that Jorden was taking risks.
5…b6 6.f3 was the Sämisch variation, and the fashionably late Magnus Carlsen wasn’t thrilled with how his World Championship second had begun the game.
I wasn’t very happy as somebody who’s competing for tournament victory. Before I’d made any of my moves he’d already played the Sämisch, but you’ve got to say he played a very good game as far as I could see, and it goes to show his top level is very high. He can play some awesome games and I’m happy for him.
Jorden talked about his choice himself.
Yeah, I’m very happy and pleased with the game. I wanted to go for a fight today after my loss two days ago, so I thought let’s give it a try, and I played a very risky line, but I thought it might give White good chances for a good fight as well.
The game reached a crucial turning point on move 15.
Here 15.Rxf6!? was already an option, but after 23 minutes Jorden played 15.Rb1, and only after 15…c5!? did he then pounce with 16.Rxf6!
Jorden explained why he’d delayed.
There were some concrete reasons. I thought that with his pawn on c5 I get this nice bind with all the pawns in the middle of the board, whereas if his pawn is on c7 he can often for example quickly transfer his knight from b7 to c5, so I didn’t think it was so clear there. I wasn’t even sure how clear it was in the game, but as it turns out it was probably very good for White always.
Jorden looks to have been right that 15…c5 was a mistake, while he also noted that 25…Nb7! would have been a much better defensive try than 25…Kg7?
It would have been a dream scenario for Black to escape with just giving up the f6-pawn, while after 26.Be2! White had total control of the kingside and it was essentially game-over. 26…Rg6 27.h3 Bxh3 accelerated the end, with Dubov labelling the position after 28.Bh5! as “resigns” just before the moves were executed on the board.
Fortunately Anish didn’t resign, since it meant we got to witness a beautiful final move, 42.Rh3!!
Nxg6+ is a game winning threat, but the point is that 42…Bxh3 runs into 43.d7! Qxd7 (43…Rf8 44.Nxg6+!) 44.Qb8+! and stopping back-rank mate will cost a lot of material.
A huge blow for Giri, with Jorden becoming his nemesis in Wijk aan Zee | photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit, official website
In 2021 Jorden had prevented Anish winning his first Tata Steel Masters by defeating him in the tiebreak, and this year the Round 11 win leaves Anish a point behind Magnus. If the World Champion draws against Fabiano Caruana in the penultimate round Anish can no longer catch him, since Magnus is guaranteed a full point in the last round, while Richard Rapport would need to defeat both Andrey Esipenko and Giri to tie for first.
So it all comes down to Fabiano, who has White in Round 12, and the 2018 World Championship challenger warmed up for that game with an impressive win over Praggnanandhaa. Fabi commented after his win:
It does feel a lot better, especially now the restaurants have opened the last two days and things seem more or less back to normal, but it’s a bit late in the tournament for me. I have no chances of even fighting for first place and I haven’t already for a while. So it’s a bit like I’m not really playing for anything, but ok, my play was terrible, and I think today at least it was normal, so that’s a step up.
Praggnanandhaa looked to be doing well from the opening, but Fabi felt 19.Ne5 was over-ambitious. The issue seems more to have been the follow-up moves, and already after 22.Ne2?! b5! Caruana was on top.
Fabiano felt 23.cxb5 cxb5 24.Qd3 was “very close to equal”, but Praggnanandhaa went for 23.Nd4?!, when his position rapidly collapsed. The US star explained:
After Nd4 but it was extremely unpleasant and the endgame I think is losing, though it’s a little bit close. It’s kind of concrete that I never let him get my a-pawn, just tactically he never is able to get it and it advances all the way to a2.
When Praggnanandhaa finally captured the a-pawn, Caruana was able to trap the white king in a mating net.
Nf5-g3# is a threat Black is unable to usefully parry.
Praggnanandhaa now gets a chance to rest before the final round, since he'll pick up a full point for the game that should have been against Dubov | photo: Lennart Ootes, official website
That leaves the standings looking as follows with two rounds to go.
Arjun Erigaisi has played an almost perfect tournament | photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit, official website
Meanwhile in the Challengers Arjun Erigaisi made a 23-move draw against Erwin l’Ami that means a draw in Round 12 will confirm his tournament victory with a round to spare. That’s not a foregone conclusion, however, since the only unbeaten player in Wijk aan Zee other than Magnus and Arjun is Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who ground out an 85-move win over Roven Vogel. The Czech player now has Black against Erigaisi in the penultimate round and can move to within half a point with a win.
If Nguyen did win it would also open the door for 17-year-old Dane Jonas Bjerre, who was gifted a 3rd win in a row by Volodar Murzin.
39…Bxe3?! is the kind of move that might give you a heart attack just before the time control, but in this case it was Volodar who had just two seconds on his clock. With more time he would have played the simple and strong 39…Bb8!
Jonas had 10 minutes to calmly realise that he could take the piece with 40.Qxe3, since 40…Qc4 only briefly looked good — the f1-rook is attacked and the other rook is threatened by Qc6+. Alas for the young Russian, there are two easy defences, 41.Kg1, or the one chosen by Jonas, 41.Rfd1, with the rooks defending each other.
Thai Dan Van Nguyen can still throw a cat among the pigeons by beating Arjun Erigaisi in Round 12 | photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit, official website
The other win in the Challengers came for the youngest player, Marc Maurizzi, who defeated Daniel Dardha for a second win in three games. The French/Corsican player must have some regrets that the tournament isn’t only starting!
So in Round 12 it’s all about Caruana-Carlsen. If Magnus wins he’s the champion in Wijk for an 8th time, whatever happens elsewhere. If he draws, he’ll also be the champion unless Richard Rapport beats Andrey Esipenko and then Anish Giri in the final round. If Caruana wins then Rapport could still win the tournament outright, while Giri and Mamedyarov would both potentially be able to force a playoff if they won their last two games.
Follow Tata Steel Chess with Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson commentating live in English from 14:00 CET: Tata Steel Masters | Tata Steel Challengers
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