Tata Steel Masters: Nakamura Wins the Rapid; Loses the Blitz to Anand in a Playoff
Since today is a rest day for the World Championship match, and since two of the major events running alongside the match have just finished, it's a good day to do some catching up. Let's begin with the Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz tournament - or rather, tournaments, as the results were not combined.
When we last looked (or rather, reported) the Rapid tournament was 2/3 over and Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian shared the lead with 4.5/6, a point ahead of Pentala Harikrishna. In round 7 the co-leaders each drew their game while Harikrishna lost, but in round 8 Nakamura's draw was enough to give him the lead when Harikrishna defeated Aronian in a very long (95-move) game. Harikrishna won again in round 9, but it left him half a point back when Nakamura's draw his final game. Had Aronian defeated Shakhriyar Mamedyarov he'd have caught back up to Nakamura, but he only managed a draw and a tie for second place. It was of course an excellent result for Nakamura, and a funny one: he drew all his games on the first day, won all three games the second day, and then closed with three more draws.
Final Rapid Standings:
1. Nakamura 6/9
2-3. Harikrishna, Aronian 5.5
4-5. So, Mamedyarov 5
6. Karjakin 4.5
7-8. Anand, Vidit 4
9. Sarin 3
10. Ganguly 2.5
After a rest day, it was time for the blitz, a double round-robin featuring the same cast of characters but with one exception: Nihal Sarin went out, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa came in. Nakamura continued his excellent form, finishing the first day (= the first round-robin) with an undefeated 6.5/9. Wesley So generally doesn't do well in super-elite blitz events, but after a slow start of 1.5/4 he finished on fire to wind up with 6. Levon Aronian had 5.5, and Viswanathan Anand had 5.
In round 10 Anand caught So by defeating him, but he didn't gain ground on Nakamura or Aronian, both of whom won their games. Aronian won again in round 11, and so did Anand, while So drew and Nakamura lost to Harikrishna. Nakamura and Aronian were tied at 7.5, Anand had 7, and So trailed with 6.5. In round 12 Nakamura drew with Aronian, Anand drew with Sergey Karjakin, and So beat Praggnanandhaa, bunching all four players to within half a point of each other (Nakamura and Aronian with 8, Anand and So with 7.5).
In round 13 Nakamura drew with So, while Anand and Aronian both won. Anand thus caught up with Nakamura, and from here until the end of the tournament they matched each other result for result. So trailed them by half a point, and for the moment Aronian led them by half a point.
Nakamura and Anand both won in round 14 while Aronian drew, producing a three-way tie for first, while So's loss to Harikrishna took him out of the running, as he trailed the troika by a point and a half. From here on out we'll just track the top three.
In round 15 Anand and Nakamura won again while Aronian drew (with So), putting Aronian half a point behind, but he immediately got it back when Anand and Nakamura drew with each other in round 16 while Aronian beat Mamedyarov. Two rounds to go, and three leaders.
Aronian slipped half a point behind again when he drew with Karjakin in round 17, while Anand and Nakamura defeated Harikrishna and Vidit, respectively. In the last round Nakamura came very close to defeating Praggnanandhaa but couldn't quite do it, while as White Aronian failed to beat Anand. Aronian thus came in third, and Anand and Nakamura went to a blitz (3'+2") playoff.
In the first game, Anand was generally the one pressing, and he managed to handle the chaos of the players living off the increments better than Nakamura, winning a tough rook endgame. In game two Nakamura was pressing, but Anand defended very well for a long time to save the point.
For Anand the victory was especially sweet, as the event was held in Kolkota, in his native India. His joy was evident in the post-match interview with Tania Sachdev, and I commend that interview (and the tiebreaks, even if you don't want to watch the whole stream of the last day) to your viewing pleasure.
Final Blitz Standings:
1. Anand 12.5/18 (and 1.5-0.5 over Nakamura in the playoff)
2. Nakamura 12.5
3. Aronian 12
4. So 10
5-7. Harikrishna, Vidit, Mamedyarov 8
8. Karjakin 7.5
9. Ganguly 6
10. Praggnanandhaa 5.5
Some games caught my eye, of which I present a small selection.
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