2019 Wijk aan Zee, Round 1: Two Wins, Two Missed Wins
The first round of the 2019 Tata Steel tournament ("Wijk aan Zee") was a good one: there was plenty of fight, and the oddest statistic is that the two shortest games in the round were the wins. Viswanathan Anand crushed bottom seed Jorden Van Foreest, and while that might be expected on account of the players' ratings Ian Nepomniachtchi's win over Anish Giri was an upset - all the more so since Nepo, like Anand, had Black.
Two other games should have finished with a winner: Teimour Radjabov was crushing Vladimir Kramnik, but a big error on the last move of the time control let the former champion escape. Reigning U.S. champion Sam Shankland did great to outplay second seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, but his reluctance to play Kd5 at some point allowed Mamedyarov to escape.
The marquee matchup between Ding Liren and Magnus Carlsen did not disappoint: after four and a half moves the players were out of book, and a very imbalanced game resulted. Ding had an advantage at one point, but it was very difficult to prove and the lively draw that resulted was a logical result.
Vladimir Fedoseev had some advantage against Richard Rapport, but his clever 28.Bf5 let Rapport escape. Finally, Santosh Vidit had to suffer in a long game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda, but he defended well to draw.
The games, with my comments, are here. These are the round 2 pairings:
- Carlsen (.5) - Nepomniachtchi (1)
- Kramnik (.5) - Giri (0)
- Mamedyarov (.5) - Radjabov (.5)
- Rapport (.5) - Shankland (.5)
- Anand (1) - Fedoseev (.5)
- Duda (.5) - Van Foreest (0)
- Ding Liren (.5) - Vidit (.5)
Reader Comments (2)
Hi Dennis,
In Ding Liren - Carlsen, you mention 9...Qd6 but not the natural 9...d5. To my eyes White's position looks pretty dumb and he's fighting for equality already.
[DM: I'm not sure what you've goofed up, but 9...d5?? hangs the queen to 10.axb6.]
Carlsen's 9...Nc6 looks like an extravagant and unnecessary gamble. Carlsen did say during the press conference that later he felt he was fighting for his life. Maybe Carlsen's 9...Nc6 was a psychological ploy, laying down a marker against a future world championship challenger, or at least welcoming Ding Liren to the 2800 Club!
[DM: Actually, it's a good move. There were other, non-sacrificial moves that were approximately equal in value, but none that are better.]
Btw, I find the new but not necessarily improved Kramnik very entertaining. He might just flame out in a big way before he eventually retires.
Right, I meant a queen move first - I like your suggested alternative 9...Qd6!?, and I meant 10...d5! after the game continuation 9...Qd8 10 Bg2, instead of 10...Nc6!? as played by Carlsen. Magnus' exchange sac looked a little desperate in comparison to the straightforward and natural 10...d5! Complications for complications sake I suppose.
[DM: No, really, 10...Nc6 is a good move; co-best and better than 10...d5, which needlessly weakens e5 and gives White a target to chip at with c4 or e4.]