80th Tata Steel Masters
Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
Jan. 12-28, 2018
Current Standings (9 out of 13 rounds)
1. Anish Giri NED 2752, 6.5/9
2-3. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2834, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2804, 6.0/9
4-5. Wesley So USA 2792, Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2787, 5.5/9
6-7. Viswanathan Anand IND 2767, Sergey Karjakin RUS 2753, 5.0/9
8. Peter Svidler RUS 2768, 4.5/9
9-10. Gawain Jones ENG 2640, Maxim Matlakov RUS 2718, 4.0/9
11-12. Wei Yi CHN 2743, Fabiano Caruana USA 2811, 3.5/9
13. Baskaran Adhiban IND 2655, 2.5/9
14. Hou Yifan CHN 2680, 1.5/9
Ave. Rating 2750 Category 20
Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 50 minutes for the next 20 moves then 15 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1.
Holland’s Anish Giri went into the solo lead after nine rounds in Wijk aan Zee by defeating Russia’s Maxim Matlakov from the Black side of some sort of Delayed Catalan. So far he looks in good shape as he remains undefeated and aside from beating the lone woman participant Hou Yifan has also scored the full point against heavyweights Mamedyarov (the early leader) and Vladimir Kramnik.
Wesley So could not keep pace and agreed to a draw with Peter Svidler. He is also undefeated and went through a rather crucial patch from rounds 4-6. In the 4th round Wesley was lost against Caruana but fought back and drew. In round 5 he beat Adhiban and in round 6 there was this miracle vs Wei Yi. Let me tell you about that.
I retired from chess in 1976 when I graduated from High School to become a working student in UST. There was no more time for chess, work was from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. after which I had to rush to the College of Commerce for classes from 5-9 p.m. After I passed the CPA board examinations my schedule became even more hectic as it was already time to earn a living.
Then in 1992 the Manila Olympiad happened. I couldn’t resist and left the office a bit earlier everyday to hop over to the PICC to watch the games. There was a bookstand there run by IM Malcolm Pein (he is one of the biggest chess organizers in the world now — the annual London Chess Classic being just one of his many projects) and he introduced me to Chessbase software and other books and publications. Once again I got hooked and devoured whatever literature I could.
There was this one player I couldn’t get enough of — GM Alexei Shirov was running roughshod over the chess establishment with games such as this.
Shirov, Alexei (2655) — Thorhallsson, Throstur (2425) [D45]
Reykjavik (5), 1992
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4!?
I hadn’t been following theory for many years already — the maneuver h2–h3 followed by g2–g4 I was familiar with, but playing g2–g4 right away? Wow.
7…0–0 8.g5 Nh5 9.Bd2 f5 10.gxf6 Nhxf6 11.Ng5 Qe8 12.0–0–0 h6 13.h4! Bb4
[13…hxg5 14.hxg5 Ne4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Qxe4 Rf5 17.c5 followed by Bc4]
14.Bd3 Bxc3! 15.Bxc3 hxg5 16.hxg5 Ne4 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Qxe4 Rf5 19.Qh4 Qg6 20.Qh8+! Kf7 21.f4
The idea is to play Qd8 followed by Rh8.
21…Nf8 22.Qh4 Ke8 23.e4 Rf7 24.Rhe1! Kd8 25.d5! cxd5 26.cxd5 Bd7 27.f5! exf5 28.e5 f4 29.e6 Ba4 30.Rd2 Rf5 31.Qf2! f3 32.Re4 Rxg5 33.Rxa4 Rg1+ 34.Rd1 Rg2 35.Qh4+ Ke8 36.Re4 Rc8 37.d6 Rd8 38.Qe7# 1–0
An awe-inspiring performance!
In 1997 the first FIDE KO World Chess Championship was held in Groningen. I managed to get a copy of the tournament book and played through every single one of the games. This game I thought was one of the best of the event.
Krasenkow, Michal (2645) — Garcia, Gildardo (2480) [A17]
FIDE-Wch k.o. Groningen (2.1), 11.12.1997
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g4!?
Krasenkow’s biggest contribution to opening theory.
4…d5 5.g5 Ne4 6.Qa4+ Nc6 7.Nxe4 dxe4 8.Ne5 e3!
It is not immediately evident, but the idea of this move is to open up the long diagonal for Black’s light-squared bishop.
9.fxe3 Qxg5 10.Nf3
[10.Nxc6? Bd7 11.Qxb4 Bxc6 unexpectedly White’s rook is trapped in the corner]
10…Qe7 11.a3 Bd6 12.d4 Bd7 13.Qc2
[13.c5 Ne5 14.Qc2 Nxf3+ 15.exf3 Qh4+ 16.Qf2 Qxf2+ 17.Kxf2 Be7 equal]
13…Qf6 14.b4 e5 15.d5! Bf5 16.Qa4!
[16.e4? Nd4 17.Nxd4 Qh4+ 18.Kd1 Bxe4 it is Black who is winning]
16…Be4 17.dxc6 b5 18.cxb5 Bxf3 19.exf3 e4 20.Ra2 exf3 21.Rf2 Rd8 22.Qc2 Be5 23.Bb2 0–0 24.Bxe5 Qxe5 25.Rxf3 Rd6 26.Bg2 Qxb5 27.Rf5 Qa6 28.Ra5 Qb6 29.Qc5 Qb8 30.0–0 1–0
A few years ago in “Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy” IM John Watson wrote that the single biggest change in opening and middle game strategy in the last two to three decades has been in the area of flank pawn advances. The two games above had a lot to do with that.
Which brings us to Wei Yi vs Wesley So from the 6th round of the ongoing Tata Steel Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee.
Wei, Yi (2743) — So, Wesley (2792) [A06]
80th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee NED (6.4), 19.01.2018
1.Nf3 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.Bxc4 a6 6.b3 c5 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.Qc2 Be7 9.a3 b6 10.g4!
This move surprised Wesley. In a post-game interview Wesley said: “I forgot about this stuff. I thought that it is not dangerous since I did not castle. Actually, it is surprisingly strong as he gets a bind after g4–g5 followed by Nc3–e4.”
10…h6
Not 10…Nxg4? 11.Qe4 and one of the knights fall.
11.Rg1 b5 12.Be2 Bb7 13.g5 hxg5 14.Nxg5 Rh6
Guarding against Nxe6 and a queen check on g6.
15.Nce4 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 g6 17.Nxc5 Bxc5 18.Qxc5 Rxh2 19.a4!
After this Black’s position starts to collapse.
19…Qh4
There is no other way to generate counter chances.
20.Rf1 Rc8 21.Qb6 Nd8 22.axb5 Bg2 23.Ra4
Not 23.Rg1? Rh1 it is Black who wins.
23…Qh3
This was the position when I tuned in to the game as the chessbase Web site. I thought that after Ba3, bxa6 and Bb5+ Black’s king is caught in the crossfire of the two bishops. I got completely disheartened, and then the miracle came!
24.Ba3?
This is why I am not a GM. The text which seemed so strong to me is an inaccuracy. More to the point is 24.bxa6! Bxf1 25.Bxf1 Rh1 26.Qb5+ (covering the f1–bishop) 26…Nc6 27.a7 the rest is easy: 27…Rxf1+ 28.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 29.Kxf1 Ra8 30.Bd4 Kd7 31.Bc5 Kc7 32.d4 White’s two extra passed pawns on the queenside are too strong.
24…Rh1 25.bxa6 <D>
Position after 25.bxa6
Wei Yi is clearly winning but in bad time trouble. Wesley has to find some way to complicate matters.
25…Qh8!?
And he does. Black is still losing but he sufficiently confuses Wei Yi into making a mistake.
26.Rd4?
White should have blocked the long diagonal with 26.d4! followed by 26…Bxf1 27.Qb5+ Nc6 28.Bxf1 and Black’s position is resignable.
26…Bxf1 27.Qb5+ Nc6 28.Bxf1 Rxf1+! 29.Kxf1
Wei Yi must have thought he was still winning, or otherwise he would have played 29.Qxf1 Nxd4 30.exd4 Qxd4 31.Qb5+ and it is still a game.
29…Qh1+ 30.Ke2 Qh5+! 31.Qxh5 Nxd4+
CHECK.
32.exd4 gxh5
And now, much to Wei Yi’s dismay, because of Black’s passed h-pawn it is now the second player who is winning.
33.b4 Rb8 34.Kf3 Kd7 35.Kg3 Kc6 36.b5+ Rxb5 37.Bc5 Rb2 38.a7 Kb7 39.d5 exd5 40.Be3 Rb4 41.d4 Rb1 0–1
A marvelous turnaround. Let us hope that Wesley’s luck holds up till the end of the tournament.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
