Tata Steel Chess: Carlsen and Anand lead after round 8

by Aditya Pai - 21/01/2019

Out of the five tournament leaders, only Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand retained their lead at the conclusion of the eighth round in the Masters' segment of Tata Steel Chess. Anand, as white, came up with a counter-intuitive opening novelty in the Caro-Kann Defence and went on to win a fine tactical game against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in only 29 moves! Carlsen, who was playing GM Richard Rapport with the white pieces, thoroughly outplayed his Hungarian opponent in a Sicilian Taimanov to reach 5.5/8. Maksim Chigaev continued his fine form in the Challengers and took sole lead in the tournament after his third straight win. Andrey Esipenko also climbed up to the second place on the leaderboard after defeating the Indian chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa.

And then there were two

After eight rounds, Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand have remained at the top of the leaderboard in the Masters’ segment of Tata Steel Chess. In round 8, which witnessed four decisive games – the most in a single round, thus far – Anand scored his second straight win by defeating Shakhriyar Mamedyarov while Magnus Carlsen settled scores with Richard Rapport.

Anand was really seen in his element in his eighth round game against Mamedyarov. In a Caro-Kann Defence game, the Indian ace came up with a counter-intuitive novelty, giving up his light-squared bishop for the black knight on move 11 and stunned his opponent very soon with a tactical wonder.

Position after 19.h3

The computer evaluates the position to be equal, suggesting that black should immediately gang up on white’s backward c2 pawn with 19…Qc7. Mamedyarov, however, did not sense the danger ahead. He went for 19...b6, perhaps fearing 20.Qd2 which forked the g5 and a5 pawns. In response, Anand whipped out 20.c4, paying no heed to how many black pieces cover that square.

Taking with the pawn, of course, allows white to gobble a full piece with 21.Rxd7. Mamedyarov, instead, went for 20…Rxc4, when 21.Rxd5 exploited another tactical idea. There followed 21…Rf7 22.Rd3 g4, after which white was much better. Now under pressure, Mamedyarov made another critical tactical error, allowing Anand to exploit the weakness on d5 one more time.

Position after 26…Rf4

Black’s last move has once again opened the a2-g8 diagonal, leaving the king vulnerable to a potential check. Anand exploited this immediately with 27.Nc2 Rbe4 and, once again, 28.Rxd5! After 28…exd5 29.Qxd5+ Mamedyarov resigned as 29…Kf8 leads to the loss of the d7 bishop after 30.Rd1. If black goes 30…Ke8, defending the bishop, 31.Ng6 delivers the knock-out punch.

Anand talks about his win over Mamedyarov | Tata Steel Chess

GM Richard Rapport was one of the few players who had a better score against Magnus Carlsen – until yesterday, that is. Carlsen pointed out after the game that the last time he had played Rapport, which also happened to be in the eighth round of Tata Steel two years ago, the Hungarian Grandmaster had come out on top. This time, the colours were reversed. Magnus was playing with white, Rapport had the blacks.

Like he had done against Radjabov in round three, Rapport put his faith once again in the Sicilian Taimanov. Carlsen played in his trademark style with the 6.g3 variation, adopting a solid positional approach. His 14.Qe1 won him the praise of all pundits as he sought to undermine Black’s pawn centre.

Position after 14.Qe1

White’s intent is to push forward with e5 while also keeping an eye on the c3 square, from where the queen could, eventually, threaten checkmate and, thereby distract the e7 bishop off the defence of d6. There followed 14…Nd7 15.Rd1 Bb7 16.Qc3 Bf6 17.Qd2 and soon black decided to body block the e5 square by going 20…e5 himself and leaving the d5 square for the taking.

Position after 30…Bf8

As can be seen, Carlsen had, soon, firmly planted a knight on the conceded outpost. But the importance of the diagrammed position is not because the knight’s firm establishment on d5 but due to its sudden retreat from there. Carlsen went 31.Ne3! in the position, vacating the d5 square to carry out a rook lift. Once the last white piece had joined the attack, it did not take too long for Carlsen to finish the game off in style.

"It was nice to get revenge" - Magnus Carlsen | Tata Steel Chess

GM Daniel King analyzes Carlsen vs Rapport | PowerPlayChess

After his loss in the previous round, GM Vidit Gujrathi was paired against Anish Giri. The two signed peace after 36 moves in a Queen’s Gambit. | Photo: Alina L’ami

All games

Standings

		Score	Rating	TPR	SB	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1	Carlsen, Magnus	5.5 / 8	2835	2883	18.25			½	½			½		½		1	1	1	½
2	Anand, Viswanathan	5.5 / 8	2773	2886	18.25			½		½	½			½	½	1		1	1
3	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	5.0 / 8	2763	2878	20	½	½		½	1			½			½	½		1
4	Ding, Liren	5.0 / 8	2813	2832	19.75	½		½		½	½	½		½	1			1
5	Giri, Anish	5.0 / 8	2783	2858	17.75		½	0	½			½	1			½	1		1
6	Radjabov, Teimour	4.5 / 8	2757	2788	16.5		½		½			1	½			½	½	½	½
7	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	4.0 / 8	2695	2748	15.75	½			½	½	0		½	½	½			1
8	Duda, Jan-Krzysztof	4.0 / 8	2738	2730	14			½		0	½	½		1	½			0	1
9	Fedoseev, Vladimir	3.5 / 8	2724	2697	15	½	½		½			½	0		1		½	0
10	Shankland, Samuel	3.5 / 8	2725	2695	12.25		½		0			½	½	0		½	½	1
11	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	3.0 / 8	2817	2681	11.5	0	0	½		½	½				½		½		½
12	Rapport, Richard	3.0 / 8	2731	2686	10.75	0		½		0	½			½	½	½			½
13	Van Foreest, Jorden	2.5 / 8	2612	2617	9.75	0	0		0		½	0	1	1	0
14	Kramnik, Vladimir	2.0 / 8	2777	2582	8	½	0	0		0	½		0			½	½

Challengers

Russian GM Maksim Chigaev continued his fine form in the Challengers’ group. In the eighth round, he scored his second straight win, this time defeating tail-ender, Stefan Kuipers in a very sharp Italian Opening.

Position after 15…Bxd4

Kuipers gave up an exchange here with 16.Nd3, hoping to exploit black’s weak queenside. There followed 16…0-0-0 17.Nf4 Qf6 and eventually black managed to hold his position together and make his extra material count.

GM Andrey Esipenko defeated R Praggnanandhaa to join Vladislav Kovalev in second place at 5.5/8 | Photo: Alina L’ami

All games

Standings

		Score	Rating	TPR	SB	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1	Chigaev, Maksim	6.0 / 8	2604	2765	18.5		½				½		½	1	½		1	1	1
2	Kovalev, Vladislav	5.5 / 8	2687	2724	22.75	½		½	1	1		½	½			½		1
3	Esipenko, Andrey	5.5 / 8	2584	2728	20.75		½				½	1		½	1	1	½		½
4	Gledura, Benjamin	4.5 / 8	2615	2647	18		0			½	1	½	½	½	1			½
5	Van Foreest, Lucas	4.5 / 8	2502	2633	16		0		½		½		1	½	½		1	½
6	L'Ami, Erwin	4.5 / 8	2643	2598	15.75	½		½	0	½			1			½		½	1
7	Korobov, Anton	4.5 / 8	2699	2622	14.25		½	0	½				½	1			½	½	1
8	Bareev, Evgeny	4.0 / 8	2650	2595	15.75	½	½		½	0	0	½				1		1
9	Maghsoodloo, Parham	4.0 / 8	2679	2561	12.5	0		½	½	½		0				½	1		1
10	Keymer, Vincent	4.0 / 8	2500	2533	11.25	½		0	0	½						½	½	1	1
11	Praggnanandhaa R	3.5 / 8	2539	2543	11.25		½	0			½		0	½	½		½		1
12	Paehtz, Elisabeth	2.5 / 8	2477	2431	9.25	0		½		0		½		0	½	½			½
13	Saduakassova, Dinara	2.0 / 8	2472	2420	9	0	0		½	½	½	½	0		0
14	Kuipers, Stefan	1.0 / 8	2470	2269	4	0		½			0	0		0	0	0	½