12 January 2013

Tata Steel Chess Tournament Begins

A Day for the French Defense

This afternoon in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands the 75th annual tournament began. I became aware of this event and its already long history when I bought the 1975 tournament book. It is the one Grandmaster Event that I follow year after year. In my time zone, the games began at 4:30 am, but I slept in, rising a few minutes before 5:00.

Many years, I try to follow all the games in Grandmaster A Group, while sometimes looking at a few games in the B and C group. This year, I want to pick one game and focus on it during live coverage. I can play guess the move.

Anand -- Nakamura caught my eye after the pairings were published yesterday, as did Carlsen -- Caruana. I quickly glanced at all seven games. There are three with the French Defense!

Nakamura's queen went on a journey early, as it did in the final Melody Amber Blindfold Tournament. That game ended as a long draw. No doubt, Viswanathan Anand has studied the game. We can presume that 17.Bb6, played today, is something that Anand had examined prior to the game.

Karjakin,Sergey (2776) -- Nakamura,Hikaru (2774) [C11]
Amber-blindfold 20th Monte Carlo (10), 23.03.2011

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Bb5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 a6 13.Bxd7+ Bxd7 14.Rb3 Qe7 15.Rxb7 Qh4+ 16.Bf2 Qd8

White to play

17.Bb6 was played by Anand in Wijk aan Zee, 2013

17.0–0 Qc8 18.Rb3 Qc4 19.Ne2 Be7 20.Rfb1 0–0 21.Rb7 Qc8 22.Qc3 Bd8 23.Qxc8 Bxc8 24.Rb8 Rxb8 25.Rxb8 Bc7 26.Ra8 Bd7 27.Ra7 Rc8 28.Nc3 g5 29.g3 gxf4 30.gxf4 Kg7 31.f5 Kh6 32.Be3+ Kh5 33.Ne2 Kg4 34.Nd4 exf5 35.Kg2 f4 36.h3+ Kg5 37.Bf2 Bf5 38.Bh4+ Kg6 39.Rxa6+ Be6 40.Nxe6 fxe6 41.Rc6 Kh5 42.Bf6 Rg8+ 43.Kf3 Ba5 44.Kxf4 Bd2+ 45.Kf3 Re8 46.Rc7 Ra8 47.Ke2 Bf4 48.Rc6 Rxa2 49.Kd3 Ra3+ 50.c3 Ra2 51.Kd4 Kg6 52.Rxe6 Kf5 53.Re8 Rd2+ 54.Kc5 Rd3 55.Bg7 Rxc3+ 56.Kd4 Rxh3 57.Rf8+ Kg4 58.e6 Re3 59.Kxd5 Bg5 60.Be5 Ra3 61.Bd6 Re3 62.Rf7 h5 63.e7 Bxe7 64.Bxe7 h4 65.Rg7+ Kh5 66.Kd4 Re6 67.Kd5 Re2 68.Bf6 Re3 69.Rg5+ Kh6 70.Rg8 h3 71.Bd4 Ra3 72.Ke4 h2 73.Rh8+ Kg6 74.Rxh2 Ra4 75.Rf2 Ra8 76.Rg2+ Kf7 77.Rg7+ Ke6 78.Rg6+ Kf7 79.Rh6 Ra4 80.Rd6 Ke7 81.Rc6 Kd7 82.Rh6 Ke7 83.Kd5 Ra5+ 84.Bc5+ Kf7 85.Rc6 Ra8 86.Ke5 Ra1 87.Rf6+ Kg7 88.Bf8+ Kg8 89.Bh6 Re1+ 90.Kf5 Rg1 91.Bg5 Rf1+ 92.Bf4 Kg7 93.Rb6 Kf7 94.Rb7+ Kf8 95.Ra7 Rf2 96.Ke5 Kg8 97.Bg5 Rf7 98.Ra6 Kg7 99.Bf6+ Kg6 100.Rc6 Ra7 101.Bd8+ Kf7 102.Kf5 Ke8 103.Bf6 Kd7 104.Rc4 Ra5+ 105.Be5 Ra7 106.Rc2 Rb7 107.Rd2+ Kc6 108.Ke6 Rb5 109.Bd4 Rh5 110.Rc2+ Kb5 111.Be5 Kb4 112.Kd5 Kb3 113.Rb2+ Ka3 114.Rb8 Rg5 115.Kd4 Ka4 116.Bd6 Rb5 117.Rc8 Kb3 118.Rc3+ Kb2 119.Kc4 Rh5 120.Rf3 Rh4+ 121.Bf4 Rg4 122.Rf2+ Ka3 123.Kc3 Ka4 124.Kc4 ½–½

One hour into play, today's game has not yet reached a new position.

Anand,Viswanathan (2772) -- Nakamura,Hikaru (2769) [C11]
Tata Steel Chess, Wijk aan Zee 2013

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Bb5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 a6 13.Bxd7+ Bxd7 14.Rb3 Qe7 15.Rxb7 Qh4+ 16.Bf2 Qd8 17.Bb6 Qc8 18.Rc7 Qd8 19.Qd4 Rc8

White to move

This position has occurred at least six times, according to the Chess Base Online database. All of these have been in the past three years. The highest rated encounter was:

Solodovnichenko,Yuri (2615) - Ikonnikov,Vyacheslav (2526) [C11]
Gent Taminco op 35th Gent (7), 16.07.2012

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Bb5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 a6 13.Bxd7+ Bxd7 14.Rb3 Qe7 15.Rxb7 Qh4+ 16.Bf2 Qd8 17.Bb6 Qc8 18.Rc7 Qd8 19.Qd4 Rc8 20.Ra7 Qh4+ 21.g3 Qh3 22.Rxd7 Kxd7 23.Qa4+ Rc6 24.Qxa6 Rxc3 25.Qb7+ Ke8 26.Qa8+ Kd7 27.Qa4+ Kc8 28.Qa6+ Kd7 29.Qa4+ Kc8 30.Qa6+ Kd7 31.Qa4+ ½–½

Update 6:30 am PST

Returning to today's game:

20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.O-O Qc6N

An email game continued 21...a5 and ended drawn in 33 moves.

22.Rb1 Be7 23.Qe3 O-O 24.Bd4 Rc8 25.Rb6 Qc4 26.Rb7 Qc6 27.Rb6 Qc4 28.Rb7 Qc6 1/2-1/2

It was the first game to finish in the GM-A group.

Two other games in the French continue: Harikrishna -- Giri, and Karjakin -- Hou. Giri played the Rubinstein variation and appears headed for a draw. Karjakin -- Hou began as Anand -- Nakamura until Black's sixth move. Hou's approach does not appear as reckless as Nakamura's, but Karjakin seems to be squeezing out a slight advantage.

Update 5:15 pm PST

Upon getting home from the youth tournament that had me busy all day, I was surprised to learn that Giri failed to hold the ending against Harikrishna. Hou also lost, although that did not surprise me. Karjakin had a tangible advantage when I left home this morning, and I expected that a player of his strength should be able to nurse such an advantage to vistory.

The rook and pawn ending in Harikrishna -- Giri deserves study.

The French Defense took a bath today in a Dutch coastal town.

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