Tata Steel 2020, Rd 4: So Beats Firouzja to Take Sole Lead.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament will be held 12-28 January 2018 in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. | photo © www.tatasteelchess.com — Wijk aan Zee in The Netherlands, again becomes the focus of the chess world, for the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.
photo © www.tatasteelchess.com

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2020, continued with round 4 on Tuesday 14th January. It would be the final round before the first rest day. Looming rest days are always lotteries really, with it being anybody’s guess as to what is going to happen. Sometimes players will give that little bit extra, knowing that they will get a day off afterwards, while it is also possible that they will go for a quick peace, taking a bit of an extra rest.

What would this case bring? Well it was certainly no lazy day in the main.

Alireza Firouzja, went into the round leading the Masters group, but would not go into the rest day that way. Unfortunately for him, he came up against Wesley So in this round, who was certainly in the mood to do some work.

With all due respect to everyone, I think it is fair to say that So is the first elite player that Firouzja has faced in this tournament, and it was going to be very interesting to see how he would do. This, not only because of the opposition, but the stage also.

Though he would lose the game, (which is certainly no disgrace), I think there are very positive signs, when we take the bigger picture into account. He acquitted himself extremely well as black, the game being decided with one or two lapses, which can be held against no one.

   [Event "82nd Tata Steel, Masters"]  [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]  [Date "2020.01.14"]  [Round "4.4"]  [White "So, Wesley"]  [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]  [Result "1-0"]  [BlackElo "2723"]  [BlackFideId "12573981"]  [BlackTitle "GM"]  [ECO "D27"]  [EventDate "2020.01.11"]  [Opening "QGA"]  [Variation "classical, 6...a6"]  [WhiteElo "2765"]  [WhiteFideId "5202213"]  [WhiteTitle "GM"]   { Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.O-O a6 7.b3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Be7 9.Bb2 O-O 10.Be2 { Normally, the move here tends to be Nd2. Interestingly, though, Firouzja has been confronted with this rarity before, against Esipenko, in the World Blitz in December 2019. What does So think he has found? } 10...Bd7 11.Nd2 Nc6 { Transposing to a position that is not too unknown.  Obviously, Black has adopted a Sicilian setup and will not be at all unhappy with things, here. White wont be dissatisfied, either, with good development also. } 12.Rc1 { Alireza had seen 12.Nc4 on the board before, in his game against Efimenko, as mentioned in an earlier comment. However, this is a very natural move, so cannot have been a surprise. } 12...Rc8 { This appears new. In the few earlier games, Black had chosen to exchange on d4, here. } 13.N4f3 b5 14.a3 Qb6 15.Rc2 e5 16.Bd3 { Covering not only e4, but also the f5-square. There is not much point in taking on e5 if White wants to go anywhere. Rightly, So is not making things too concrete. } ( 16.Nxe5 { (obviously, not with the bishop, it is a nice piece!) } 16...Nxe5 17.Bxe5 Bxa3 18.Nf3 Qe6 19.Ra2 Rc1 { is rather even. } ) 16...Rfd8 17.Qe2 { Facilitating the doubling of rooks along the c-file. } 17...Bg4 18.Rfc1 Na7 { Black wants to calm things down along the c-file, but this is perhaps a bit too complicit. Alternatively, ...Bxf3 might have been tempting, especially with White being forced to recapture with the g-pawn. } ( 18...Bxf3 19.gxf3 { (Qxf3?? Rxd3) } 19...Na7 20.Rxc8 ( 20.Ne4 { is also interesting } 20...Qe6 21.Rxc8 Nxc8 22.Qc2 { sees White ever so slightly better. } ) 20...Rxc8 21.Rxc8+ Nxc8 { with White having a very slight edge upon Qd1 or Ne4 -- if Bxe5, then ...Bxa3 keeps the balance. } ) 19.Rxc8 Rxc8 { ? This is a little inaccurate. By taking the rook off of the d-file, Black allows White to recapture on f3 (if required) with the Queen, because the Bd3 no longer hangs. Also, White's pieces have a little more quality to them than Black's, so exchanging the rooks is to White's benefit. This is only fractions, but sometimes that is all chess comes down to. } 20.Rxc8+ Nxc8 21.h3 { Exactly the point, So forces Firouzja to make a decision with his bishop. } 21...Bxf3 { This exchange is rather forced. ...Bh5 would be ludicrous and White would be much better after g2-g4. And obviously, should Black retreat the bishop, White whops off e5 for free with the knight. } 22.Qxf3 { With some advantage. White not only has the bishop pair now, but his pieces just hold more potential than Black's. Firouzja must not hang about, here, every move must count or White will quickly take a firm grip on the position. } 22...Qd8 23.Qe2 Qd5 { Very nice play by the youngster, nicely centralising his Queen and keeping White honest. } 24.Bc2 { Preparing to challenge the Queen, which right now is Black's best piece. } 24...Nd6 25.Qd3 Qxd3 { There was not really any productive way of keeping the Queen on and Alireza obviously preferred this to just retreating with ...Qe6. The other point to exchanging, is that it gives Black some time to try and organise his endgame, which is possibly slightly inferior but certainly no disaster. } 26.Bxd3 Nd7 27.g4 g6 28.Ne4 Nxe4 29.Bxe4 Nc5 30.Bc2 e4 { ? A costly misjudgement. The pawn's position on e4 is untenable because of the position of the black knight. Alireza had obviously got a little too excited and failed to take this into consideration. } 31.b4 { So pounces. } 31...Nd3 32.Bc3 { ! Now So will stroll his King over to d2 and win a pawn. } ( { Not } 32.Bxd3 { ? } 32...exd3 33.Kf1 Bh4 { ! Black's trump card, saving the game. Should White go for the d3-pawn directly, then Black will capture on f2 with equality. f2-f4 first would of course be a waste of time because the Bh4 controls e1. And, should White think about Bd4 and e4, then Black has that in hand also, with f7-f5 looming. } ) 32...Kf8 33.Kf1 f5 34.Ke2 Bd8 { More or less admitting the error of his ways. ...Bh4 now would not work as in the variation above, White would just play f2-f3. } 35.Bxd3 exd3+ 36.Kxd3 { Very firmly with the bit between his teeth now. From here, the game becomes a bit of a rout. } 36...Kf7 37.e4 fxg4 { ...fxe4, Kxe4 just gives White an excellent square for his King and with options on both sides, the Black King is over burdened. } 38.hxg4 g5 39.Kd4 { Coming to oversee victory. } 39...Bb6+ 40.Kd5 Bxf2 41.Kc6 { Not only with mopping up intentions on a6 and b5, the King is headed to d7. Then the e-pawn will march. } 41...Ke6 { Kd7 had to be covered. } 42.Kb7 { No biggie, White just goes for the pawns. } 42...Kd7 43.Kxa6 Kc6 44.e5 Be3 45.e6 Bc1 { Trying until the last, but there are a few ways for White to convert here. } 46.a4 { So chooses the best, but e6-e7 was also fine. } 46...bxa4 47.Be5 { ! And Firouzja resigned here. It is no use trying to make anything of his passed pawn, after b5+, the Black King must come forwards, likely to d5. e6-e7 will follow and White will Queen. } 1-0

The other win of this round, came for Vladislav Artemiev, who added to Vladislav Kovalev’s poor start to the tournament. The Russian handed the Belorussian his 3rd loss in the opening 4 games. Kovalev will kick himself for his 35…Nh7(?), which should have given way to 35…b4, with approximate equality. However, his chosen move allowed Artemiev to seize an initiative that just grew in strength. Already a pawn down, 39…Rd8(??) was a further slip, allowing Artemiev’s temporary exchange sacrifice, 40.Rxe6(!), which quickly decided matters.

The other games were drawn, but Magnus Carlsen did not have a pleasant game at all against Jorden van Foreest. The Dutch Grandmaster had won a nice game against Daniil Dubov in the previous round and obviously came into this game with his tail up against the World Champion. And why not, with a second White on the spin?

The game was a Two Knights Defence and saw van Foreest extremely well prepared. Carlsen did not get the best out of the opening and his opponent took a nice initiative. However, it is extremely hard to beat Magnus, who fought hard and defended well to earn half a point. And with this draw, Magnus passed Sergey Tiviakov’s run of 110 games unbeaten. With 111, Magnus only has 39 to go to beat Bogdan Lalic’s run of 150.

However, as Tarjei J. Svenson points out in his excellent Twitter thread on the subject, Lalic’s draws are against completely different opposition to Carlsen’s and it is debatable as to whether that particular record should be counted. Can of worms opened … ?

[THREAD] It turns out Carlsen does not have the longest unbeaten streak anyway:

According to my research, Croatian Grandmaster Bogdan Lalic played 150 FIDE rated games without a loss between September 2010 and October 2011.

But at a much, much lower level. /1 https://t.co/e5ZXXjt2ID

— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) January 15, 2020

Anyway, this all left Wesley So at the top of the standings, having dethroned Alireza Firouzja. The players will now have a rest day, before leaving Wijk aan Zee for a day. They will play round 5 at the Phillips Stadium, in Eindhoven, home of PSV Eindhoven football club.

Masters Group, round 4 Results:

Dubov ½-½ Duda
Artemiev 1-0 Kovalev
So 1-0 Firouzja
Giri ½-½ Vitiugov
Yu ½-½ Anand
Xiong ½-½ Caruana
van Foreest ½-½ Carlsen

Masters Standings after Rd 4:

So — 3.0
Xiong, Caruana, Firouzja, van Foreest, Artemiev — 2.5
Carlsen, Giri, Duda, Dubov — 2.0
Vitiugov, Anand — 1.5
Yu — 1.0
Kovalev — 0.5

It was a Black day in the Challengers Group, with the 3 decisive games all going against the first move. Nihal Sarin opened his account, at the expense of Max Warmerdam, as did David Anton Guijarro, besting Jan Smeets. Elsewhere, Surya Shekhar Ganguly, was taking a point from Dinara Saduakassova, to go into the rest day as sole leader of the group. The Challengers also get a rest day on Wednesday, before having the stage in Wijk aan Zee all to themselves on Thursday.

Challengers Group, round 4 Results:

Mamedov ½-½ Eljanov
Smirnov ½-½ Grandelius
Warmerdam 0-1 Sarin
van Foreest ½-½ Keymer
Abdusattorov ½-½ l’Ami
Saduakassova 0-1 Ganguly
Anton Guijarro 1-0 Smeets

Challengers Standings after Rd 4:

Ganguly — 3.0
Mamedov, Eljanov, Anton Guijarro, Sarin, l’Ami — 2.5
van Foreest, Smeets — 2.0
Abdusattorov, Saduakassova, Grandelius, Smirnov, Keymer — 1.5
Warmerdam — 1.0

Round 5, Thursday 16th January, Masters (Eindhoven) start at 14:00, Challengers (Wijk aan Zee) at 13:30, local time.

Masters: Carlsen vs Dubov, Caruana vs van Foreest, Anand vs Xiong, Vitiugov vs Yu, Firouzja vs Giri, Kovalev vs So, Duda vs Artemiev.

Challengers: Smeets vs Mamedov, Ganguly vs Anton Guijarro, l’Ami vs Saduakassova, Keymer vs Abdusattorov, Sarin vs van Foreest, Grandelius vs Warmerdam, Eljanov vs Smirnov.