Round 5 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2020, was played on Thursday 16th January. It was the ‘Chess on Tour’ round of this year, which meant that the Master group left Wijk aan Zee for the day and would play the round at a different venue.
This year, the chosen location, was the Philips Stadium, in Eindhoven, home of the football team, PSV Eindhoven. PSV (Philips Sports Vereniging — translation: Philips Sports Union) Eindhoven, is one of the biggest football clubs in The Netherlands. Founded in 1913, they compete in the Eredivisie, which is the Dutch Premier League. They have won the title 24 times in their history, and the KNVB Beker, (the Dutch FA Cup), 9 times.
The club has seen a lot of well known names come and go, Ruud Gullit, Ronaldo (not Cristiano), and Ruud van Nistelrooy among them. Dick Advocaat, Guus Hiddink, and the former England manager, Bobby Robson, have all spent time at the helm of the club.
Currently, the team is managed by Ernest Faber on a caretaker basis, and are in 3rd place in the Eredivisie, behind Ajax and AZ Alkmaar — the latter of course being one of last year’s ‘Chess on Tour’ locations.
Oh yes, that reminds me, this is a chess site, so let’s get back to that, shall we?
It has to be said, that Eindhoven is not a stones throw from Wijk aan Zee by any means, it is 150 kilometres (93 miles) and a good 90-minutes travel. By coach — no doubt with at least one person suffering from a cold. That said, I think it can be a bit hit and miss as to how the players are feeling, their mood (no chance of a lie in for this round), and just how up for it they are to potentially play 5 or 6 hours of chess and then have 90-minutes to travel back home again.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking this feature at all, I think it is very inventive by the Tata Steel Chess organising committee, I just wonder if/how it affects the players mentality.
Certainly, Vladislav Kovalev and Wesley So did not seem very motivated, drawing in 21-moves. I think Kovalev will probably be quite happy to get another half point on the board, his tournament not going quite as he will have intended so far. Likewise, Nikita Vitiugov and Yu Yangyi shook hands after 24-moves.
Elsewhere, however, there was action and this saw two games being decided. In one, Alireza Firouzja, was getting the better of Dutch chess favourite Anish Giri, who many fans in the Philips Stadium had no doubt come to see. If so, they were to go home disappointed, as Firouza outplayed him as White in a Queen’s Gambit Declined. The young Iranian, would join Wesley So at the top of the standings, on 3.5 points.
The other win of the round, went to India’s chess legend, Viswanathan Anand, who bested America’s Jeffery Xiong. Xiong chose the Winawer French Defence in response to Anand’s 1.e4, but it did not do well for him. For me, his 7…Kf8 needs to be looked at, it seems to give White a clear target and a very natural and free game.
Certainly, Vishy had his tail up and his position steadily grew without him having to do anything dramatic. He could have done, however, had he gone for 22.Rf3(!!) rather than 22.Ne2. This made very little difference to the result, however, in what is a very instructive game to analyse.
[Event “82nd Tata Steel, Masters”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee NED”]
[Date “2020.01.16”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Anand,V”]
[Black “Xiong,Jeffery”]
[Result “1-0”]
[BlackElo “2712”]
[ECO “C18”]
[EventDate “2020.01.10”]
[WhiteElo “2758”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 { This is the characteristic move of the Winawer variation, Black pins White’s Nc3. 3…Nf6 is also often played. } 4.e5 { Advancing the pawn, which was under threat of capture. This move is not purely in defence, however, the pawn also takes space, and is something of a hindrance to Black’s development of his knight to f6. } 4…Ne7 { Thus, the knight goes to e7. } 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 { Very natural moves so far, having give White doubled c-pawns, Black now strikes at the d-pawn. } 7.Qg4 { Threatening g7. It would be a brave player to take on c5, which gives Black very straight-forward development. } ( 7.dxc5 { This seems playable, but White must accept some issues. } 7…Nd7 { …Qc7 is a good alternative. } 8.Nf3 Qc7 9.Be3 O-O { And Black is equal at the very worst here. } ) 7…Kf8 { I am not sure about this move, and it is a rarity compared to …0-0, which is possible, due to the knight being able to come to f5 in the event of Bh6. } ( 7…O-O 8.Nf3 f5 9.Qh4 Nbc6 { with equality. } ) 8.h4 { Immediate aggression from the former World Champion. One gets the feeling he was ready for this move. } 8…h5 9.Qd1 { Vishy gets his Queen out of potential harms way, and also out of the way of his other forces. For example, his rook, which will come to h3 and from there either g3 or f3, to fire right at the black King. The other useful aspect of Qd1 is that the Queen covers c2, which is bound to be needed at some stage. } 9…b6 10.Bg5 Qc7 { It is prudent to get the Queen out of the bishop’s range. This move was bound to happen sooner or later anyway. } 11.Rh3 { Not only with aggressive options, but the rook also covers c3 here. } 11…cxd4 { A bit questionable this move, which was by no means necessary. I feel that it would have been better for Xiong to have maintained the tension, here, and continued development. There was …Nf5 for example or …Ba6. To play this move first seems to help Anand. } 12.cxd4 { Undoubling his pawns. He will play c3 now and have no immediate concerns about his pawn chain. } 12…Nf5 13.c3 { Solid. } 13…Ba6 14.Bxa6 Nxa6 15.Ne2 Nb8 { This looks a strange move, but the knight was completely misplaced on a6. Jeffery want to redistribute it as quickly as possible, it is not easy to see where to however. } 16.Nf4 { ! Not only getting the knight to a good square, but facilitating g2-g4. } 16…g6 17.g4 hxg4 18.Qxg4 { White’s position builds. It is important to take a moment, here, and look at potential. It is clear to see, that White is much more active than Black, and his King is also much safer. For this reason, it is advantage Anand right now. } 18…Nd7 19.Rc1 { This is a very tidy position for White, Anand can start to push now. } 19…Rg8 20.h5 gxh5 { There is nothing better than this, which does not say great things about Black’s status right now. } 21.Qxh5 Qc4 { ?? One has to declare this a blunder, in light of the possibility available to White now. The only fighting try was …Qc6 here. } ( { Rather tempting, is } 21…Nxd4 { but White strikes back with } 22.Ng6+ { ! unmasking the Bg5’s coverage of the Rc1. } 22…Rxg6 { (slightly preferable to …fxg6) } 23.cxd4 { and all Black has done is throw his nicer knight and hand White the c-file. } ) ( 21…Qc6 22.Rf3 Ke8 23.Ne2 Rg6 24.Ng3 Nxg3 25.fxg3 { sees White very much better. } ) 22.Ne2 { ? This is adequate, but Rf3 instead could have had the game ending rather quickly. } ( 22.Rf3 { ! Threatening Nxe6+, when Black’s position is extremely close to collapse and utterly resignable. Were it White’s move now, he would simply play Nxe6+. There is nothing better than …fxe6 (…Ke8, Rxf5) and then White continues powerfully with Qh6+ Rg7 (anything else and Black gets mated), Qxe6. And Black would be in huge trouble — even …Rxg5 doesn’t help (Qh6+ and the rook cannot safely be saved). Even though it is not White’s move, here, this threat is nigh impossible to answer. } 22…Nxe5 { is one try, but this is still very nice for White. } ( 22…Nc5 { Is another attempt. } 23.Nxe6+ { The simple dxc5 is at least as good. } 23…Nxe6 24.Rxf5 Nxg5 25.Rxg5 Rxg5 26.Qxg5 { clearly better. } ) 23.dxe5 { (Not Nxe6 now. With the black knight on e5, (targeting the Rf3), it would only draw.) } 23…Qe4+ 24.Kd2 Rxg5 25.Qh8+ { (Qxg5? Qxf3=) } 25…Ke7 { (if …Rg8? White is rocking Nxe6+! again) } 26.Qf6+ Ke8 27.Nxe6 Qxf3 28.Qxf7+ Kxf7 29.Nxg5+ Ke7 30.Nxf3 { And Black is unlikely to survive this endgame. } ) 22…Rc8 23.Rf3 { This is not as powerful here, but it is still a very nice move. It assures White of picking up a pawn on f5. } 23…Rc6 { Preparing to defend. This rook is off to the Kingside once the e6-pawn is gone. } 24.Ng3 Ke8 25.Nxf5 exf5 26.Rxf5 Rcg6 27.Kd2 { Solid, Anand knows he has good chances, here and spends a move to cross his t’s and dot his i’s. } 27…Nf8 28.Be3 Ne6 29.Qe2 Qa2+ { Exchanging Queens does not work for Black, who has a very tough endgame. He wants to keep the lady on, hoping White errs. } 30.Rc2 Qb1 31.c4 { ! powerfully demonstrating his total dominance of the position, and the weakness of the black centre. } 31…Rg4 { Obviously, …dxc4, Qxc4 would be very unpleasant. } 32.cxd5 Rxd4+ { A useful resource, but still futile resistance with best play from White. } 33.Bxd4 Qxc2+ { (not the hasty …Nxd4??, which totally loses to Rc8+!) } 34.Kxc2 Nxd4+ 35.Kd3 Nxe2 36.Kxe2 { Mission accomplished for Anand. All roads should lead to Rome from here, it would take a very bad error for him not to win this game. } 36…Rg4 37.f4 Rg3 38.Rg5 { ! To the point. Should Black exchange, the conversion is a formality with the setup of the white pawns. } 38…Rxa3 { Xiong decides to go for material, but this changes nothing. Black’s strategy is now very simple, to control the 7th rank and then push on with d6. } 39.Rg8+ Kd7 40.Rf8 Ke7 41.Rb8 Kd7 42.Rb7+ Ke8 43.d6 { And Jeffery Xiong resigned, here. Rb8+ is a decisive threat, seeing a new Queen for Vishy Anand, or the gain of Black’s f-pawn. } 1-0
[/pgn]
A nice win by Anand, which saw him improving his position to within a point of the leaders. He’s got to get past Caruana, van Foreest and Artemiev first, however, they trail So and Firouzja by just half a point.
All eyes now turn to round 6, not least because the draw sees Carlsen vs Caruana.
Masters Group, round 5 Results:
Carlsen ½-½ Dubov
Caruana ½-½ van Foreest
Anand 1-0 Xiong
Vitiugov ½-½ Yu
Firouzja 1-0 Giri
Kovalev ½-½ So
Duda ½-½ Artemiev
Masters Standings after Rd 5:
So, Firouzja — 3.5
Caruana, van Foreest, Artemiev — 3.0
Xiong, Duda, Anand, Carlsen, Dubov — 2.5
Giri, Vitiugov — 2.0
Yu — 1.5
Kovalev — 1.0
In the Challengers group, all hell broke loose. With the Masters out of the way, those fighting to join them next year, got it on and produced 6 decisive games. Only Ganguly vs Anton Guijarro was a draw.
As a result, Ganguly finds himself no longer in sole occupation of the lead. He is joined at the top of the standings by Pavel Eljanov, who got one over on Anton Smirnov, and Erwin l’Ami, who will have given the Dutch crowd something to cheer by beating Dinara Saduakassova.
Challengers Group, round 5 Results:
Smeets 1-0 Mamedov
Ganguly ½-½ Anton Guijarro
L’Ami 1-0 Saduakassova
Keymer 0-1 Abdusattorov
Sarin 0-1 van Foreest
Grandelius 1-0 Warmerdam
Eljanov 1-0 Smirnov
Challengers Standings after Rd 5:
Eljanov, Ganguly, l’Ami — 3.5
van Foreest, Anton Guijarro, Smeets — 3.0
Mamedov, Abdusattorov, Grandelius, Sarin — 2.5
Saduakassova, Smirnov, Keymer — 1.5
Warmerdam — 1.0
Round 6, Friday 17th January, 13:30 local time.
Masters: Dubov vs Artemiev, So vs Duda, Giri vs Kovalev, Yu vs Firouzja, Xiong vs Vitiugov, van Foreest vs Anand, Carlsen vs Caruana.
Challengers: Mamedov vs Smirnov, Warmerdam vs Eljanov, van Foreest vs Grandelius, Abdusattorov vs Sarin, Saduakassova vs Keymer, Anton Guijarro vs l’Ami, Smeets vs Ganguly.
