Round 9 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, was played on Tuesday 21st January. Monday had been a rest day and as they can affect players in different ways, chess fans everywhere waited to see what the resumption of play would bring.
Without a doubt, the most exciting feature of the day, was Alireza Firouzja taking on Magnus Carlsen with the White pieces. You probably wont need me to tell you, just what a storm the 16-year-old Firouzja has been creating recently. He was runner up at the World Rapid Championships in December 2019 and sixth in the World Blitz Championships, also in December last year.
And here at his first Tata Steel Chess Tournament, in the spotlight Masters group, he was joint leader (along with Fabiano Caruana) with 5.5/8.
Understandably, whispers had started about the possibility of Firouzja being the future challenger to Magnus Carlsen’s World Title. This is not only because of Firouzja’s results, but also his playing style. He is fearless, tactically sharp, and a cool decision maker. We have seen this kind of 16-year-old before. He went on to conquer elite chess and has been dominating it for the last decade. The two meeting on such a stage, for their first competitive game of classical chess, was just too hot a prospect.
16 y 7m 3d Alireza Firouzja is facing The World Champion for the first time in a classical game on January 21st 2020, exactly 13 years after Carlsen’s (16 y 1m 23d) first meeting with then World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in Wijk aan Zee 2007 (draw). #TataSteelChess #stats #2sjakk
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) January 21, 2020
With the strike of the gong in the hall of the Moriaan, (the tournament’s venue), it was time for the hype to stop and for the players to do the talking. This, unfortunately for Alireza, saw Magnus totally outclassing him with the black pieces.
Quite frankly, the game turned into a bit of a rout in the end. Carlsen, playing the Black side of a Berlin Defence, got the better out of the opening. A big feature of the position, was the open b and c files. Unfortunately for Firouzja, he just couldn’t get his pieces developed with any quality. This gave the World Champion a stranglehold on the position, and that always means trouble.
Trouble arrived in no small measure, positionally and on the clock, And then Alireza worsened matters by launching pawns on the Kingside. I think that this was either down to time pressure or perhaps the youngster was a little fed up. Anyway, he seemed to surrender the Queenside and this led to an unstoppable push by Magnus.
[Event “82nd Tata Steel, Masters”]
[Site “Wijk aan Zee NED”]
[Date “2020.01.21”]
[Round “9.1”]
[White “Firouzja, Alireza”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “2872”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[ECO “C65”]
[EventDate “2020.01.11”]
[Opening “Ruy Lopez”]
[Variation “Berlin defence”]
[WhiteElo “2723”]
[WhiteFideId “12573981”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 d6 5.c3 a6 6.Ba4 Be7 7.O-O O-O 8.Re1 Re8 9.Nbd2 Bf8 10.h3 b5 11.Bc2 Bb7 { This position is rather well known, as one would expect in a Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence. Interestingly, though, Firouzja has not had it on the board, in competition anyway. Carlsen has played it as White, against David Navara, at the 2008 Dresden Olympiad (1-0). } 12.d4 g6 13.a3 { Firouzja ditches Carlsen’s choice of move, (which had been 13.d5), but this has still been seen loads of times. It first crops up in Zakharov-Zaitsev, at the 1979 Chigorin Memorial. } 13…Nb8 14.d5 c6 15.c4 Nbd7 { The game has transposed to Shadrina-Kosintseva (1-0), 2009 Women’s European Championships in St. Petersburg. } 16.a4 { If you are into your theory, you will be interested to know that we have transposed yet again. This position has been seen a few times before, Smyslov-Gligoric 1984 (½-½), and Skouvaklis-Mejvik 2012 (1-0), but with White to move. The game we are actually following, is Aagaard-Hjartarson (0-1) 1997, but we are a couple of tempos ahead. } 16…Qc7 { Technically a new move, Hjartarson had played …bxc4. } 17.b3 { There are many examples of this position, but only with White to move here. } 17…Rec8 { Well, after weaving through a theoretical web, the players are now on their own. } 18.Ra2 bxc4 19.bxc4 a5 { ! a good human move — Magnus doesn’t want Alireza playing a5 himself, supporting the b6-square. With the closed nature of the position, the b-file is going to be extremely important, as is getting the pieces to optimum squares. } 20.Nf1 Ba6 { Developing a piece to the long diagonal and at the sime time, making a threat to c4. } 21.Ne3 Nc5 { Developing the knight to a good square, while threatening e4. This forces a concession from White. } 22.Nd2 { There was not much choice than to play this. } 22…cxd5 23.cxd5 { After this exchange, one of White’s activation squares for a knight, namely c4, becomes rather precarious. This is due to discoveries along the c-file — …Bxc4 and …Ncxe4, for example. } 23…Rab8 { One has to say, Black will likely be the happier out of the opening. The black pieces are looking much more organised, with the Nc5 and Ba6 on good squares and poised. Likewise, the rooks and Queen have taken up residence very promptly along the b and c files. } 24.Ba3 Qd8 25.Qf3 h5 26.Raa1 Bh6 27.Rab1 Rxb1 28.Rxb1 Kg7 { A useful, tidy, waiting move. Magnus wants to see what Alireza thinks he has. Carlsen will be very content, here, his control of the b-file (without even having a rook on it), and the f1-a6 diagonal, is stopping White from getting active. } 29.Nef1 { When I was first playing chess, a friend told me that in positions such as these, (closed positions, difficult positions), we want to improve our worst piece. Geez, if I was Firouzja, here, I would not know where to even begin. There are really none of his pieces that are actually doing anything of substance. } 29…h4 30.Ne3 Bf4 31.Nef1 Qc7 32.g3 { ? This move is a bit of a mystery to me, it just looks instinctively wrong to be doing this. Perhaps time pressure was a feature, I know that Alireza was struggling on the clock. However, I also think it is a bit of an admission that he has lost the battle on the Queenside and just does not know what to do. I think he figured that he would try something on the Kingside in that case. This can be a good principle, that if someone is attacking on a wing, then we counter in the centre or the opposite wing, but this principle has appendixes. For example, if we have competed for the same wing, switching to the other one tends to not be a good sign. Also, one does not attack at the cost of ones King and here, some air is appearing around the white monarch. } 32…hxg3 33.fxg3 Bh6 { It is hard to see what White has achieved. Ok, so he has moved the bishop from f4, but the piece was not doing a lot there anyway, it was just around. } 34.h4 { Firouzja’s moves have stopped being relevant to his situation and now he is just worsening his position. He seems to have completely taken his eyes off of the Queenside. I can only put this down to time pressure. } 34…Qd7 { Carlsen stays focused, it is time to begin the push. } 35.Kg2 { Not only was Qd1 a horrible move to play, but it was also a waste of time. Black would just play …Bxf1, when Qxf1 would obviously hang the Nd2, and Qxf1 would take the Queen off of the e4-pawn. } 35…Nxa4 36.Bxa4 Qxa4 37.Bxd6 Qd4 { Ganging up on the Nd2 and highlighting the lack of harmony in the White camp. } 38.Qf2 Qxf2+ 39.Kxf2 Bxf1 { And here, facing material loss, Alireza Firouzja resigned. } 0-1
[/pgn]
So what can we take from this game? Well, on one hand, Magnus made his point as well as scoring one. He had nothing to prove, he has done pretty much everything that there is to be done in chess, but he proved it anyway. He is (to coin a phrase) da man. For now, the hype about Firouzja being a possible threat, is answered.
On the other hand, I don’t feel that Aireza should be too cut up about the result of the game. He should be absolutely mortified at the way it came about, though, he really did not do himself justice at all. However, it is one game, and his first, against the world’s very best. He has graduated into a whole new chess world, in this game he got schooled.
Firouzja is a great player, of that there is no doubt. Yet, he is also young and has a lot to learn. There are obviously holes in his game and temperament that he needs to work on. And no doubt he will and this will make him stronger. Furthermore, the kind of experience that tournaments such as Tata Steel will give him, is invaluable.
What really excites me, is the prospect of him and Magnus playing on the same stage, in a couple of years time. If they want to go at it, boy are we in for a treat.
The other games were drawn, and they range from the 19-mover in Anand-Dubov, to the 79-move, mammoth effort, in Duda-Xiong. All of this left Fabiano Caruana in sole lead of the group.
There is just one more round left and then the players will have their final rest day on Thursday, before the last 3 rounds of the tournament get underway on Friday.
Masters Group, round 9 Results:
Anand ½-½ Dubov
Vitiugov ½-½ Caruana
Firouzja 0-1 Carlsen
Kovalev ½-½ van Foreest
Duda ½-½ Xiong
Artemiev ½-½ Yu
So ½-½ Giri
Masters Standings after Rd 9:
Caruana — 6.0
So, Carlsen, van Foreest, Firouzja — 5.5
Duda — 5.0
Giri, Dubov, Artemiev — 4.5
Anand — 4.0
Xiong — 3.5
Vitiugov, Yu, Kovalev — 3.0
The Challengers group saw top seed, David Anton Guijarro, beating Nils Grandelius with the black pieces. This meant that he joined the lead on 6/9. And he wasn’t the only one, Erwin l’Ami beat Rauf Mamedov to also move up to the top of the standings. They join Pavel Eljanov, who drew his game against Dinara Saduakassova.
The other point of the group went to Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who bested Anton Smirnov, with the black pieces.
Challengers Group, round 9 Results:
l’Ami 1-0 Mamedov
Keymer ½-½ Ganguly
Sarin ½-½ Smeets
Grandelius 0-1 Anton Guijarro
Eljanov ½-½ Saduakassova
Smirnov 0-1 Abdusattorov
Warmerdam ½-½ van Foreest
Challengers Standings after Rd 9:
Anton Guijarro, l’Ami, Eljanov — 6.0
Ganguly — 5.5
Grandelius, Abdusattorov — 5.0
van Foreest, Smeets, Mamedov, Keymer, Sarin — 4.5
Smirnov — 3.0
Saduakassova, Warmerdam — 2.0
Round 10, Wednesday 22nd January, 13:30 local time.
Masters: Dubov vs Giri, Yu vs So, Xiong vs Artemiev, van Foreest vs Duda, Carlsen vs Kovalev, Caruana vs Firouzja, Anand vs Vitiugov.
Challengers: Mamedov vs van Foreest, Abdusattorov vs Warmerdam, Saduakassova vs Smirnov, Anton Guijarro vs Eljanov, Smeets vs Grandelius, Ganguly vs Sarin, l’Ami vs Keymer.
