Jordan van Foreest has won Tata Steel Masters
... and crossed the 2700 Elo rating threshold in the process.
First, a note for my regular readers: if you were dismayed that I was unable to write and publish a post last Friday, I can only apologize. It’s been a busy week professionally, and I didn’t have time to get to a second post on the Tata Steel tournament. If there’s a silver lining, it must be that my brief delay gave the tournament time to finish - and what a finish!
The two Dutch participants (Van Foreest & Giri) finished in a tie for the lead on 8.5/13, guaranteeing a local champion for the tournament in Wijk aan Zee for the first time since Jan Timman’s victory in 1985. In the tiebreak blitz games, Jorden defended worse positions valiantly, achieving two draws, and in the “Armageddon” game, he chose the black pieces (and draw odds). Giri achieved a winning middlegame, and then a winning endgame. But with both players deep in time trouble and scrambling to simply make moves before the flag fell, Giri blundered and Van Foreest took the full point, and the title.
Unfortunately, the final round did engender some controversy when Alireza Firouzja was asked to move boards to make way for the blitz tiebreaks to start, at a crucial moment in his own game when his chances were still very much alive and his clock was ticking. Firouzja was unable to convert his advantage, drawing in the final round and finishing only a half point behind the leaders - so he was justifiably unaware that he had already been eliminated from contention for the top prize by the tiebreak order, and was unnecessarily disturbed by the tournament organizers at a crucial moment for his concentration. The controversy appears to have been short lived, though, if only because everyone agrees that it was ridiculous. The tournament organizers issued an apology which probably doesn’t seem sufficient, but here we are. Firouzja had a great event, finishing on 8/13 and gaining 10 rating points, which puts him at #13 in the world in the live rankings.
Incidentally, all the young guns impressed in Wijk. The 18 year old Andrey Esipenko gained enough rating points to cross the 2700 rating threshold, as did 21 year old Jorden Van Foreest, who won the whole tournament. Look out Magnus.
One player who did NOT do well in Wijk was title hopeful Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who got obliterated repeatedly in his favorite variation of the Najdorf. Speculation abounds that he’s “saving” his most sophisticated opening preparation for the resumption of the Candidates tournament, where he remains tied for the lead. For his world championship hopes, that better be true.
And then there was last post’s “game of the week” protagonist, Fabiano Caruana, who emerged from his pandemic-related chess absence playing stellar, beautiful chess, and finished only a half point behind the tournament leaders, with 8/13. Of course, a tie for second place with 2 other players doesn’t sound like the most exceptional performance of the event, but creatively, Fabiano set the chess world on fire at Wijk. His game against Duda was featured in this column last week while the tournament was still going on, and his win against MVL is going to serve as our “game of the week” this week:
Game of the Week #20:
Fabiano Caruana vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1-0), Tata Steel Masters, Wijk aan Zee, Rd. 7
e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6!? (diagram)
The poisoned pawn variation of the Najdorf is MVL’s calling card, and his primary weapon against 1. e4. The so called, “poisoned pawn” on b2 is offered by the white player, who claims that black will be wasting a number of moves with his queen, and that his enormous development advantage, and open lines all over the board compensate fully for the material. This variation has been analyzed to death by all of the top players and all of the top computers, with some variations going 20, 30 moves deep, full of fascinating, complicated, computer-ish moves. So it’s not a variation where you want to ignore the computer suggestions, or “figure it out over the board,” which would be the task before MVL, if, indeed, he’s “saving his preparation” for the candidates. But Caruana had some preparation here, too. These two players had this exact position in Norway, 2019.
Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. Be2!? (diagram)
But this is a bit like announcing a pop quiz. 10. Be2 is not a novelty, but it’s an old sideline, played much less frequently than the main moves 10. e5 and 10. f5, which attempt to immediately refute black’s play. In this position in Norway, 2019, Caruana preferred 10. f5, which is the computer-approved, “main line” in the Najdorf poisoned-pawn variation (10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 and THEN 13. Be2, or 13. e5 with an equal, but dangerous, complicated struggle).
The bishop is well placed on e2 if ever the black f7 pawn has to move, ideas like Bh5+ become motifs in the position, so Caruana puts the bishop there first, with the idea that once the center is opened up, white will have saved a tempo. But no idea in chess comes without a cost. Here, white does delay opening the center for one move, which gives black a tempo to get developed himself. The most popular moves in this position take advantage of the gift tempo to bring the other pieces out. 10. … Nbd7 is possible, preventing 11. e5 outright, or 10. … Be7, intending to meet 11. e5 with 11. … dxe5 12. fxe5 Nfd7, when black would welcome the exchange of dark squared bishops, reducing white’s attacking ammunition. 13. Rb3 Bxg5! 14. Qxg5 Qc5 15. Qxg7 Qxe5, for example, with a complicated game.
Despite that 10. Be2 is an unusual move, one suspects that MVL realizes his response (10. … Nc6) is provocative, offering to allow white to play in similar fashion to the 10. f5 line, but simply claim that he’s gained an extra tempo, since his bishop is already on the d1-h5 diagonal. This is probably the best evidence that MVL is saving his preparation in the main lines, that he’d venture the third most popular, second rate continuation here - but ok. Brilliant and beautiful chess generally requires a willing opponent possessed of their own, fighting spirit. MVL challenged Fabiano to prove that bishop really is dangerous. It’s only on e2 after all, and it’s not exactly EASY for white to break through:
… Nc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. e5! (the e5 break comes after Nxc6 // bxc6, just as it does in the 10. f5 variation, but here, the bishop is already on e2. This wasn’t a novelty yet, but this position has not been reached many times, and when it has, white has usually preferred castling on the twelfth move. Caruana had prepared this, though, and he was still playing quickly) 12. … Nd5 13. Nxd5 exd5?! (diagram)
But 13. … exd5 is a new move, and it appears to be a mistake when compared to the other recapture, 13. … cxd5, after which, black remains solid, but his c8 bishop remains thoroughly depressed. 13. … exd5 is an attempt to free the bishop, but it creates a more fluid dynamic in the center of the board:
White to play. According to the clock times on chessbomb.com, Fabi thought for the first time, for 30 minutes in this position. But this is an interesting moment. If, in his home preparation, the computers recommended black play 13. … cxd5, Caruana would have been aware that there was a problem with 13. … exd5, even if he didn’t know what it was. And then, he was obviously aware that the “point” of playing 10. Be2 and following up with the immediate 12. e5! would be to break things open and cause some trouble along the d1-h5 and h5-e8 diagonals, or maybe along the open e-file…
e6!! (diagram)
An absolute stunner of a move. White has already sacrificed a pawn, but material is irrelevant in this position. White’s development is superior, he has both bishops out, his king is ready to castle and bring the h1 rook into the game, the black queen is offside, and white has pressure along the open b-file. The game will be won if white can open things up and get at the black king before MVL can develop, and castle to safety. Another pawn sacrificed is consistent with the theme, if it is daring. The black pawn is left on d6, simply, because it restricts the development of black’s own f8 bishop, and cuts the black queen off from retreating to the king’s defense.
But then there’s the fact, the pawn just can’t be safely taken. For example:
… fxe6 15. f5! (what are pawns?) exf5 16. Bh5+ g6 17. Qd4 Rg8 18. Qf6 when black is not surviving… or 15. … e5 trying to keep the position closed, but it’s too late - white simply throws everything at the black king and wins: 16. 0-0 h6 17. f6! with threats of f7+, fxg7, Bh5+, etc. etc.
… Bxe6 is no better… 15. f5! Bxf5 16. 0-0 Be6 17. Rb7 with a blistering attack.
(Analysis diagram - this did not occur in the game)
Basically by process of elimination, MVL arrived at the move 14. … f6, simply declining the pawn and hoping to keep things closed:
… f6 15. Bh5+ Kd8 16. Bh4 d4 17. Bf2 Qc3!? 18. f5 Qxd2 19. Kxd2 (diagram)
MVL bails out into an endgame, in the hope that he won’t be unceremoniously checkmated, but finds himself in a dead lost position where white has a massive, protected passed pawn on e6, control of the open b-file, and black’s pawns are still in his own way:
… c5 20. Bf3 Ra7 21. g4 g6 22. Bh4 Be7 23. Rb6 h5 24. h3 (diagram)
And black simply can’t move. His c8 bishop is doomed on its home square, and there’s no way to add any pressure to the white pawn chain that supports e6. Caruana proceeds to march his king to d5, puts his bishop on g3, and ya know - captures d6, and then all of the other pawns.
… Ke8 25. Bg3 Rc7 26. Ke3 hxg4 27. hxg4 Rxh1 28. Bxh1 gxf5 29. gxf5 Bf8 30. Kc4 Rh7 31. Be4 (diagram)
This is a really instructive position, I think, just because it illustrates how irrelevant material can be. White is down a pawn, even now, on move 31, having sacrificed it all the way back on move 8. And MVL successfully parried the mating attack, but the larger problems remain: he’s never been able to develop his pieces, and he’s completely hemmed into his own two home rows. The bishops look like they haven’t moved at all, even if you and I know that the f8 bishop briefly appeared on e7, where it was still in the way, before retreating back to f8. MVL doesn’t have any way to bring enough defenders to the d6 pawn after Caruana plays Kd5, and once d6 falls, c5 will fall, and d4, and a6… Incidentally, in the diagram position - 31. … Rh3 pretends to get some active counterplay, but fails immediately: 32. Rb8 Ke7 (32. … Kd8 33. Bb7) 33. Rxc8 Rxg3 34. Bc6! when the black king is stuck in a mating net…
… Be7 32. Bxd6 Bxd6 33. Rxd6 Bb7 34. Bxb7 Rxb7 35. Rxa6 Rb2 36. Kxc5 Rxc2 37. Kxd4 (diagram) resigns 1-0
This game was fantastic - just an absolute beatdown, after Caruana sacrificed not 1, but 2 pawns (and he was prepared to jettison a third) in order to keep MVL’s king in the center, and his pieces from developing. I suspect when the candidates tournament starts up again, we’ll see Maxime trying 10. … Nbd7, or 10. … Be7, but that’s just my speculation…
In any case, well played Fabiano Caruana, and what a tournament the Tata Steel event turned out to be. I haven’t even gone over any of Van Foreest’s games, or Firouzja’s, or Esipenko’s… but there’s always next weekend.
Puzzle of the Week #21:
But first, a solution to last week’s puzzle:
Harikrishna was able to finish things off with a simple tactic:
… Rxb3! 2. Rxb3 Nc1 3. Qc2 Nxb3 4. Qxb3 Qa4
Of course, there were other ways to win, but this little simplification is completely forced. White just resigned, since the b-pawn cannot be stopped without catastrophic material loss.
This week’s puzzle is taken from the game O. Bernstein - Capablanca, played in an exhibition in Moscow in 1914:
Bernstein had been suffering for most of the game against a passed black c-pawn, and he’s just elected to exchange it off, along with the rest of the pieces. Bernstein was clearly expecting Capablanca to play 1. … Qb1+ 2. Qf1 Qxa2, after which the game will likely be drawn. But the ‘human chess machine’ had something else in mind. Can you spot it?
If you think you have a solution, feel free to email me at JensenUVA@gmail.com or DM on twitter @JensenUVA
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Until next time, ARGH! SHAKHMATY!!!!!