Tata Kicks Off At Wijk aan Zee

Amateurs play in same big room as elite Grandmasters in Wijk aan Zee.

Dating back to the 1970s, the beginning of each new calendar year promised a pair of elite chess tournaments: one in the coastal Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee and the other in the Andalusian city of Linares.  Both attracted the strongest Grandmasters on the planet, e.g. Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen.  Unfortunately, the Spanish financial crisis claimed Linares as a casualty in 2011.  However, the steel conglomerate Tata maintained the tradition at Wijk, despite a shrinking budget that reduced the number of participants this year to 12 (from 14) and the number of Top 10 players to merely 5.

The small decrease in size does in no way signify a decrease in the relevance of Tata Steel Chess.  Ten players rated over 2700 will battle over the next fortnight (through January 26).  These Grandmasters will author many thrilling games for audiences around the world to enjoy.

Indeed, these games yield worthwhile study material for any serious chess master (or wannabe master).  Any young or aspiring player rated over 1800 should take the time each day to review the latest games (up to 13 per round, counting the Challengers section).  Check out your favorite players or openings.  Try to learn from the middlegame maneuvers and endgame technique.  Ask yourself if you could play like the Grandmasters.  At the Internet Chess Club, go to the Events list under the Window menu or in the Activities console to find the games and daily videos.  Or visit the official website, which features instant analysis by the Houdini 2 engine.     

Hikaru Nakamura

Tata Masters (A section)

• Titles: 12 Grandmasters, including 5 of the Top 10
• Average Rating = 2743 FIDE
• Favorites: Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana and Karjakin
• Americans: Nakamura, Caruana (Italy-USA) and Wesley So (Philippines-USA)
• Comment: Despite the conspicuous absence of World Champion Carlsen plus ex-Champs Kramnik and Anand, the competitive field still features #2 ranked Aronian and #3 Nakamura. 

Tata Challengers (B section)

• Titles: 10 Grandmasters plus 4 International Masters (norms are possible)
• Average Rating = 2579 FIDE
• Favorites: Wojtaszek, Jobava, Yangyi Yu and Saric
• American: Kayden Troff (Utah)
• Comment: There is no clear favorite as several young (and underrated) wolves try to make their name.  Indeed, 2 of top 3 seeds lost in the very first round!

Anand Wins Linares, Carlsen Moves up to Top 5

(Viswanathan Anand draws easily with the white pieces in the final round against Veselin Topalov to clinch first place. Will these two elite players meet again with the World Championship at stake? Photo from ChessBase website.)

The super-Grandmaster tournament of Linares has drawn to a close with a familiar face at the top. Viswanathan Anand, the 38 year old World Champion from India, dominated a field of seven opponents, ranging from the Ukrainian veteran Vassily Ivanchuk (same age) to the Norwegian teenager Magnus Carlsen (just 17 years old). Anand finished in first with a solid result of 4 wins, 1 loss and 9 draws for 8.5 out of 14. The youngster Carlsen took second place honors at half a point behind while the Armenian Levon Aronian and the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov shared third place with 7.5 each.

Final standings

• 8.5 Anand
• 8.0 Carlsen
• 7.5 Aronian and Topalov
• 7.0 Radjabov
• 6.5 Ivanchuk
• 5.5 Leko and Shirov

This year's "Wimbledon of chess" will be remembered for the fighting chess that was played on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, first in Morelia, Mexico and then in Linares, Spain. The players insisted on mortal combat starting from the first round--remarkably at this level, three of the 14 rounds finished with more decisive games than draws. Despite a disappointing final round of four draws, 25 of 56 games (45%) resulted in a winner. Every player won at least two games and all but the champion suffered more than one defeat. Chess fans were able to follow many exciting games; even some of the draws were long back-and-forth battles that could have ended differently.

Here are my favorite games from the tournament. Serious chess students, especially those rated above 1800, should get in the habit of playing through Grandmaster games on a regular basis. By studying these top level contests, you improve your intuition in many different kinds of positions, which will hopefully open your eyes to new strategies in your own games. You may also download a PGN file of these 13 games to use in Fritz or ChessBase. On ICC, type "liblist Linares08" to see all of the games or check out the ChessFM website for daily video reports.

• Shirov 0-1 Anand (1) -- Shirov's king perishes by move 30 after a Rxc3 sacrifice
• Anand 0-1 Aronian (2) -- Anand gets checkmated facing the Marshall attack
• Carlsen 0-1 Anand (3) -- This technical battle in the Semi-Slav decides first place
• Shirov 1-0 Topalov (4) -- Shirov makes excellent use of king to fight in the endgame
• Leko 0-1 Anand (5) -- Anand's technique prevails in a wild opposite wing pawn race
• Topalov 0-1 Carlsen (5) -- Carlsen essays the Alekhine's defense to stun Topalov
• Carlsen 1-0 Aronian (7) -- Ruy Lopez becomes a wild battle with both kings in danger
• Ivanchuk 0-1 Carlsen (8) -- Counterplay overcomes opening disaster in time pressure
• Anand 1-0 Shirov (8) -- In a Sveshnikov, Anand's endgame skills win once again
• Topalov 1-0 Shirov (11) -- Topalov brilliantly smashes the Gruenfeld
• Shirov 1/2 Aronian (12) -- Bishop pair survives underpromotion to N in Marshall attack
• Carlen 1-0 Topalov (12) -- Carlsen checkmates Topalov with an unsound attack
• Topalov 1-0 Leko (13) -- Topalov scores one for white against the Marshall attack

Of course, the big winner is the reigning World Champion Anand. He once again proved that, in the absence of former #1 Garry Kasparov, he's the man to beat. The other big news is the continued success of Carlsen (see photo at the right), coming on the heels of his first place finish in Corus at Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. Various websites report that Magnus will be ranked in the Top 5 of the World on the April FIDE rating list! At this rate, he will soon pass Kramnik and Anand to take over the #1 ranking! Will the best chess player on the planet soon be a teenager?

Anand and Carlsen Draw, Still Occupy Top Spots at Linares

(This photo shows Anand playing a charity simul on ICC with the familiar BlitzIn interface.)

The 38 year old Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand continues to lead the world's most prestigious annual chess tournament. The world's #1 rated player presently has a score of "plus 3" or 6.5 out of 10 after four wins, five draws and one loss. Two fellow competitors remain within striking distance of Anand as four rounds remain in the second half of the schedule: Norwegian teenager Magnus Carlsen at 6.0 and Armenian Levon Aronian at 5.5. However, "Vishy" has already faced both rivals, drawing with Aronian in round 9 and drawing with Carlsen in round 10.

• Aronian 1/2 Anand (9) -- Queen's Indian
• Carlsen 1-0 Shirov (9) -- Carlsen wins a drawn endgame out of the Ruy Lopez when Shirov accidentally allows him to queen
• Topalov 1/2 Radjabov (9) -- Ruy Lopez, Schliemann
• Leko 0-1 Ivanchuk (9) -- Caro Kann defense
• Anand 1/2 Carlsen (10) -- Highly anticipated game between the two leaders fizzles out in a 22 move draw in the Sveshnikov variation
• Radjabov 1/2 Aronian (10) -- Semi-Slav defense
• Shirov 1/2 Leko (10) -- Shirov and Leko continue the theoretical discussion of the Marshall attack in the Ruy Lopez, with black's bishop pair sufficient to draw
• Ivanchuk 1/2 Topalov (10) -- Topalov finds trouble in his favorite Najdorf variation yet escapes with half a point when Ivanchuk blunders two pawns

(Click on the links to view the moves in Chess Publisher's game viewer.)

The tenth round was the first one to come to a peaceful conclusion in all four games. Perhaps the players wanted some extra time to rest, as the tournament stops for a rest day on Sunday. On the bright side, 20 out of 40 games have been decisive so far, a statistic that is uncommon for events at the world's highest level. Some more observations from the past three days:

• Ivanchuk has serious difficulty managing his nerves. He obtained excellent middlegame positions against both Carlsen (round 8) and Topalov (round 10), but lost the former due to time pressure and hung two pawns to draw in the latter.
• On the other hand, Carlsen too often gets dubious positions in the opening. His father admitted on his blog that Magnus forgot theory at move 8 against Ivanchuk. Still, he finds a way to complicate the game and sometimes wins. GM Hikaru Nakamura bluntly said on ICC: "Smallville(GM)(166): Carlsen simply proves that older dudes need to play more 1-minute chess."

The next round begins on Monday morning at 7am PST and the tournament wraps up on Friday. If you're interested in listening to Grandmaster commentary, check out the daily video reports on the ICC ChessFM website (membership required).

Anand Wins, Extends Lead at Linares

(The Linares tournament is held at the Teatro Cervantes in the heart of the city. Participants play on the stage with large video displays for the audience to follow the action. Photo from ChessBase website.)

After five days off to allow players and staff to travel across the Atlantic Ocean, the "Wimbledon of chess" has resumed in its traditional venue: the southern Spanish city of Linares. Fortunately for all chess fans around the world, the unbelievable fighting spirit has carried over from the first half of action in Morelia. Three of the four contests today were decisive, including one win by black. Perhaps the most complicated game today was the lone peaceful result, although regretably it ended with an agreement to draw by mutual fear when the position still had plenty of play remaining.

• Anand 1-0 Shirov (8) -- Anand beats Shirov in the Sveshnikov variation with his impeccable endgame technique
• Aronian 1-0 Topalov (8) -- English Opening
• Ivanchuk 0-1 Carlsen (8) -- Carlsen creates counterplay in Ivanchuk's time pressure (under a minute for 15 moves) to overcome an opening disaster in Ruy Lopez
• Radjabov 1/2 Leko (8) -- Queen's Indian

(Click on the links to view wins by Anand and Carlsen in the Chess Publisher game viewer.)

With these results, Anand extends his lead to a full point at 5.5 out of 8. Aronian and Carlsen are now tied for second place at 4.5. Rounds 9 and 10 are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, beginning at 7am PST. My students may want to follow the action on ICC on Saturday morning, with daily live audio commentary (Grandmasters!) by ChessFM. Note: the games often don't get exciting until the third or fourth hour of play, meaning after 9am PST. Sunday is a rest day for the players.

Update on Friday evening: Round 9 saw two decisive games: Carlsen outplayed Shirov while Ivanchuk beat Leko. Anand remains the leader at 6.0 out of 9, with Carlsen merely 0.5 behind. Guess who plays on Saturday? Anand vs Carlsen. Stay tuned for fireworks!

Anand Leads Linares at Halfway Point

(Magnus Carlsen as white versus Viswanathan Anand at the beginning of round 3 in Morelia. Anand won the game. Photo from official website.)

Seasoned chess enthusiasts look forward every year to the tradition known as the Linares super-tournament. Eight of the top players in the world test their opening preparation, mental capacity and nerves in a double round-robin format. The participants for 2008 are all ranked in the top 13 of the world: Viswanathan Anand (2799), Veselin Topalov (2780), Alexei Shirov (2755), Peter Leko (2753), Vassily Ivanchuk (2751), Levon Aronian (2739), Teimour Radjabov (2735) and Magnus Carlsen (2733). Considering the high level of competition, many chess experts call this event the "Wimbledon of chess."

For the second year in a row, the Linares tournament has been split between two continents, with half of the rounds played in Morelia, Mexico and the other half in Linares, Spain. During the first seven rounds in Morelia, the participants faced each other player one time and then they repeat the process in Linares--of course, with opposite colors. The Morelia half just ended on Saturday and now the players have until Thursday to fly to Spain and adjust to the European time zone and climate.

Standings after 7 of 14 rounds

• 4.5 Anand
• 4.0 Topalov and Shirov
• 3.5 Aronian and Carlsen
• 3.0 Ivanchuk and Radjabov
• 2.5 Leko

The story of the tournament has been the high percentage of fighting chess games. In many top level chess competitions, the number of draws varies between 2/3 or even 3/4 of the games. Not so in Morelia! A stunning 15 of 28 games so far have been decisive, and even many of the draws were filled with plenty of drama. Every player has both won a game and lost a game! Nearly 40% of the games featured the Sicilian defense, one of the most aggressive openings known. Simply said, the tournament has been a spectator's delight.

The best player, without a doubt, has been Anand. He leads at "+2" or 4.5 out of 7. He overcame a loss to Aronian with victories against Shirov, Leko and Carlsen. Two other players who can be happy with their result to date are the veteran Shirov and the youngster Carlsen. The one who is probably the most disappointed is Leko. It has to be an omen when the well-known drawmaster Leko has less peaceful results than Mr. "Fire On Board" Shirov himself!

Here are my favorite five games, with links to the Chess Publisher game viewer. I highly recommend checking out these games to all serious students of the royal game, especially to my own students rated over 1800 USCF (hint, hint). You can also find all of the games in "liblist Linares08" online at ICC.

• Shirov 0-1 Anand (1) -- Shirov's king perishes by move 30 after a Rxc3 sacrifice
• Anand 0-1 Aronian (2) -- Anand gets checkmated facing the Marshall attack
• Shirov 1-0 Topalov (4) -- excellent use of the king to fight in the endgame
• Leko 0-1 Anand (5) -- Anand's technique prevails in a wild opposite wing pawn race
• Topalov 0-1 Carlsen (5) -- Carlsen essays the Alekhine's defense to stun Topalov
• Carlsen 1-0 Aronian (7) -- Ruy Lopez becomes a wild battle with both kings in danger

Stay tuned beginning on Thursday to see who will prevail in the second half of the tournament. Will World Champion Anand defend his #1 FIDE rating or can someone else finish in first place? Check out the official website or visit ChessBase website for news and detailed Grandmaster analysis. The Internet Chess Club also has daily coverage on ChessFM; type "finger Linares08" for more information when you're logged in.