Tata Steel 2022 Round 4: Vidit remains the sole leader, Carlsen missed a winDay 4 of the 2022 Tata Steel Chess Tournament came like a storm before the rest day. GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi remains the sole leader after his draw with GM Andrey Esipenko, while the World Champion lost his chance to win against the reigning Tata Steel Champion, Jorden Van Foreest. Photos: © Lennart Ootes and Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 Two decisive games and three Grünfelds in Round 4 of the Masters. Caruana, Vidit, Karjakin, and Shankland calmy drew against Dubov, Esipenko, Giri, and Rapport respectively. https://twitter.com/viditchess/status/1483515768092467202Carlsen also drew against Van Foreest, but it was a draw that we are going to remember for a long time. The Dutch GM sacrificed a pawn and created a very exciting position. After some unusual tactics, Jordan sacrificed another pawn, but they turned out to be too, giving Magnus the opportunity to win. The World Champion lost his chance though and the game ended in a draw. Another incredible game was Mamedyarov against Duda. The Azerbaijani GM gave a hard fight after losing a piece, but totally outplayed Duda in the endgame with is exceptional technique. The last game of the day was Rameshbabu’s first win in the Tournament against GM Nils Grandelius. After almost six hours, Pragg managed to make use of his positional strength and win the point! Watch R5 with us, on Thursday the 20th, at 13:00 UTC: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/11117

Will Esipenko take down the World Champion again in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022?It was early in 2021, when the Russian GM Andrey Esipenko shook the world by beating Magnus Carlsen at the 2021 Tata Steel Tournament, and becoming the first teenager to beat the World Champion in classical chess. Source: Tata Steel Youtube Channel It is one thing beating Magnus in blitz and rapid, and totally different to beat him in a classical game. The rarity of this event increases drastically when you’re a teenager! 16-year-old Anish Giri had beaten Magnus back in 2011, but at that point Carlsen wasn’t a World Champion, so Esipenko’s win at the 2021 Tata Steel made him the first teenager to ever beat Magnus as the World Champion. As GM Vladimir Dobrov wrote: “Almost all chess fans remembered Andrey’s clear and happy blue eyes. And the camp of admirers has arrived, and surely a whole queue has already lined up for the enviable suitor.” Esipenko couldn’t believe what had just happened and his smile lit up the room and all chess fans’ hearts. “I think it’s one of the best days in my life”, Esipenko said. Later the same year, Esipenko faced Carlsen one more time at the 2021 World Cup, in Sochi. Their match could easily be nominated as the  “Match of the Year” as the 18-year-old Russian GM was very close to winning Carlsen again. It was a thriller game and professional players as well as amateurs agreed that they were seeing something special. https://twitter.com/akaNemsko/status/1420055610587025415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1420055610587025415%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fworldchess.com%2Fnews%2Fall%2Fesipenko-loses-to-carlsen-becomes-everyones-favorite-chess-playe%2FToday, in Round 1 of the 2022 Tata Steel Tournament, Andrey Esipenko will face Magnus Carlsen for hopefully another fascinating match. Will the 19-year-old GM manage to take down the World Champion one more time? Watch the game with us: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/11117

Magnus Carlsen: “I Don’t Even Remotely Care”The world champion has developed his own rapport with the media and clearly enjoys stirring the audience while being open and to the point. His answer to the question ‘Whose chess commentary would you enjoy most — Giri, Caruana, or Anand?’ Carlsen replied after slight delay: “I am sorry I don’t even remotely care’. Giri is doing commentary for chess24, the site that is part of Carlsen’s own business empire, while Caruana is doing commentary for chess.com. Anadnd is doing commentary for the official FIDE feed.

4 decisive games on R3 of the 2022 Tata Steel Tournament, Vidit the sole leaderDay 3 of the 2022 Tata Steel Tournament is over, and GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi is leading with half a point after a fascinating match against GM Daniil Dubov. Esipenko, Van Foreest, and Rapport the other winners of Round 3. Photos: © Lennart Ootes and Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 What a game between the Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi, and the Russian GM Daniil Dubov today. Dubov as white sacrificed his central pawn (again!), and aroused a very dangerous position for Black. After many tactical threats, Vidit had to find the only moves in order not to lose, until Dubov lost control of the position and Vidit got the win. https://twitter.com/viditchess/status/1483140903892094979Less interesting was Giri’s game against Mamedyarov, which was the first game to finish in R3 of the Masters. Anish was a pawn up and his position looked promising, but Shakh found an easy way to equalize and achieve a draw. Rapport on the other hand won his second consecutive game with the brilliant move ...29. Rh1!!, where the white queen cannot capture the rook or black’s queen! Meanwhile on the fifth board, the World Champion came across a familiar opening, the Anti-Marshall, against GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. After a quite conservative game, the two GMs agreed to a draw. After the match, Carlsen was asked if his next game with the reigning Tata Steel Champion is special for him, and the Norwegian GM responded: “I can’t wait to see what he’s got up his sleeve! For Round 3 though, Van Foreest had an excellent plan on his sleeves against GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandha. The Dutch GM gave away a pawn to create a very bad pawn structure for his opponent, and with his exceptional technique he managed to bounce back from his R2 loss and win with style! The 4th decisive game of the day was a Russian story. GM Andrey Esipenko faced GM Sergey Karjakin, and even though the second is well known for his defensive skills, Esipenko dominated the game and forced Karjakin to resign. The last game of Round 3, Caruana – Shankland ended in a hard-fought draw. Shankland was playing for the win in an objectively equal position, due to his extra pawn, but after 6 hours the game ended in a draw. Watch R4 with us, on Tuesday the 18th, at 13:00 UTC: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/11117

Streamers React to the Deplorable Dubov — Shakh DrawJust as chess commentators zoomed in on a promising Dubov — Shakh game at the Tata Steel Masters last night (interesting structure, very zigzagged dynamics, time trouble, Dubov at the board), the players shook hands and discussed the outcome of the endgame that never happened. Daniil Dubov during the post-game interview after the game at Tata Steel Commentators on chess sites ranging from chess.com to Levitov chess screamed in awe: what apparently happened in the game was as if the arbiter in a soccer game had cancelled the tie breaks and announced the draw instead. “No! No! No!,” — cried David Hess, who called the game for chess.com. Chess-news, a provocative Russian-language chess site, rushed to state that ”[as evident from this game] chess is never going to be a sport, if rules stay the same”. https://twitter.com/Chess__News/status/1482395527287353357?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3AChess__News%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19%7Ctwcon%5Etimelinechrome&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fchess-news.ru%2FIn a post-game interview, visibly relieved Dubov, known for his creative skills and fighting spirit, explained that he was worse during the game and hence very happy with a draw. The spectators however were apparently deprived of the most exciting part of the game. Event organizers as well as chess players are now facing the existential chess dilemma: what is more important — the final outcome of the tournament (and a need to play it safe) or a gladiator approach, where you attack with a high probability of getting slaughtered by a more cautious but skillful opponent. You can follow the tournament live on World Chess.

Tata Steel 2022, Round 1: Four Draws And a Win For Duda, Vidit and Van ForeestDay 1 of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 is over with GMs Van Foreest, Duda and Vidit leading the event, while Carlsen, Mamedyarov and Caruana missed their chances. Photos: © Lennart Ootes and Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 Jan-Krzysztof Duda grabbed the first win of the Tournament and seemed in excellent shape. Duda was a pawn down against GM Richard Rapport, but his very active pieces made him justice and won him the match. https://twitter.com/TarjeiJS/status/1482401372465152004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1482401372465152004%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fworldchess.com%2Fnews%2Fall%2Ftata-steel-2022-round-1-five-draws-and-a-win-for-duda-and-jorden%2FThe last to finish after a six-hour marathon, was India’s No.2 Vidit Santosh Gujrathi who managed to dominate over the American GM Sam Shankland. With this win, Vidit gained 4.7 rating points, moving to 2732 and World no.20 in the ranking board. The third win of the tournament was the reigning Tata Steel Champion, Jorden van Foreest, who secured an early lead with white against the Swedish GM Nils Grandelius. The Dutch GM outplayed his opponent in a queenless position, with Grandelius making a wrong move with his bishop, and resigning on move 44. https://twitter.com/theworldchess/status/1482334513380401156One of the most anticipated matches, with the World Champion facing GM Andrey Esipenko, ended in a draw in just 21 moves. Carlsen had a clear chance to take the advantage, but instead he decided not to go for it. “I was looking at it, but couldn’t quite make it work. I am not going to sit here and doubt the computer evaluations. If the computer says it was good, it probably was good. But it wasn’t obvious to me.” Carlsen confessed later. Caruana and Mamedyarov also missed their chances for a decisive result, but this time due to time-trouble. Caruana had the opportunity to create a “kingside storm” with 22.f4 against Karjakin but commentators agreed that this move is not easy for a human! Mamedyarov as well was rushed by the clock and let almost all his advantage slip, ending in a draw against Dubov. “This time it’s me! I’m probably far from my best shape but at least you can actually tell who played it as White. Put the bishop on g2, sacrifice pawns for nothing, start playing for tricks… it feels nice to be back, in a way!” Dubov stated after his match. The case was not the same for the 16-year-old chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who had a solid start against the tournament’s ambassador Anish Giri. The Dutch GM unleashed a novelty in the English opening but Pragg managed to equalize without too many difficulties. Watch the next game with us, on Sunday the 16th, at 13:00 UTC: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/11117 Standing after the first day:

Will the World Champion grab his 8th Tata Steel Chess victory?The 2022 Tata Steel Chess Tournament is ready to kick-start on the 14th of January in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands. It is one of the most reputable over-the-board tournaments, which attracts the world’s chess elite, like the World Champion Magnus Carlsen, 2018 Challenger Fabiano Caruana, the tournament’s ambassador GM Anish Giri, and the 2021 Tata Steel Winner GM Jorden van Foreest. Photo: Tata Steel Chess The games begin on the 15th of January with rest days on the 19th, 24th, and 27th of the month. It is a single round-robin, and all 14 participants play each other once for a total of 13 rounds. Last year’s winner was the Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest, the first Dutch winner of the tournament since GM Jan Timman in 1985. The 22-year-old GM defeated his compatriot GM Anish Giri in the playoff after both had finished on 8.5/13. https://twitter.com/tatasteelchess/status/1481237037957140483From 1938 to 2021, Carlsen has won 7 Tata Steel Tournaments, with GMs Jorden van Foreest, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, and Hikaru Nakamura being the other winners of the tournament the past 10 years. Will the World Champion win his 8th Tata Steel trophy? Watch the Tournament online, on the 15th of January at 13:00 UTC: https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/11117