After eight rounds of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk aan Zee the leaderboard is beginning to take shape. By virtue of Fabiano Caruana’s defeat this afternoon, of which more later, Magnus Carlsen has opened up a half-point lead with five rounds to go. However, there are three others just half a point behind Caruana, including last year’s runner-up Ding Liren, so there is still plenty to play for. Ding’s round 8 game with Broadstairs favourite, Wei Yi, raised a few eyebrows as a draw was agreed rather earlier than many would have liked. All sorts of accusations were made by those following online but it wouldn’t have been such a surprise if that had been the result whether they played 27 or 72 moves as Wei has drawn all his games hitherto to stand at 4/8 just one and a half points behind Carlsen, ready to time his late run for glory. At the other end of the tournament sits Michael Adams in last place. He is still without a win but has achieved five draws and should be heartened by his 85-move draw today with Pavel Eljianov, especially as he was two pawns down in a long endgame.
“Where will my first win come from?”
Alas for Hou Yifan who, after a promising start, has lost her last two games, today to Wijk aan Zee season-ticket holder, Loek van Wely, his first win of the tournament. Here is his assessment of the game:
Loek van Wely interview
The game of the day was David Navara’s win against the previously unbeaten Fabiano Caruana. As we featured David’s defeat against Hou Yifan in the last update, it seems only fair to redress the balance here.
White: David Navara (2730) Black: Fabiano Caruana (2787)
Tata Steel Masters 2016
Black resigns
This is Hou Yifan. She is 21, has an ELO grade of 2673, is number 68 in the world and has been a Grandmaster since she was fourteen, the youngest female chess player ever to have achieved the title. She is currently playing at the Tata Steel Masters Tournament in Amsterdam where she is, not surprisingly, the only female player among some of the giants of modern chess. She has the second lowest grade of the fourteen competitors yet after four rounds she shares second place on 2½/4 ahead of world number one, Magnus Carlsen (2/4), and Britain’s strongest player, Michael Adams, who has made a wretched start and is currently last with 1/4 after two defeats.
Readers may think that I may have some vested interest in promoting Chinese chess after singing the praises of Wei Yi, Ding Liren and recently Yu Yangyi but my aim is merely to highlight the current strength of chess in China. Wei Yi (on 2/4 at Tata Steel) is 16, Ding Liren (2½/4 and last year’s runner-up behind Magnus Carlsen) is a comparative veteran at 23 and Yu Yangyi is 21. Russia and the Soviet Union may have dominated world chess in the last century but it is China leading the way in this one. Here is Hou Yifan’s swashbuckling win against world number 25 David Navara of the Czech Republic today.
White: Hou Yifan (2673) Black: David Navara (2730)
Tata Steel Masters 2016
Black resigns
Leading the way after four rounds is world number 5, Fabiano Caruana with two wins and two draws from his four matches and many think he should have won against Anish Giri this afternoon. There is still plenty to play for – could there be a Chinese victory? You read it here first!
Broadstairs 2½ Herne Bay 1½
| 1. |
Bob Cronin (112) |
1-0 |
Ronnie Melhuish (103) |
| 2. |
Andy Flood (111) |
0-1 |
Brian Humble (98) |
| 3. |
Reg Pidduck (106) |
½-½ |
Jamie Dawson (76) |
| 4. |
Michael Doyle (89) |
1-0 |
John Heath (e78) |
Reg Pidduck writes:
BOARD 4: QUICK WIN. Michael’s attacking nature soon paid off as he pressed John Heath from the start. Having gone a piece up he never let up and duly won inside an hour. 1-0 up to us.
BOARD 1: MATCH OF THE NIGHT. Bob got a deserved win against a cunning Ronnie after pushing two pawns forward into enemy territory and finally getting a touchdown which finished Ronnie off. 2-0 to us.
BOARD 3: YOUNG JAMIE A FORCE. I was able to play my favourite Dutch defence against Jamie who once again (last September) played extremely well for his 76 grade. After I turned down a draw offer from Jamie and playing with rook and pawns each, we came to a slight impasse. But Bob’s win on board 1 made my decision to take the draw easy. 2½-½ to us
BOARD 2: TABLES TURNED. It’s normally Andy that slowly turns the screw on his opponents. But this time it was Brian after winning a piece and gaining a very good win against our board two star. A 2½-1½ win for Broadstairs.
That’s played 3 won 3 in our quest to keep the Walker Shield. Well done team!
As the Tata Steel Masters Tournament enters the final straight, it has been an eventful few days for Wei Yi. After eight successive draws, he must have read our last post because, as predicted on this very site, he came out with all guns blazing in round nine to defeat David Navara – the pair are pictured right – in a cracking game. Navara, thereby, features for the third time, suggesting after his loss to Hou Yifan – sadly, defeat to Magnus Carlsen today was her fourth in a row – and victory over Fabiano Caruana that it has been a real rollercoaster week for him. In an interview after his win, Wei Yi admitted that judgement should wait until he had played Caruana the next day. Unfortunately, the world number five was a step too far for the 16 year old Wei who crashed to his first defeat in the tournament. His time will come, however. In the meantime, enjoy the following game which only confirms what we already knew, that he is a very exciting prospect.