Rook van Zugzwang reports from Wijk aan Zee

Welcome to my home town, Wijk aan Zee, and to the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, the biggest and best in the world. For those of you unfamiliar with Wijk, it is a coastal town about 44 km from Amsterdam  and my English friends say it is a little like Broadstairs but with better chess players. At least, that is certainly the case at this time of year when players and spectators from all over Europoe descend upon our little town. Most of those are ‘amateurs’ but the main interest is on the 28 players who take part in the two main competitions, the Challengers and the Masters.

We are constantly told that chess is a young person’s game and a glance at the entrants for both competitions will bear this out. You may be unfamiliar with the van Foreest family but they are well known in the Netherlands and GM Jorden van Foreest (19) plays in the Masters while his bother, Lucas, also a grandmaster at 17, plays in the Challengers. If you think that is young, the Challengers also features IM Vincent Keymer (14) and GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, who is not 14 until August! At the other end of the scale is GM Evgeny Bareev who at 53 is old enough to be their grandfather. All chess players know that it is no fun playing juniors so imagine how Bareev must have felt as he faced a young whippersnapper like van Foreest in Round 3.

       1.  e4   c6   2.  d4   d5   3.  exd5   cxd5   4.  Bd3   Nc6 5.  c3   Nf6   6.  Bf4   Bg4   7.  Qb3   Qd7   8.  Nd2   e6 9.  Ngf3   Bd6   10.  Bxd6   Qxd6   11.  O-O   O-O 12.  Rfe1   Qc7   13.  Ne5   Bh5   14.  f4   Bg6 15.  Bxg6   hxg6   16.  Re3   Rfc8   17.  Qd1   b5 18.  Qe1   b4   19.  Rh3   bxc3   20.  bxc3   Qe7 21.  Nxc6   Rxc6   22.  Qh4   Kf8   23.  Qh8+   Ng8 24.  Rh7   f6   25.  Nf3   Rxc3   26.  Ne5   fxe5 27.  fxe5   Rf3   28.  gxf3   Rb8   29.  f4   Qc7 30.  f5   exf5   31.  Re1   Rb7   32.  Rh3   Qa5  33.  Qh4   Ne7   34.  e6   Qd2   35.  Rb3      

       1.  e4   c6   2.  d4   d5   3.  e5   c5   4.  dxc5   e6 5.  Nf3   Bxc5   6.  a3   Ne7   7.  Bd3   Ng6 8.  O-O   O-O   9.  Nbd2   Nc6   10.  b4   Bb6 11.  Bxg6   fxg6   12.  Nb3   Bd7   13.  Re1   a5 14.  b5   Ne7   15.  a4   Rc8   16.  Be3   Bxe3 17.  Rxe3   Nf5   18.  Rd3   g5   19.  h3   b6 20.  c4   Rxc4   21.  Rxd5   Rf7   22.  Rd3   g4 23.  Nfd2   Rb4   24.  hxg4   Ne7   25.  Nf3   Nd5 26.  Nbd4   Rf4   27.  Nc2   Rbe4   28.  Rxd5   exd5  29.  Qxd5+     

           1.  d4   Nf6   2.  c4   e6   3.  Nf3   d5   4.  Nc3   Bb4 5.  Qa4+   Nc6   6.  e3   O-O   7.  Qc2   Re8 8.  Bd2   Bd6   9.  h3   a6   10.  a3   Bd7 11.  Be2   dxc4   12.  Bxc4   h6   13.  g4   e5 14.  g5   b5   15.  Ba2   exd4   16.  gxh6   dxc3 17.  Bxc3   Be6   18.  Bxe6   Rxe6   19.  Rg1   Ne8 20.  Bxg7   Nxg7   21.  Rxg7+   Kf8   22.  Qh7   Qf6 23.  Ng5   Rxe3+   24.  Kf1   Nd8   25.  Qg8+   Ke7 26.  h7   Bg3   27.  Ne4   Rxe4   28.  Rxg3   Rh4 29.  Rd1   Rxh7   30.  Re3+   Ne6   31.  Qxa8   Rh8 32.  Qc6   Kf8   33.  Rxe6   Qxe6   34.  Rd8+   Kg7 35.  Qc3+   f6   36.  Qxc7+   

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament which begins tomorrow (Jan 11) is one of the biggest events in the chess calendar. This year is the 81st tournament and although its name has changed in that time, it has always been held in the Dutch town of Wijk aan Zee. It regularly attracts the best players in the world – Magnus Carlsen will be playing for the fifteenth time – and six of the world’s top ten players will be competing this year. The second seed behind the world champion is the Azerbaijani, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, known throughout the chess world as Shakh. He is the current world number three and for those who think Carlsen is unassailable these days, it is worth noting that he and Shakh met nine times last year in all formats with Carlsen only winning once and that was in a blitz tournament. Here is Shakh’s neat victory over the champion at Biel in the summer where he finished clear first by one and a half points.

White:  Shakhriyar  Mamedyarov (2801)      Black:  Magnus Carlsen (2842)

 Biel International Chess Festival 2018 

        1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 c5 7.O-O Nc6 8.e3 d5 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 Qxd5 11.Ne5 Qd6 12.Nc4 Qc7 13.d5 Rd8 14.Bd2 Nb4 15.Bxb4 cxb4 16.Rc1 a5 17.a3 bxa3 18.bxa3 a4 19.Qd3 Bf5 20.e4 Bd7 21.Qe3 Ra6 22.e5 b5 23.d6 Qb8 24.dxe7 Re8 25.Rfd1 Rxe7 26.Qc5 Qf8 27.Ne3 Be6 28.Qxb5 Raa7 29.Nd5 Bxd5 30.Rxd5 Reb7 31.Qd3 Rb8 32.h4 Qe8 33.Qd4 Qe7 34.f4 Bf8 35.Kh2 Rab7 36.Qxa4 Qxa3 37.Qxa3 Bxa3 38.Rcd1 Be7 39.Kh3 Rc7 40.h5 gxh5 41.f5 f6 42.e6 Rb3 43.Rd7 Rbc3 44.Ra1 Kg7 45.Ra8 Kh6 46.Re8 Bb4 47.Rb8 Be7 48.Be4 R3c4 49.Bd5 R4c5 50.Be4 Rc4 51.Bd5 R4c5 52.Rb7 Rxd7 53.Rxd7 Ra5 54.Bc6 Ba3 55.Rf7 Re5 56.Kh4 Bc1 57.Kh3 Rxf5 1-0   

The average ELO rating in the Masters Tournament is 2753 and there is also a Challengers Tournament where the average is 2580. Both sections have fourteen players. The website  http://tatasteelchess.com has all the information you need and a lot more. The archive is worth a look – it provides details of the most games played (of current players, Vishy Anand 221) and the highest win percentage. Of this year’s competitors it is not Carlsen but Ding Liren with 63.46% so perhaps he is worth a punt if you are a betting person. One curious feature of the Masters Tournament is that for the past six years it has gone ‘on tour’ with two of the rounds taking place in alternative venues to Wijk aan Zee. This year Round 5 will take place in Alkmaar (see below) and Round 10 in Leiden.

In addition to the two major tournaments, there are also several events for those mere mortals quaintly described on the official site as ‘amateurs’. These tournaments attract thousands of entries. Finally there is the Tata Steel Chess Festival on January 19-20 and if you can understand Dutch, there is more information here  (I couldn’t find a translate button). The Masters gets under way on Saturday and there will be updates on this site from our Dutch correspondent, Rook van Zugzwang.

With yesterday being the twelfth day of Christmas, this seems like a good time to look forward to 2019 and see what is in store. The Thanet League has reached the mid-point stage of the season so it is worth a look to see how the Broadstairs teams stand. Tomorrow (January 7th) the Walker Shield team resume their campaign with a crucial home match against Margate. A glance at the table below shows how important this is. Our team is quite strong but one reason for its modest start is that seldom has the club been able to field its best team. Couple that with a four-player format where one error can prove decisive and a 2-2 draw can easily become a 2½-1½ defeat. However, there is still some way to go and a victory tomorrow would make a huge difference. Here is the current position:

Compared with the busy season enjoyed by the Walker Shield team, the Hargreaves Shield players have had few opportunities to display their talents. What began as a four-team competition was soon reduced to three when Woodnesborough withdrew almost before the season had started. Nevertheless, with two wins from two matches, the Broadstairs team are in a strong position to retain the trophy won last year. The two remaining matches are Bridge (away) on January 29th and Folkestone (home) on March 4th. Here is the current table:

The situation with the Millar Cup is perhaps the most intriguing. For many years in this competition Broadstairs have been not so much the bridesmaids but more like the  pageboys (appropriately) bringing up the rear and holding up the bride’s lengthy train.  However, the fortuitous and indeed fortunate arrival of several new members this season has suddenly galvanised the team and a narrow defeat to Folkestone was followed by the first win over Bridge in living memory. A second win against Margate leaves Broadstairs in silver medal position at the half-way stage. The return fixtures against Folkestone (January 21st) and Bridge (April 29th) will be crucial as the latest table shows:

The Mick Croft Cup, named in honour of the man who did so much for Thanet chess over many years, reaches its conclusion next week (January 14th) when Broadstairs play Woodnesborough in the final at home. Five players make up a team where the total grade must not exceed 625 so an average of 125 per board is the maximum allowed. Broadstairs has won the competition before but not for a while. John Couzens is in charge of the team and he will be scratching his head and polishing his selection over the next few days.

Mick Croft was one of the prime movers behind the instigation of the Thanet Chess Congress in 1970. The event of the year for local players will therefore be the 50th Thanet Chess Congress in August. Plans are already underway to include a few special prizes and we are hoping for a suitably large turnout. It is also hoped that some of those who played in the first congress will be able to play again. Watch this space for further information. The congress will take place from Friday August 16th – Sunday August 18th and the official website will be up and running in March.