Tata Steel 2017

[LawrenceCooper]

Surprised Gawain didn't play 16.Qg4+, seems obvious and very strong.

Agreed.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Also surprised that he didn't play the stalemate trap yesterday - that sort of thing is normally one of his strong points too.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Surprised Gawain didn't play 16.Qg4+, seems obvious and very strong.

Maybe he was unsure (or missed?) the 17.Qf4 follow up? What is the right line there? The online engines don't give that line, as it is presumably too obviously winning, but something like: 16.Qg4+ Kh8 17.Qf4 fxe5 18.Qf6+ Kg8 19.Re4 Re8 (or Rd8) 20.Qh6 f5 and I get stuck. Oh, hang on, is it as simple as 20.Rg4+ Kf8 21.Rg7 and Black is powerless to prevent Rxh7 and Rh8? It doesn't look like mate, but Black does look horribly tied up. Different lines depending on whether the Black rook is on e8 or d8. Doesn't look that easy to calculate.

EDIT: Oh, oops: 19.Rxe5 is a bit stronger.

[Chris Rice]

Looks like Adhiban's prep is working again, rattled off the first 20 moves without thinking and has only spent 15 minutes on his 21st move because Nepo looks like he's made a huge blunder.

[Roger de Coverly]

Looks like Adhiban's prep is working again, rattled off the first 20 moves without thinking and has only spent 15 minutes on his 21st move because Nepo looks like he's made a huge blunder.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 h6 8. Bh4 Qb6 9. a3 Nbd7 10. Bc4 e5 11. fxe5 dxe5 12. Nf5 g6 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 Rh7 15. O-O-O gxf5 16. exf5 Be7 17. Bxe7 Kxe7 18. Rhf1 Qf6 19. Bb3 Rh8 20. Rf3 Re8 21. Ba4 Rd8 22. Rg3 b5 23. Qxa8 bxa4 24. Rc3 Nb6 25. Qa7+

Above is the game so far, being a modern interpretation of the Najdorf Poison Pawn makes rapid play more understandable. The chessbomb stockfish is suggesting that leaving a Rook en prise was not the best move, even if you get a Bishop as compensation. Even so, it's now only suggesting an edge for White, rather than totally winning.

[Roger de Coverly]

Different lines depending on whether the Black rook is on e8 or d8. Doesn't look that easy to calculate.

The game so far

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 cxd4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bc4 Qd6 7. Bb3 Nc6 8. O-O Nf6 9. Nc4 Qd8 10. Nce5 Bc5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Re1 O-O 13. Bg5 a5 14. Ne5 Qc7 15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Qh5 Be7 17. Nf3 Kh8 18. c3 dxc3 19. bxc3 a4 20. Bc2 f5 21. Rad1 Bf6 22. Qh6 Bg7 23. Qh4 h6 24. Re3 Ra5 25. Bxa4 Rd5 26. Rde1 c5 *

[Chris Rice]

Looks like Adhiban's prep is working again, rattled off the first 20 moves without thinking and has only spent 15 minutes on his 21st move because Nepo looks like he's made a huge blunder.

Above is the game so far, being a modern interpretation of the Najdorf Poison Pawn makes rapid play more understandable. The chessbomb stockfish is suggesting that leaving a Rook en prise was not the best move, even if you get a Bishop as compensation. Even so, it's now only suggesting an edge for White, rather than totally winning.

24 Qd5 instead of 24 Rc3 just sitting on Black and 25 Rc7+ as suggested by Seirawan instead of 25 Qa7+ would have given White a bigger advantage. Adhiban may be losing the thread though Black's position is still fairly weak.

[Barry Sandercock]

The Magnus game looks like a draw (move 36) but he often wins drawn positions.

[Barry Sandercock]

Not this time. It was a draw one move later.

[Chris Rice]

Adhiban looks to have made another error on move 41 with 41 c4 instead of 41 Qd8+ and all four White moves that Stockfish on Chessbomb gives are all 0.00 yet Giri is explaining on the official site how White is completely winning the position.

PS Adhiban has been thinking for ages looking for the win that isn't there. All four lines of Stockfish saying 0.00. Now Seirawan weighs in with "White is winning. I can't be 100% sure but I think he is".

Its interesting that in a number of the lines that are being analysed that if White pushes too hard it would be easy to fall into a mate.

Update: Draw agreed, Seirawan shocked "you give these top players a small window of escape and they crawl right through it". Nicely put.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Gawain should also escape with a draw, though he has been a bit lucky (if you trust the online engine evaluations).

[Chris Rice]

Gawain should also escape with a draw, though he has been a bit lucky (if you trust the online engine evaluations).

Draw after 120 moves with just the kings left.

[Mick Norris]

TWIC round 10 report

Round 10 standings: 1st Wesley So 7pts 2nd Aronian, Carlsen, Karjakin, Eljanov, Wei Yi 6pts 7th Adhiban 5.5pts 8th Harikrishna, Giri, 5pts 10th Andreikin, Nepomniachtchi, Wojtaszek 4pts 13th Rapport 3.5pts 14th Van Wely 2pts

Rest day Thursday 26th January 2017.

Round 11 pairings Friday 27th January 2017. 12:30pm UK time Wojtaszek-Aronian, Andreikin-So, Wei Yi-Karjakin, Nepomniachtchi-Eljanov, Carlsen-Adhiban, Giri-Harikrishna, Rapport-Van Wely.

[Mick Norris]

Challengers will have

Xiong (7) - Smirin (7)
Ragger (7) - Grandelius (6)
Hansen (6.5) - Gawain (6.5)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Karjakin's live rating is above his previous FIDE peak rating from July 2011. If he can keep getting good results in the last couple of rounds here, he may get a new best rating for the next list.