Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:43 pm

Pragg might finally be about to clinch his win, looking rather like Grandelius may have missed the boat though.
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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:49 pm

Both games still swinging back and forwards... (Grandelius winning again now after White blundered on move 76.)

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:19 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:49 pm
(Grandelius winning again now after White blundered on move 76.)
At speed, apparently.

We shouldn't overlook Van Foreest, suddenly dobbing Esipenko two pawns in a position where it looked like the worst was over.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:50 pm

And Praggnanandhaa finally does it.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:54 am

"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Paolo Casaschi » Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:41 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:54 am
Dubov has COVID
So, someone contracted covid after showing little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease; nothing surprising here. I'd suggest we call this "the Djokovic gambit".

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:06 pm

More surprising perhaps: Van Foreest with the Sämisch Variation.

Duda and Shankland with an early draw.

More telly for Sergei.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Jan 28, 2022 3:11 pm

JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:54 am
Dubov has COVID
You've got to larf, eh.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:14 pm

Updates at three hours and a quarter:

Carlsen and Vidit have been equal throughout and if it were anybody else I'd say they ought to draw shortly, but it's Carlsen so you never know.
Grandelius and Esipenko have generally stumbled their way through a Lopez where Black may have just dropped a pawn.
Caruana has apparently rolloed over Praggnanandhaa very smoothly, though he's been known to let these slip through his fingers.
Giri has played atrociously, apparently completely underestimating Van Foreest's set-up, and he surely will lose shortly.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:29 pm

And lo and behold it now seems the WC may have conjured something out of what seemed to be very little.

EDIT: looks like he missed a winning line on move 36, Vidit *should* draw now.
Last edited by Matt Mackenzie on Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:40 pm

Grandelius and Esipenko draw.

EDIT: and Caruana wins.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by JustinHorton » Fri Jan 28, 2022 5:55 pm

Carlsen draws, and leads. I would be very interested to know if he was winning that endgame.

The standings are extremely striking: look at how Carlsen has plus three against the players second, third and fourth (and those three games were pastings, if I recall) but then, curiously, only plus one against everybody else.

He's guaranteed at least one point in the remaining two rounds, given that he has the Dubov default in the final game, so I imagine the only way there's any life left in the tournament, where first place is concerned, is if he loses against Caruana tomorrow.
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Peter Shaw » Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:10 pm

Paolo Casaschi wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:41 pm
JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:54 am
Dubov has COVID
So, someone contracted covid after showing little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease; nothing surprising here. I'd suggest we call this "the Djokovic gambit".
This seems unnecessarily harsh on Dubov, see the picture at the top of this article:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/daniil ... el-masters

and also

https://twitter.com/chess24com/status/1 ... 3003667458

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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Richard Bates » Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:49 pm

Peter Shaw wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:10 pm
Paolo Casaschi wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:41 pm
JustinHorton wrote:
Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:54 am
Dubov has COVID
So, someone contracted covid after showing little concern about basic preventive measures against the spread of the disease; nothing surprising here. I'd suggest we call this "the Djokovic gambit".
This seems unnecessarily harsh on Dubov, see the picture at the top of this article:

https://chess24.com/en/read/news/daniil ... el-masters

and also

https://twitter.com/chess24com/status/1 ... 3003667458
Yep - isn’t his argument that he didn’t want to be forced to play (and therefore risk rating points) in a situation where he felt he was playing at a disadvantage? In addition to a simple principled point about the contract that the tournament was being played under. Defaulting therefore reduced his chances in the tournament, but didn’t jeopardise his rating and playing with a mask was contrary to contractual agreement.

One could argue that all players should be required to play with a mask for the last couple of rounds - but presumably they would all object to that.

Richard Bates
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Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Post by Richard Bates » Fri Jan 28, 2022 9:52 pm

Also he didn’t (I assume) contract Covid as a result of not wearing a mask. The only issue is whether (despite having negative RAT and PCR tests) he might have passed it on to others. Who will live.

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