Tata Steel Chess Tournament 14th - 30th January 2011

[Carl Hibbard]

Looks totally lost to me

[Justin Hadi]

Hmm, probably shouldn't analyse 2700 level games after 7 hours of poker the previous night...

[LozCooper]

I thought Luke was okay after 44 .... Rb1 45 b7 Kd8 but maybe 46 Rc8+ Ke7 47 Rg8 Kf6 48 Re8 threatening Re6 is the idea

[Eoin Devane]

I thought Luke was okay after 44 .... Rb1 45 b7 Kd8 but maybe 46 Rc8+ Ke7 47 Rg8 Kf6 48 Re8 threatening Re6 is the idea

Instead 47...Kf7 48.Rxg5 Nf6 shutting the rook out of the game. Kf7 stops the rook going to e8.

[Eoin Devane]

47...Kf7 played.

[Eoin Devane]

Efimenko and Sargissian have drawn, so Luke only needs to draw.

[LozCooper]

I thought Luke was okay after 44 .... Rb1 45 b7 Kd8 but maybe 46 Rc8+ Ke7 47 Rg8 Kf6 48 Re8 threatening Re6 is the idea

Instead 47...Kf7 48.Rxg5 Nf6 shutting the rook out of the game. Kf7 stops the rook going to e8.

Yes he's forced to give up a pawn, and is offering the g pawn. Not sure if white can make progress.

[Eoin Devane]

After 48. b8R, should Luke take with the rook or the knight? Instinctively I would say rook.

[Rob Thompson]

rook, otherwise Rxg5 may be an issue

[David Shepherd]

He has taken with rook - I think may hold for a draw now

[Eoin Devane]

Rooks exchanged on b8. Surely it must be drawn now.

[Justin Hadi]

It's surely drawn now after the exchange of minor pieces. Fantastic effort and deserved tournament victory by Luke.

[Eoin Devane]

Draw agreed!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Brilliant result from Luke. I was worried when I looked today and saw that all(!) the Group A games were drawn in the final round (is this quite rare?). I hope some of those were fighting draws like this one from Luke. I see the decisive game in the C group was also a draw (albeit a very nice perpetual two rooks and a piece down).

EDIT: Grischuk-Carlsen was a 19-move draw - what happened there?? But regardless of the last-round drawfest, congratulations to Nakamura for a stunning result. He has gained 23 ELO points and moved to number 7 in the live ratings. Another 2 points and he will be world number 5!

[LozCooper]

Round 13 - Sunday the 30th

Group A:

Wang Hao (5.5) - H. Nakamura (8.5) 0.5-0.5
I. Nepomniachtchi (5.5) - V. Anand (8) 0.5-0.5
A. Grischuk (4) - M. Carlsen (7.5) 0.5-0.5
L. Aronian (7.5) - J. Smeets (4) 0.5-0.5
V. Kramnik (7) - M. Vachier-Lagrave (7) 0.5-0.5
A. Giri (6) - R. Ponomariov (6) 0.5-0.5
A. Shirov (3.5) - E. l'Ami (4) 0.5-0.5

Nakamura wins the tournament with 9/13

Group B:

D. Navara (8) - L. McShane (8) 0.5-0.5
Z. Efimenko (7.5) - G. Sargissian (7) 0.5-0.5
W. So (7) - R. Wojtaszek (6) 0.5-0.5
S. Ganguly (5) - L. Liem (7) 0.5-0.5
Li Chao (5) - V. Tkachiev (7) 1-0
J. Hammer (4) - L. Fressinet (5) 0-1
W. Spoelman (4) - F. Nijboer (3.5) 1-0

McShane & Navara 1st= on 8.5/13. I think McShane wins on tie-break.

Group C:

D. Vocaturo (8.5) - I. Nyzhnyk (8) 0.5-0.5
M. Bluvshtein (6.5) - I. Ivanisevic (7.5) 1-0
M. Kazhgaleyev (6.5) - D. Swiercz (7) 0.5-0.5
J.W. de Jong (4) - K. Lahno (7) 0-1
T. Sachdev (6.5) - S. Siebrecht (4.5) 0-1
R. van Kampen (4) - B. Bok (6) 0.5-0.5
R. Pruijssers (4) - M. van der Werf (4) 0-1

Vocaturo wins the tournament with 9/13